Billy Joel: And So It Goes (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

-(horn honking)
-(engines revving)
(gentle music playing)
(siren wailing)
(engine revving)
♪♪
(buzzing)
Billy Joel:
Ah, key change.
-(laughing)
-It's like a flat.
One half step down.
(scanner beeping)
(audience chattering)
(audience cheering)
(cheering intensifies)
("My Life" playing)
Mmm, yeah ♪
Alright ♪
Yeah!
I don't need you
to worry for me ♪
'Cause I'm alright ♪
I don't want you
to tell me it's time ♪
To come home ♪
I don't care
what you say anymore ♪
This is my life ♪
Go ahead
with your own life ♪
Leave me alone ♪
Keep it to yourself ♪
It's my life ♪
I don't like being told
what to do.
I never did.
They will tell you
you can't sleep alone ♪
In a strange place ♪
When I was growing up,
it was, "You're going
to graduate high school,
"you're going to college,
you're going to get
a good job, that's it."
And there was really
nothing beyond that.
Ah, but sooner or later
you sleep ♪
In your own space ♪
And I thought, wait a minute,
that doesn't really suit
what I want my life to be.
I want to be
something different.
That's kind of
my life's philosophy.
If I want to do it,
I'll do it.
I don't need your authority
to get me there.
Keep it to yourself ♪
It's my life ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
The pop music artist
of the '70s
known as "The Piano Man"
is alive
and doing rather well
in the '80s.
Proof of that could be found
in Cincinnati tonight.
Dan Royal was there.
Dan Dan: At age 33,
Billy Joel has been
29 years on the piano.
1973 was a turning point
in his career,
some say,
with the song "Piano Man."
National attention followed
by a string of hits.
But just about a year ago,
another milestone:
the motorcycle accident.
The wrist got broken.
Wrist is, you know, it's
I don't have full range
of motion in it.
I should be able to get
my hand down further,
but I can't.
And the thumb got crushed.
So there's a piece of bone
missing in the thumb.
It hurts. (chuckles)
But, uh, I mean,
this is rock and roll.
This I'm not
Vladimir Horowitz here.
-(upbeat music playing)
-(audience cheering)
Bob Sirott: In the past year,
Joel has split with his wife.
You'd think that
and the accident
would tone this guy
down a little.
I accept it
with quiet dignity and grace.
I do not want to live!
And the dogs go mad
in packs on the west side ♪
reporter: Have you been taking
very good care of Billy?
I hear that you've had
a few personal problems,
but you've got
a new manager now and
No, they beat me up
every night.
-(reporter chuckles)
-Yeah.
You know
that motorcycle accident?
I was driving the car.
-(laughter)
While the millionaires hide
in Beekman Place ♪
The bag ladies throw
their bones in my face ♪
(indistinct)
I don't wanna hear it
but he won't turn it down ♪
Dan: For those who had
any doubt, Billy is back.
And the strange thing:
about it,
the crowds never seem
to have left.
Billy: The album
"Glass Houses"
was great to play live.
It had stronger dynamics
to get across
in a big venue.
It was closer
to the rock and roll music
that used to excite me
when I was younger.
And after that album was done,
I wanted to completely
change direction.
I was going
through a divorce.
I was reevaluating
everything in my life.
I wanted to do
something more serious.
(camera shutter clicks)
I went into
the studio last year
to do this album,
but I got hung up
finishing it
because I'd had
a motorcycle accident,
and that kind of threw
the whole scheduling off
and everything.
It took a long time to make,
but I'm glad I stuck with it.
Billy doesn't have
that much patience
in the studio
making a record.
I would say "The Nylon
Curtain" was the exception.
Billy: I wanted to make
a real sonic masterpiece.
Bradshaw Leigh: Normally,
you would use the studio
to capture something
that you were creating.
In this case, there was a lot
of work in the studio
using the technology
to finish the song.
Billy: I was experimenting
playing the studio
as an instrument.
He was creating moods
and soundscapes,
like in "Scandinavian Skies."
I could play
the blues all night ♪
Ah ♪
Larry Franke: It was
an incredibly fertile time
musically and creatively
for Billy.
They started changing
what I was hearing
in my headphones.
The vocal sounded different.
The echo sounded different.
I said, oh, wow,
I can write to that.
Pressure! Pressure! ♪
It's so fucking weird
and avant garde.
I wanted to create something
where the sound was
as important
as the notes themselves.
("Pressure" playing)
For "Pressure," I'm hearing
this Tchaikovsky like
And I want to hear mandolins
and balalaikas.
Phil Ramone found these
Russian balalaika players,
brought them all
into the studio.
Which is kind of weird,
walking in the studio,
seeing all these old guys
with these old instruments.
But it was very cool.
And it sounded great.
Six balalaika players,
for what?
In a semicircle.
(humming)
You're kidding me.
