3. Billy Joel--The Stranger
#3: Billy Joel--The Stranger (1977)
Top-Notch Tracks: "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" [HJ200 #3], "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) [HJ200 #140], "Vienna," "She's Always a Woman," "Only the Good Die Young," "Just the Way You Are," "The Stranger," "Get It Right the First Time"
Album Depth: "Everybody Has a Dream"
Weak Links:
Stand-Out Lyrics: I don't want clever conversation. (I never want to work that hard.)
Comments: This was the first album I purchased with my own money. It was also the only 8-track I ever bought. (I saw the writing on the wall, and switched over to cassettes.) (Not that my family was necessarily skilled at picking the right new technology. In the VHS vs. Beta debate, we went with the LaserDisc.)
If I remember correctly, I bought the 8-track at the north store in Downey. Going from south to north on the block there were: the bank; the drug store; Johnson's Department Store; and the other store, which I think had appliances and bikes and stuff. They had a bin of 8-tracks by the register. I saw that I knew four of the songs on this Billy Joel 8-track, so I bought it. And the rest, as they say, is history.
You may have noticed that I didn't fill out the "Stand-Out Lyrics" section above like I have for the other albums on this list. That's because there are soooooo many great lyrics on this album that I decided to take a look at the lyrics song by song.
This is probably the most lyrically rich album on my list. It's so darn good! Let's take a look.
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
"They got an apartment with deep pile carpet and a couple of paintings from Sears. A big waterbed that they bought with the bread they had saved for a couple of years." The picture painted by these words is so vivid that it belongs in an art museum, with knockoffs reprinted and sold at Sears. I can see that carpet. And I can hear that waterbed sloshing.
"Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies and the king and the queen of the prom, riding around with their car top down and the radio on. Nobody looked any finer, or was more of a hit at the Parkway Diner. We never knew we could want more than that out of life." Again, a vivid picture of those high school years. The funny thing is, unlike Brenda and Eddie, some of the couples from our high school days are still going strong. The first couple I think of when I hear this song is Mark and Carole, the quarterback and the cheerleader, and from what little I see on Facebook, they're still going strong. The same for Fuzzy and Renae. Maybe it's because Carole and Renae aren't as lazy as Brenda, and they didn't spend all their hard earned cash on waterbeds and department store art.
"Everyone said they were crazy. Brenda you know that you're much too lazy, and Eddie could never afford to live that kind of life. But, here we were waving Brenda and Eddie goodbye." If you're listening (or singing along) to this song, you're kind of obligated to wave goodbye to Brenda and Eddie, aren't you?
"Things are okay with me these days: got a good job, got a good office, got a new wife, got a new life, and the family is fine. We lost touch long ago. You lost weight, I did not know you could ever look so good after so much time." One of the best one-sided conversations ever set to music. On a side note, I was singing this song around the house this morning and Thing 3 looks at me and says, "Dad, did you really lose weight?" I answered, "Yes, I've lost weight. And gained weight. And lost weight. And...."
"Cold beer, hot lights, my sweet romantic teenage nights." Obviously, Billy Joel and I had very different teenage years. I often change the lyrics from "cold beer" to "root beer," but that doesn't alter the fact that I never had any sweet romantic teenage nights.
"A bottle of white, a bottle of red. Perhaps a bottle of rose instead." "A bottle of red, a bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite." "A bottle of red, a bottle of white, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight." Okay, I'm not the only one who, when singing along, gets his bottles of reds and whites mixed up, am I?
"I'll meet you anytime you want in our Italian restaurant." Chef Tom's in Kearns, Gabbertino's in Pocatello, and, yes, Olive Garden come to mind. Yes, Olive Garden! I know that might upset some Italian restaurant snobs, but I don't care. I like the food.
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
"Anthony works in the grocery store, saving his pennies for someday. Mama Leone left a note on the door, she said, 'Sonny, move out to the country.' Working too hard can give you a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack." Apparently, I'm now Anthony, working in the grocery store. Hopefully I can avoid the heart attack-ack-ack.
"Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?" Hackensack, Santaquin--it's about the same thing, isn't it?
"Sgt. O'Leary is walking the beat. At night he becomes a bartender. He works at Mister Cacciatore's down on Sullivan Street, across from the medical center. And he's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac." I wonder if the food at Mister Cacciatore's is really any better than the food at Olive Garden.
"And if he can't drive with a broken back, at least he can polish the fenders." It seems to me it would be about as easy to drive with a broken back as it would be to polish the fenders, but what do I know?
