When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music, I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created.
Billy JoelI have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.
Billy JoelWell we're waiting here in Allentown For the Pennsylvania we never found For the promises our teachers gave If we worked hard If we behaved So the graduations hang on the wall But they never really helped us at all No they never taught us what was real
Billy JoelOne of the last times that we played in the area before I wrote "Allentown," I remember a guy coming up to us and saying, "You're never coming back here." I said, "Why do you say that?" He said, "Well, you're probably gonna become a big star. Nobody who ever becomes big comes back here." And I felt so sad for this kid, he seemed so bitter about it. I said, "Well, I'm coming back, no matter what."
Billy JoelSweetness flows from your appearance and your beauty makes me fall more in love with you. Anytime I feel low, I think about the good times you have given me and everything seems good again.
Billy JoelI've always said about 50% of what happens at a concert has to do with the audience. If you play for a dead audience you're gonna stink. If we play for a great crowd we're much better. You want 'em to make noise. It's kinda like sex, if they don't make noise, you ain't doin' it right.
Billy JoelI've lived long enough to have learned, the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burned.
Billy JoelI did write a letter to the archdiocese who'd banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record.
Billy JoelIt's nine o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in / There's an old man sitting next to me making love to his tonic and gin / He says, 'Son, can you play me a memory?/ I'm not really sure how it goes / But it's sad and it's sweet, and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes.'
Billy JoelI work with musicians whose opinions I respect and if they don't like something they don't hold back. They'll say, 'That really sucks' and 'You've lost it' and 'You're no good anymore.' And I crawl away with my tail between my legs and I fear that kind of ridicule, but I want them to like the music I'm bringing to them.
Billy JoelUsually when I'm writing, I try to write fairly quickly. If a song sits around too long, it starts to take on a stink. Most of my songs are written in one sitting, two sittings maybe. Those are the ones I like the best, anyway.
Billy JoelSome of the stuff I'm writing is almost like hymns, some of my first singing and choral experiences were in church, the Church of Christ in Hicksville.
Billy JoelYou've got your passion. You've got your pride. But don't you know that only fools are satisfied? Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true.
Billy JoelI don't want clever conversation, I never want to work that hard, I just want someone I can talk to, I want you just the way you are.
Billy JoelPeople always think I was just playing in a piano bar, but I only did that for about six months. The rest of the time I was playing in bands.
Billy JoelWell I never had a place that I could call my very own/That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home.
Billy JoelThere ain't much future for a man who works the sea, there ain't no island left for islanders like me.
Billy JoelEven when I stop performing or stop making records I won't stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.
Billy JoelI'm sure you have some cosmic rationale, but here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice.
Billy JoelThere was an edge of, 'Go away kid, you're bothering me'. I've kicked myself a million times since. I could've discovered Whitney Houston.
Billy JoelI consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. ... I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14-to meet women. ... If you make music for the human needs you have within yourself, then you do it for all humans who need the same things. You enrich humanity with the profound expression of these feelings. ... My songs are like my kids.
Billy JoelSome love is just a lie of the heart, the cold remains of what began with a passionate heart.
Billy JoelIf I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.
Billy JoelSo I would choose to be with you, That's if the choice were mine to make, But you can make decisions too, And you can have this heart to break
Billy JoelIn every heart there is a room, A sanctuary safe and strong, To heal the wounds from lovers past, Until a new one comes along
Billy JoelYou just sit home and masturbate. The phone is going to ring soon, but you just can't wait.
Billy JoelOut of respect for the things that I was never destined to do, I have learned that my strengths are a result of my weaknesses, my success is due to my failures, and my style is directly related to my limitations.
Billy JoelThey say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known.
Billy JoelI tell the audience every night, "I hope you didn't pay more than face value on that ticket, because we ain't worth more than that, and you ain't gonna get any more than that."
Billy JoelI was thinking of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and when I was thinking "Uptown Girl!" I was trying to sing like Frankie Valli. They had a song called "Ragdoll," which was about a poor girl and a rich guy. So I just flipped it around and made it about a rich girl and a poor guy.
Billy Joel