No, that's what we want to do.
Pressure! ♪
One, two, three, four
Pressure! ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Billy: I'm probably
the most proud of that album
as a work of sonic art.
And it was a transition
in how I wrote.
Because the music
kind of directed me
towards writing
a different kind of lyric.
It can't just be about love
and girlfriends.
It has to be serious.
Because the music
was more serious.
I had grown up.
I wasn't in my 20s anymore.
It wasn't just
about rock and roll.
It was about the world.
It was the era of Reagan
which was supposed to be
the shining city on the hill,
but there was a lot
of underbelly stuff going on.
The promise of America
wasn't there anymore.
Things were really changing.
(whistle hoots)
("Allentown" playing)
Well, we're living here
in Allentown ♪
And they're closing
all the factories down ♪
The steel industry
was dying in Pennsylvania.
People were out of work.
This was in the headlines
every day.
here in Allentown ♪
But they've taken all
the coal from the ground ♪
Jackson Browne:
At a certain point,
he sort of turned
his attention
to songs like "Allentown."
The camera pulls back,
and you see us all
in a particular place in time.
Every child had
a pretty good shot ♪
To get at least as far
as their old man got ♪
Anthony DeCurtis:
I think he really got a lot
of what he was trying
to go for.
It was very much
a Billy Joel song
and very much a song about
something larger than him.
place ♪
Whoa ♪
And it's getting
very hard to stay ♪
And we're living here
in Allentown ♪
Jackson: The egalitarian
nature of that song,
a connection
to working people,
that's really important
in his music.
Paul McCartney:
His songs relate to people.
He knows
what will reach someone,
because he's felt it himself.
So he's got the passion,
and I think it starts
in the purity of the music.
He cares about
the human experience.
There's no bullshit.
He wrote songs that matter.
We met as soulmates ♪
On Parris Island ♪
Billy: There's a song
on "The Nylon Curtain"
that I wrote for my friends
who were veterans of Vietnam.
They told me they wanted me
to write a song for them,
and I said, well,
I didn't go to Vietnam.
I don't think I have
credibility to write a song.
And they said, "We'll tell
you what we went through."
sharp
as sharp as knives ♪
And we were so gung ho
to lay down our lives ♪
There was never
a song really written
from the soldier's
point of view,
who was the guy over there
getting his ass shot off.
Not whether it was wrong,
whether it was right.
It was just: How did you feel
when you were over there?
And we held
onto each other ♪
Like brother to brother ♪
Bruce Springsteen:
All art has
political implications.
But Billy's thing was
less political
than just pure attitude.
Billy's angry young man thing
was literally just that,
you know, it wasn't
an angry activist young man.
One of the things I like
about Billy's writing
is that he never
directly goes there.
It's also a part of why
the material hasn't dated.
all go down together ♪
soldiers: Yes, we will
all go down together ♪
Steven Hyden: When I listen
to "Goodnight Saigon,"
I'm not thinking about
the socio-political
ramifications
of the Vietnam War.
I'm thinking about
the guys in that song.
I think Billy Joel at
his best writes about people,
not causes or concepts.
(audience cheering)
Billy: Thank you.
You've been incredible.
I've never liked
getting political onstage.
People want to get away
from a lot of that stuff,
I realize that.
(audience cheering)
But sometimes,
there are things that happen,
and you can't just look away.
When I wore
the yellow Star of David
about a week
after Charlottesville,
The Unite the Right rally
all: Jews will not replace us!
Billy: I had
to do something.
I was angry.
Here they are
marching through
an American city
saying, "Jews will not
replace us."
We fought a war to,
you know, defeat these people.
(clamoring)
Billy: And then when Trump
comes out and says,
"There were very fine people
on both sides."
You had people that were
very fine people
on both sides.
You know, he should have
come out and said
those are bad people.
There is no qualifying it.
The Nazis are not good people.
Period.
And I was angry.
I was very angry,
and I had to do something.
But I didn't want to get up
on a soapbox onstage
and say this is wrong.
So I wore the star,
basically to say
no matter what,
I will always be a Jew.
-(projector clicking)
-(pleasant music playing)
Billy: I am a Jew.
My father grew up in Germany
in a well-to-do family.
I only met my father's
parents a few times.
They were very proud
to be German.
They weren't practicing Jews.
My father got bar mitzvahed,
and that was it.
They really didn't go
to synagogue.
But in Germany,
if your family was Jewish,
you were a Jew.
My paternal grandfather,
Karl Joel,
had a business called
Joel Macht Fabrik
in Nuremberg,
and they had a factory
where they made textiles
and clothing.
His business was doing
very, very well
until the Nazis came
to power.
They were wealthy people.
They lived in a nice house
next to a park.
The park was where they had
the Nazi Nuremberg rallies.
crowd: Heil!
Heil! Heil!