"You can pay Uncle Sam with the overtime. Is that all you get for your money?" I probably went 25 years singing these lyrics wrong. I think I used to mumble-sing, "You can get what you want with the overtime," because I am an idiot.
This song also features one of the two best revving car sound effects used in a song. Only "I'm In Love With My Car" can compete. Which one is better? I think I'll give the edge to "Movin' Out" because of the squeal out, although Queen has a damn fine rev.
Vienna
"Slow down, you crazy child. You're too ambitious for a juvenile. But then, if you're so smart tell me why are you still so afraid?" I'll often find myself involuntarily singing these lyrics when some idiot drives by me going too fast. Oftentimes it's in parking lots, because idiots frequently drive too fast in parking lots.
"Where's the fire? What's the hurry about? You'd better cool it off before you burn it out. You've got so much to do but only so many hours in a day." Still applicable for idiots driving too fast.
"Too bad, but it's the life you lead. You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need. Though you can see when you're wrong you know you can't always see when you're right. You're right. You'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 that they'll all come true." Lots of great little life lessons in here. Don't be too hard on yourself, but also, don't overreach.
"Slow down, you crazy child. Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while. It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two." This reminds me of the time when I was going to school in Pocatello and I decided to just stay at home by myself for Thanksgiving. I was fine with it, and I had a nice little day. I made myself a turkey roast and some Stove Top, and had a fine time. Later, I realized that somehow the ringer on my phone had been turned off, and I had missed about a dozen calls from family and friends that were all worried about me because I was alone on Thanksgiving. But, it hadn't bothered me at all. I had a good meal and watched some football and had a nice, content day.
She's Always a Woman
"She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes. And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies."
"She'll promise you more than the Garden of Eden, then she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding."
"She is frequently kind, and she's suddenly cruel. She can do as she pleases, she's nobody's fool. And she can't be convicted, she's earned her degree. And the most she will do is throw shadows at you, but she's always a woman to me."
I've got to admit, this song scared me as a youth. Why would I want to get involved with a woman if she's going to cut me and laugh while I'm bleeding? I don't want my faith ruined. I don't want anyone throwing shadows at me. This song, plus "Stiletto," and the entire angry oeuvre of early Phil Collins led me to be extra cautious with my heart, and to not put myself out there so a girl could crush me. (That, plus I saw what happened to a good friend of mine when he had left himself too vulnerable.)
Only the Good Die Young
"You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd. We ain't too pretty and we ain't too proud. And we might be laughing a bit too loud, ah, but that never hurt no one." Okay, so our crowd growing up wasn't all that dangerous, bur we did like to laugh loudly, and I don't think that was such a bad thing.
"They say there's a heaven for those who will wait. Some say it's better, but I say it ain't. I'd rather laugh with the sinners and cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun." From these lyrics, it's obvious that Billy Joel never attended a Latter-Day Saints Road Show performance. ("Silly rabbi, kicks are for trids.") ("You say you fell in the pool? Well, that's tooo bad.")
"Oh, she never cared for me, but did she ever say a prayer for me?" Yes, this song is about Billy trying to get a Catholic girl to have sex with him. Yes, that's not the most moral of things for a song to be about. But no, it's not the worst, either. When we were told how evil this song was, I liked it a little less--but I still liked it. (C'mon, that piano intro is pretty darn nice. Those naysayers didn't have a prayer.)
The Stranger
"Well, we all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone. Some are satin, some are steel, some are silk, and some are leather. They're the faces of the stranger, but we love to try them on." Hey, it's the mask from the album cover making an appearance in a song!
"Though we share so many secrets, there are some we never tell." It's true. I've told some people most of my secrets, but not quite all of them.
"Whistle, whistle, whistle." That's some damn fine whistling, Billy!
Just the Way You Are
"I don't want clever conversation. I never want to work that hard." Ah, but sometimes the most clever conversations are the best ones!
"I need to know that you will always be the same old someone that I knew. What will it take 'til you believe in me, the way that I believe in you?" I know this is supposed to be a love song, but at times it seems like it's sung by a needy guy who is afraid of change.
"Don't go trying some new fashion. Don't change the color of your hair. You always have my unspoken passion, although I might not seem to care." In other words, I want you to be exactly the same as when we first met, and although I'll never tell you that I love you, and you won't be able to tell from my actions, I really do love you. Yes, I think there's a reason Billy doesn't perform this song much anymore.
