Billy Joel.

A very quick post to wish Billy Joel a happy 64th birthday. I hope Billy gets inspired by Rod Stewart who has said goodbye to years of writer’s block and has finally released an album of new, self-written songs (Time). And while it may not seem like a particularly long time, believe it or not it’s been roughly 20 years since Rod put pen to paper.

Similarly, Billy’s last studio album was 1993’s River Of Dreams and while he’s been busy since then with plenty of tours, he hasn’t felt the inclination to release a full LP.

Many music critics, including a couple of prominent New Zealand writers, love to pretend that Billy Joel is awful. Which must be hard for them because amongst all the underwhelming songwriters in this world, the man behind New York State Of Mind, Piano Man, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Allentown, Goodnight Saigon, Leave A Tender Moment Alone, Captain Jack, Movin’ Out and She’s Always A Woman etc etc etc etc etc etc etc (etc) is so clearly not a part of their club. What a shame to be a music critic who has to fight their ears and heart to convince themselves they don’t like these songs?

Oh well, here is another one for them to think they don’t like. Here is the very beautiful and so desperately sad And So It Goes. Happy birthday Billy.