Heil! Heil!
(Hitler talking in German)
Billy: My dad would look
over the fence
while they were doing all
these anti-Semitic speeches
and see this going on.
I can't imagine
the trauma
to watch the SS parade
espousing these principles.
He was born in 1923,
so he was 10
when Hitler became
Chancellor of Germany.
Things got nasty.
The German government
revoked the citizenship
of anyone who was Jewish.
You couldn't sit in the park.
You couldn't walk
on the street.
You had no rights at all.
The Jewish kids
in the school had
to sit on the other side
of the class.
Eventually, he couldn't
even go to school.
There was a newspaper editor,
Julius Streicher,
who had a couple
of anti-Semitic newspapers
that they published.
"Der Stürmer" was
the big one.
They would target
my grandfather.
"The Jew Joel,"
he was referred to.
Billy: Eventually,
these ordinances and laws,
anti-Semitic newspapers
took a toll on the business.
They had to stamp everything
that they mailed out
with a "J" for "Jew."
I don't know why he thought
he could survive this,
because it was
becoming apparent
that no Jewish business was
going to be able to survive.
He must have been an optimist
or just didn't want
to see it,
didn't want to know it.
They were forced to sell
the business for nothing.
You know, like pennies
on the dollar,
to a guy named Neckermann.
But Neckermann never paid.
My grandfather was asking what
he should do to get the money
and he got a message,
"We'll settle the account."
He was warned
at the last minute,
you know, watch out.
They're going to kill you.
My grandfather realized
this is it.
I better leave while I can.
And he was lucky.
They got to go
across the Swiss border
which was difficult
for a lot of people.
If my grandparents
had been found on the train
with the documents
that said "Jew,"
they would have been
sent immediately
to a concentration camp.
They got out. A miracle.
The ironic thing is,
when Neckermann took over
the business,
they actually started
to manufacture
the striped pajamas
that the prisoners
in the concentration camps
had to wear.
That was made
by Joel Macht Fabrik.
I didn't know
any of that
until I was in my mid-20s.
There's still a lot
I don't know.
I'm still trying
to put the pieces together.
I didn't know
my father at all
from the time I was
about eight years old
until I was in my mid-20s.
Tried to, um
figure out
where he was,
how I, how I could
contact him, but nobody knew.
Well, so here I am ♪
At the end of the road ♪
Where do I go from here? ♪
Billy: When I was 21, 22,
I went to Europe.
I played in clubs, and I
played in these little bars
and showcase places.
And I figured maybe
I could track down
my father somewhere
because I never heard
from him.
I never got a card,
not a phone call, nothing.
And I was wondering, is he
dead or alive? I didn't know.
And it's hard ♪
The day I was leaving
to go back to the States,
I get a, a telegram,
and it says,
"We found your father."
And oh, my God,
they found my father.
W-w-w-where?
How do I do that?
And then I found out
my father lived in Vienna.
I went to visit
my father's apartment,
and there was
a little blonde boy.
I found out
I had a half-brother.
Alex Joel: I met Bill
when I was five.
I remember that moment.
It was my first day in school.
And I just got out of school.
He read me a goodnight story.
Billy: I saw pictures
of my father
playing in the snow
and skiing.
And I said,
you never did that with me.
How come
What did I do?
How come
I never heard nothing?
I had conflicting feelings
about it,
but he had
a very strange life.
He fought in the US Army
under General Patton.
They liberated Dachau.
I tried to get him
to talk about it,
but he didn't really want
to talk about his past.
And I heard most of it
from my brother.
Alex: In the first week,
he was there
after it was liberated
and saw the terrible things.
It was something that,
uh, deeply traumatized him.
Billy: And then I found out
about my father's family.
They were hunted.
Alex: Many from my family
were in Auschwitz.
Our whole family,
most of them were killed.
Billy: I visited
the graveyard
where the Joel
family's buried,
and I didn't even know
I had that many relatives.
There's an underlying rage
that comes out sometimes.
And it's, "What are you
getting all mad about?
Nobody did anything to you."
But they wiped out my family.
I would have liked to have
known some of these people.
And so, my father,
he was very internal.
Very dark man.
And he told me once
when I was a little kid,
"Life is a cesspool."
Wow. That's not
a great outlook on life.
After he moved
to the States,
he didn't really take
to America.
He thought it was
too commercial.
Lacking in culture.
And the anti-Semitism
he ran into
embittered him a good deal.
And then when
my grandparents decided
they were going
to move back to Germany,
my father and mother divorced
around that time,
and he moved back to Europe.
Russell Javors:
I was there when Billy
met with his dad.
His father walks in,
and nobody's saying anything,
but you could see the angst.
Billy: It was awkward.
How do you reconnect
with your father?
How does he reconnect
with his son?
I guess we were too shy
to talk to each other.