Get It Right the First Time
"I'm not much good at conversation. I never was much good at coming on real strong. But if all it takes is inspiration, then I might have just what it takes, if I don't make no bad mistakes and I get it right the first time." I used to always think of this song as the second worst song on the album. Even if it is, it's still a damn good song!
"I might find the courage, yeah, I might get up the nerve, but if my timing ain't just right, what purpose would that serve? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know how to say those first few words. If I want to put myself in touch, the first few moments mean so much." Yet another example of why I was never a hit with the girls back in the day. I lacked the courage, lacked the nerve, and lacked the timing.
Everybody Has a Dream
"While in these days of quiet desperation as I wander through the world in which I live, I search everywhere for some new inspiration. But, it's more than cold reality can give." It's a fine song, but at age 11 I wasn't buying Billy Joel albums to listen to gospel music.
There's a reason this album was Billy Joel's big breakthrough. The songwriting is top-notch, and so is the performance. Little did I know that that trip to Downey would change my life.
Up next: Joan's paint and glass.
About that album cover---let's see if we can bump that rating up a notch. The mask on the pillow is the face of The Stranger--the one that we hide away and take out and put on when everyone has gone. Billy is uncomfortably crouched on the edge of the bed, almost falling off. This symbolizes that he's on the precipice of change--something is about to happen soon, because you can't sleep on the edge of the bed like that and not fall off. He's staring at the face of The Stranger, thinking about putting it on. But what would happen if he did? What would he transform into? The looming shadow behind Billy suggests something dark and threatening. Billy is dressed in a suit in bed, which is definitely not the proper attire for sleeping, unless you're sitting behind the sacrament table during fast and testimony meeting. The suit is a piece of clothing that we put on to hide our true selves from everyone else in the world. The suit lets us present ourselves at our best, not our worst. But Billy isn't fully dressed. He's barefoot. That means he's not complete in his outward presentation to the world, and he's vulnerable. Maybe that's why he's thinking of putting on the face of The Stranger? But if he takes off the suit, what will he wear instead? The boxing gloves. The face of The Stranger for Billy is that of a fighter who performs in front of other people, like how Ali dances while the audience applauds.
ReplyDeleteThe album cover represents the struggle that we all have throughout our lives with putting on and taking off the faces of The Stranger. It represents our inability to be self-aware of who we really are deep inside ourselves, and our inability to honestly connect with those around us.
Which brings me to two realizations that I had while reading your write-up of The Stranger. First, I did not realize that your first album purchase ever at the age of 11 was a Billy Joel album. In my hubris, I thought I was the one in the Arimo Mafia (a truly dangerous crowd!) that introduced my friends to the awesomeness of Billy's music with my non-stop playing of the album Glass Houses. But that is clearly not the case. It had to be you who first discovered Billy, and you were the one that introduced me to the awesomeness of Billy's music. This is obviously one of my weaknesses as a human being--my lack of self-awareness and my inexcusable cluelessness regarding my friends' own private lives. I was too selfishly focused on The Strangers in my own life to open myself up to understanding The Strangers in my friends lives.
The second, and rather shocking, realization was that you had been extra cautious with your heart in your early years because you saw what happened to a good friend when he left himself emotionally vulnerable in a relationship with a girl. It really saddened me to think that you had been so negatively impacted by your good friend's unrequited love that you shut yourself off from the possibility of receiving love from or giving love. It also saddened me to think about what young Sheldon must of gone through to become so vulnerable in matters of the heart. I knew he liked Carol Cole in elementary school, but I had no idea that her rejection of his love would have had such an intense emotional impact on him...or you. Carol never really paid any attention to my elementary school shenanigans. From kindergarten all the way through senior year of high school, she only threw shadows at me, so I was unaware of the full extent of her cruelty towards Scapell. I mean, it's like she just carelessly cut him and laughed while he's bleeding! But I suppose she can do what she pleases, because she can't be convicted. (I think it has to do with the Statue of Limitations that we used to climb on outside of the church after primary.)
Nardo
Sorry, I don't think I'm budging on the rating of the album cover. Yes, I understand everything you said about it, but if you have to argue about the meaning of an album cover, it kind of loses some of its oomph. The biggest component of an album cover's value comes from the visceral feel of just looking at it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as who influenced who into liking Billy Joel, don't underestimate your influence on me there. Just because I bought a Billy Joel album first doesn't mean I influenced you. Billy Joel was certainly popular enough at the time that we both could have come into our Billy Joel fandom independent of each other. And I can definitely say that your love of Billy's music helped kick me up a notch from "yeah, I kinda like his music" to "this guy is the best."