We just kind of spent time
being near each other
and trying to warm it up
and figure out
how to communicate.
Neither of us knew
how to do it.
(inaudible)
Those thoughts marinated.
And one day, I just sat down
and started writing
this song.
This is for my father.
Okay. Here we go.
(playing "Vienna")
(audience applauding,
cheering)
Slow down
you crazy child ♪
You're so ambitious
for a juvenile ♪
But then
if you're so smart ♪
Tell me why are you
still so afraid?
Hmm ♪
Where's the fire?
What's the hurry about? ♪
You better cool it off
before you burn it out ♪
You got so much to do
and only so many ♪
Howad Stern: I've had
the privilege of getting
to know Billy personally.
And Billy had a lot of trauma
in his young life.
When you look
at some of Billy's songs,
you see a glimpse of this.
When will you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪
Billy:
"Vienna waits for you."
I suppose it's what
I was searching for.
You know,
my father was there.
I know I was searching
for him.
But beyond my father,
it's the music city
of the world.
So it has a lot of meaning.
There's a lot
of different layers to it.
Too bad, but it's
the life you lead ♪
You're so ahead
of yourself ♪
That you forgot
what you need ♪
Howard: I think Billy's story
is way deeper psychologically
than Billy wants to know.
You're right ♪
Howard: There are
certain traumas
that one never gets over,
and there are
certain motivators in life
that sometimes
we're not even aware of.
But I think his drive comes
from wanting to know
his father through music.
When will you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪
(slams key)
(audience cheering
applauding)
Alright. Thank you.
Now, I want to try playing
the piano with my father
if he'll come up and do it.
(audience cheering,
applauding)
(playing upbeat music)
Billy: There was always
a remoteness,
there was always
a distance.
He was one of those people
who kind of held you off.
(upbeat music continues)
Billy: I wanted
to be close to him.
I would have liked my father
to have been proud of me.
I would have liked
to have talked to him
about music and life.
But we never really made
a strong connection.
Never really had
that magic moment.
It's disappointing.
Where's the orchestra? ♪
Wasn't this supposed
to be a musical? ♪
Here I am in the balcony ♪
How the hell could I have
missed the overture? ♪
I like ♪
Billy:
"Where's the Orchestra?" was
the last song I wrote
on "The Nylon Curtain" album.
Even though I have ♪
Absolutely no ♪
Idea at all ♪
It was a song
of disillusionment.
It's a summation
of life for me.
Life is not a musical,
it's a Greek tragedy.
Where's the orchestra? ♪
(audience cheering)
Goodnight, D.C. Don't take
any shit from anybody.
Billy: I was wiped out
emotionally,
physically from doing
"The Nylon Curtain."
I felt like
I was close to death.
I'd been on the road
year after year after year,
writing, recording,
touring, on and on and on.
And I'd really never
taken a vacation.
So I was talking with
Paul Simon, who was a friend.
He said, "Why don't you go
to this place
down in the Caribbean
called Saint Barts."
I never heard of it.
"It's really quiet.
It's real chill.
"You'll really like it.
Nobody's going
to bother you."
So I took his advice
and I went to Saint Barts.
I just thought
this is going to be
a quiet little island.
Let me tell you a story ♪
photographer: There you go.
reporter: Christie Brinkley
has hooked the brass ring
on the modeling
merry-go-round.
This golden girl
from California
has run up
the astounding record
of appearing on more than
100 magazine covers.
She was always
Christie Lee ♪
Christie Brinkley:
I was on a shoot.
We were in Saint Barts.
One of the people
from our crew
comes running in and goes,
"Oh, my God, you guys,
Billy Joel's at the PLM."
We zip over to the PLM,
and he's sitting at the bar.
One of the things
I love about Billy
is he's never comfortable
in a room
until he sees a piano.
He doesn't perform
so other people
can hear him play.
It's like
his security blanket.
So it isn't surprising
he's down there.
He's in Saint Barts.
He's in a bar.
There's a piano.
He sits down to play.
And he looks up,
and there are
these amazingly beautiful
models staring down at him.
Christie: He's burned
to a crisp.
He's got, like, a Hawaiian
shirt on or something,
you know,
like his holiday shirt.
Billy: I said, oh, my God,
this is fantastic.
Thank you so much, Mr. Piano.
Christie: Right away,
he cracked me up.
He was so funny.
And he's like, "Let me play
a couple songs for you."
There's a piano bench,
so I go over and sit next
to him and he goes,
"What kind of music
do you like?"
And I just launch into,
Olha que coisa mais linda
mais cheia de graça ♪
And I'm doing
the singing,
and Billy's kind of like,
you know, "Okay, alright."
He's playing the song,
and I'm singing.
And then,
in comes Elle MacPherson.
She is a huge
Billy Joel fan.
She's got this gorgeous body,
and she's draping
the gorgeous body
all over the place to try
and get his attention.
So I'm chatting up Elle,
I'm chatting up Christie.
All of a sudden,
this young girl
comes over and goes,
"Well, I can sing too."
Yeah, yeah,
sure you are.
Like, hey,
don't bother me, kid.
This young, beautiful girl
comes out with this voice.
It was Whitney
freakin' Houston!
Christie: It was like
her first modeling job.
It was amazing.
Billy: They were
all beautiful.
They were all models.
And I was just a schlub
with a sunburn
playing the piano.
And then Billy, you know,
finally got a chance
to sing a couple songs.
He was just so fun and funny
and, uh, pink and shiny.
And (chuckles)
there was something
very endearing about him.
We just had a great time
laughing, talking,
all of that.
And so we decided
that we would stay in touch.
Billy: We both lived
in New York City,
and we started to hang out
and liked each other.
Christie:
I said to my mom,
I'm seeing this guy
who's so sweet,
but he's, like, you know,
not really my type.
He's kind of got, like,
the Long Island bubble hair.
But he's really
interesting and fun.
And she said, "Honey,
you can change the hair.
"You can change his shoes.
But if he's got a good heart,
you should follow your heart."
So we went out, like,
on a real date
to a Beach Boys concert.
And, of course,
Billy ended up on stage.
There was something
really sweet
and old fashion-y about him.
So that's how our friendship
turned into our romance.
Whoa ♪
For the longest time ♪
Billy: You know,
here I am dating
this beautiful supermodel,
and me?
I'm from Hicksville.
What am I doing with her?
What's she doing with me?
But it was a very
productive time for me.
I wrote a lot
of songs for her.
She was a muse.
It was like being
a teenager all over again,
experiencing those
same emotions
that I had when I was
first discovering
romance and love.
We're having
the best time!
Whoa ♪
For the longest time ♪
Whoa ♪
For the longest ♪
I'm that voice ♪
You're hearing
in the hall ♪
And the greatest
miracle of all ♪
Christie: It was fun
to be having
this whirlwind romance
and having certain aspects
of that turn into music.
("An Innocent Man" playing)
(audience cheering)
Some people stay
far away from the door ♪
If there's a chance
of it opening up ♪
Billy: I wanted
to do something simple
and dumb and happy.
And I did "An Innocent Man,"
which is really an homage
to all the music
of my teenage years.
Some people live
with the fear of a touch ♪
And the anger
of having been a fool ♪
Billy: Like the song
"Innocent Man"
is done in the style
of The Drifters.
cry, because I am
an innocent man ♪
with an uptown girl ♪
Billy: With "Uptown Girl,"
I wanted to recapture
The Four Seasons
with Frankie Valli.
And when she's walkin'
she's lookin' ♪
So fine ♪
We were all
bar band guys,
and it was kind of like
the '50s
and the '60s again,
playing the music we grew up
learning how to play.
Under the boardwalk ♪
Down by the sea, yeah ♪
band: Under the boardwalk ♪
Boardwalk ♪
(laughter)
Billy: We were having a blast
making those recordings.
And all those songs
for "An Innocent Man,"
they came fast.
(snapping fingers)
I mean, just
This is how I'm feeling.
This is what I'm writing.
This is what it is.
I want the easy ♪
Easy, easy money ♪
Alan Hunter: Billy Joel
is in the middle
of a national tour
that was sold out
before he ever hit the road.
Tell her about it ♪
Billy: On the tour,
there's a whole new audience.
A lot younger kids
who didn't know
anything about "Piano Man,"
who don't even know
"The Stranger,"
who may only know
from the videos of "Pressure"
and "Allentown"
and the new videos
we did
on "An Innocent Man."
They've just discovered me
through that, which is great.
Billy's incredible, man.
-interviewer: How old are you?
-Sixteen.
Billy: This was
the early '80s
when MTV came to be.
announcer:
MTV Music Television!
Video music 24 hours a day!
Christie:
Billy didn't really enjoy
having to do videos.
He wanted his music
to just paint the air
and for people to use
their own imagination,
which is limitless.
(singing indistinctly)
Christie: Plus he didn't
think he was
a matinee idol type
for these videos.
We want to look good
on camera, don't we?
That's right,
and Paula makes sure we do.
Christie: But he realized
they were important.
So these videos ended up
being a big part
of his career.
This is not a video. This is
a mini major motion picture.
It's a three minute movie.
Jon Small: At that time,
I had just started
doing music videos.
I had my own
little production company.
So I call Billy
and I tell him what I'm doing.
-crew member 1: Quiet!
-crew member 2: Rolling!
Jon: The first one
they wanted to do
was "Tell Her About It."
And Dennis Arfa,
Billy's agent,
said, "I could get you
Rodney Dangerfield."
Hi, this is
Rodney Dangerfield.
I'll be on MTV,
the world premiere
of the Billy Joel video.
Listen, boy, I don't want ♪
To see you let
a good thing slip away ♪
Slip away ♪
Jon: So we made
"Tell Her About It."
It came out great.
Christie: They ended up doing
some of the real standouts
of that period.
I had to wait forever ♪
But better late
than never ♪
Hi, I'm Billy Joel,
and you're watching me
on MTV,
Music Television.
-(beep)
-(distant siren wailing)
Jon: The next video
was "Uptown Girl."
Billy said
so we'll get Christie.
I go, yeah,
but she's in the newspaper
with you every day.
It only makes sense
to be her, you know?
So then I went to Christie.
Christie goes, "You see this?
This is money."
So I said, look, you're only
in it for a little bit.
We'll get the hair and makeup
you want, whatever you want.
Just tell Billy
you want to do it.
So she told Billy
she wanted to do it.
With an uptown girl ♪
You know I've seen her
in her uptown world ♪
She's getting tired
of her high class toys
And all the presents
from her uptown boys ♪
She's got a choice ♪
I felt comfortable
in the gas station outfit
because I used to work
at a gas station.
white-bred world ♪
As long as anyone
with hot blood can ♪
And now she's looking
for a downtown man ♪
That's what I am ♪
And when she's walkin' ♪
She's lookin' so fine ♪
And when she's talkin' ♪
She'll say that
she's mine ♪
Billy said, "Well,
I don't want to dance."
I said, well,
you're not dancing.
You're just going
from A to B,
and you're doing it
with some style, you know?
Oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪
Dennis Arfa:
It was upspirited,
and it showed
the celebrity power.
Uptown girl ♪
She's my uptown girl ♪
You know, they were
the most powerful,
uh, celebrity couple
at that time.
I mean, the ultimate
rock-pop star
and the world's
greatest model
now in this celebrity video,
which is still legendary
to this day.
I'm in love
with an uptown girl ♪
My uptown girl ♪
Dennis: "Uptown Girl"
was a monster
worldwide record.
Are you the man singing
"Uptown Girl?"
-Billy: That's me!
-Billy and Christie: Oh ♪
Dennis: The momentum,
the album had, like,
four hit singles on it.
But again,
it was battling the critics.
Bruce: Particularly
in the early '80s,
people if they felt something
wasn't, quote, rock and roll,
you know, it came in for
a certain sort of criticism.
John Rockwell:
All the rock critics
were totally interested
in blues-based rock.
Well, Billy Joel did not fit
into that mold.
And, as such, awakened
their indifference or scorn.
Don Henley: We had that
in common with Bill.
We got a lot of bad reviews.
And I took it personally.
You know, it hurt.
I thought, who are these guys?
You know?
And they don't know me.
I know that he hated
the rock critics.
I know it bugged
the fuck out of him.
Piss on a bunch of critics.
Every critic
that ever criticized Billy,
where are they?
Where are all these people
that knew so much
about what we
should be doing?
Edna Gunderson:
Billy put so much
of himself in these songs.
I mean, so many of them
are autobiographical
that he is kind of spilling
his guts and his life
and his soul,
putting it out there,
and then have somebody
slap them down.
You know, it,
it's very painful.
Bryant Gumbel: Though he's
sold over 40 million albums,
won five Grammys, and seen
over a dozen singles go gold,
critical acclaim has, for
the most part, eluded Joel.
Critics charge that
his varied styles
deprive him of an authentic
musical identity,
and others label him
an unoriginal imitator.
A musical chameleon
of sorts.
The charges have
understandably left
Billy Joel perhaps
a bit defensive overall.
Billy: I don't think
that's bad.
To me, it means renaissance.
I do change all the time.
I'm interested
in all kinds of music.
Steven: If you aren't inclined
to like Billy Joel,
his versatility actually
becomes a liability.
A lot of critics
looked at Billy Joel
as almost like
a carpetbagger.
This is a guy who doesn't
have his own identity.
That he would do anything
to get on the radio.
He would, you know,
just chase any trend.
And yeah, you know,
he writes nice songs,
but he's unoriginal
and derivative.
John: The critics
didn't appreciate
Billy Joel's musicality.
For that crowd,
musicality is a bad word.
But even with all of the
eclecticism of his influences,
there is an authenticity
about him.
And people respond to that.
They think they know him,
and they respond
to what he says and feels.
Edna: If you look
at Billy Joel's songs,
he doesn't beat
around the bush.
He doesn't write
these obscure lyrics.
He's very straightforward
and he's very openhearted,
and you know exactly
where he's coming from
and what he's saying.
I don't dwell in a lot
of metaphor and simile.
I write like I talk,
and I write how I think.
I think that's another reason
that critics
sort of look down on him.
But this is exactly what some
of the greatest songwriters
of the popular era,
you know,
of the American Songbook did.
Sting: He's one of the few
contemporary songwriters
who can write a standard
by those rules,
you know, where there's verse,
chorus, verse, chorus,
middle eight,
key change, coda.
That art is dying out.
He's a structural songwriter,
and that's really
what I appreciate.
I think it also is
what makes songs last.
Tell her about it ♪
Tell her everything
you feel ♪
Billy: A lot of critics
didn't like
the "Innocent Man" album.
Tough shit.
It's like, I want to do
what I'm interested in.
I want to do
what I want to hear.
(song ends)
(audience cheering,
applauding)
The greatest
rock and roll show ever!
paparazzi:
Billy! Billy! Billy!
(paparazzi clamoring)
Mark Rivera: I never saw him
on the cover of magazines
with his arm
around anybody until then.
Then he's like, pff,
the paparazzi
couldn't get enough of them.
It exploded.
There you have it,
the paparazzi of London.
Steve:
During the Christie years,
there was a super intensity.
He became a celebrity.
But I don't think
I ever saw him
being comfortable
with any of it.
Paparazzi: Christie,
can you look this way?
Christie: She does.
Look, look.
Our first ever argument
was because
we got surrounded
by paparazzis
and Billy was
really rude to them.
And I said,
it's so much easier
just to give them a smile.
Now they're going to probably
get a picture of you going
grr, arr, ahh, you know,
and they'll run those.
If you just see
the camera, smile,
they'll get their shot
and leave us alone.
And so we used to joke.
Every time we'd see a camera,
I'd strike a pose,
and he'd go
(camera shutter clicking)
We started doing
this shtick everywhere.
But she's always
a woman to me ♪
Oh, and she
never gives out ♪
Liberty DeVitto:
You know, I remember
they were going out,
they were dating.
And I remember saying, like,
you going to get married?
And he goes,
"You think I should?"
I said, I think you should.
Yeah, I think you should.
Morris Jones:
Pop-rock singer Billy Joel
is tying the knot tonight
in New York.
His bride is fashion model
Christie Brinkley.
Even though
I'm in love ♪
Christie: We wanted
to get married in the harbor
with the New York skyline,
the Statue of Liberty.
Liberty: The wedding
was great. We all went.
Me, Steve, and Brian
were in the bridal party.
He borrowed all my 45s
and gave them to the DJ,
and we played all
that kind of music.
We had a lot of people.
Record industry people,
some model industry people,
the whole band was there,
friends, family.
It was really fun
and glamorous.
Liberty: It was a big deal.
It was like, this is,
this is fame.
(yodels)
Didn't I say
I wasn't ready for romance? ♪
Shoop, shoop-ahh ♪
Christie: Today is
December 15th, 1985,
and this is our new town
of East Hampton.
Isn't it beautiful?
A slow dance ♪
Hello!
This comes up
our driveway now.
there and then ♪
Christie:
Those first couple years,
it was just so much fun.
It was so great.
And here it comes! Oh, yay!
man: Oh, yeah.
who's seen
it all before? ♪
Now that you're here
it's not the same situation ♪
We made it back home!
The sailors! Yay!
Tomorrow ♪
Is a long time away ♪
This night ♪
Can last forever ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Billy: Someone's looking
a bit larger these days.
Only four weeks to go now.
Three and days.
Billy: Three
and a couple of days.
Well, this is
the 16th of December,
so the next time we film,
maybe we'll tell the tale.
news anchor:
Cover girl Christie Brinkley
and singer Billy Joel
are now proud parents.
Brinkley gave birth to a six
and a half pound baby girl
last night
at a Manhattan hospital.
Billy: I don't think
you really can grow up
until you've had the
experience of being a parent
and all of a sudden,
the emphasis
of everything isn't you.
It gives you a whole
different perspective.
Unconditional love.
I never knew a feeling
like that before,
till I held this little child
in my arms.
This is more important
than me.
This is everything.
This is the future.
And I'm responsible for it.
I better make sure
I do the right thing.
Here we go.
This is the time
to remember ♪
'Cause it will not
last forever ♪
I didn't have a dad.
I wanted to be the dad
that I didn't have.
It was very important to me.
-Hi!
-Hi!
Alexa Ray Joel: I grew up
in East Hampton.
And I thought, wow,
my parents are really popular.
I didn't know that my
parents were the celebrities.
I thought I was the star
because that's how
they treated me as a child.
They were always filming me
and building me up
and always making me the star
of their family musicals.
Daddy, daddy, daddy, da ♪
-That's me.
-Daddy, daddy ♪
Christie: Billy would
sit down at the piano
and start playing,
and she would just tune in
to the piano
and then start singing.
The Yanks are coming ♪
The drums rum-tumming
everywhere ♪
Alexa: Every day
we would sing.
And when my grandmother,
I call her Nanny Roz,
was with us,
she was always singing.
She loved musical theater
with such a passion.
There's a song
from the musical "Showboat:"
Because he's just my Bill ♪
She named my father
after that song.
Roz was one of a kind.
When she and Billy
would get together,
they always loved singing
little songs from Broadway,
and they would go in
and out of accents.
(imitating Vito Corleone)
You never come to my house
-anymore for coffee.
-(laughter)
Christie: They loved
putting on a show together.
-One more for my baby ♪
-(audience cheering)
And one more for the road ♪
Alexa: My grandmother
was extremely extroverted,
almost to a fault.
Just such an endless well
of emotion
always bubbling up
inside of her.
She would just start
singing something,
and then she would
become overcome
with the emotion,
she'd just start crying.
Christie:
She was unpredictable.
Very erratic moods, oh, yes.
You know,
that was hard for him,
to have his mom act
erratically like that.
But I think that he felt an
enormous amount of sympathy
for her plight
as a single mom.
Billy:
She was always there. Always.
She was
the original motivator.
She was my champion.
Christie: Through thick
and thin, he loved her.
And she was so proud
that he was so successful
and traveling
all over the world.
There's Big Ben, Alexa.
See that big clock up there?
Il Torcello. De prima capital
en de Venezia.
Christie: And I loved
being on the road.
And I just loved being part
of that big road family.
band and crew: Volaré ♪
Oh-oh ♪
Cantaré ♪
Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪
So I did try to go
as often as I could.
And I felt it was
really important for Billy
to have that time with Alexa.
background singer: I am ♪
Billy: An innocent man ♪
background singer:
Oh, yes, I am ♪
Christie: Do you feel like
your fans are really going
to get everything
that they're after?
Billy: No, they're not going
to get everything that
She's got dressing room stuff.
-You know, makeup things--
-Oh, yeah?
And yeah. Yeah,
she's got some great stuff.
Alexa: People really connected
to them as a couple.
I think it was fun
for people to see
that opposites can attract.
-Hi, I'm John Malkovich.
-I'm Billy Joel.
I have to tell you,
I admire the fact
that you're married
to Cindy Crawford.
No, I'm married
to Christie Brinkley.
(scoffs) You wish.
Billy: I had put out
"Nylon Curtain,"
and then I had put out
"An Innocent Man."
I had a brand new
baby daughter.
I didn't want to be
slaving away on my own
in a room by myself,
trying to come up
with song after song.
I wanted to be enjoying
my family.
So I kind of resisted it
for a couple of years.
But I knew that eventually,
I had to get back to work.
(vocalizing)
Phil Ramone: Do the harmony.
(both vocalizing)
Billy: It was kind of
a struggle to write.
I didn't have the ambition
that I did
on the previous albums.
I can hear it on the album.
I gotta come up
with another section
for it though.
Bridge or a, uh
Writing a lot of times, I see
the piano
as this big black beast
with 88 teeth
trying to bite my hands off.
And it won't come.
And it won't come.
And then when I start
to get it,
I better, you know,
make sure that I stay there
until I get it.
Because the dry feeling
is the worst.
(pleasant piano music playing)
I've always written alone.
It's very lonely.
There's solitude that I have
to have when I'm writing.
Otherwise, I get distracted.
I have to completely be
in my own cave,
like a caveman.
I get grouchy, I get cranky,
I get moody,
I go through all kinds
of emotional feelings.
I feel completely isolated
from the rest of the world.
But it has to be like that
if I'm going to write
on my own.
I just have to be able
to be completely in a vacuum.
So it is a lonely job.
To me, the main language
is the music.
There's always a message
in the music.
Even before the words.
There's something in there.
But the work
is digging it out,
figuring out what that is.
Wow. Drums sound great
in this room.
Yeah. You don't hear
the drums?
-Did it sound good?
-It was incredible.
crew member:
Hey, Lib, you can go home.
Phil: Sing.
Come on. Sing.
When I'm blue ♪
When I'm lonely ♪
Billy: I was told
by Phil Ramone,
who was a friend
of Ray Charles,
that Ray wanted
to do a song with me.
"Do you have anything in mind
that you could write
for Ray and you?"
I mean, I idolized
Ray Charles all my life.
He's probably my
favorite singer of all time.
So I thought
I'll write a song
about something
we have in common.
What's been
the most consistent thing
in our lives?
The piano.
So we flew out to Los Angeles
to do this session,
and in walked Ray Charles,
and I almost went
into a freeze-up.
Oh, my God, he's really there.
That's really Ray Charles.
I got you singin' "I've come
far from the life"
Well, I'm going
to finish up the bridge.
You want me
to keep on singin'?
Yeah.
Phil Ramone suggested,
"Why don't you just
both play the piano?"
And it broke
the ice immediately.
(moody piano music playing)
Billy: That's a bond
between people.
It's a very
emotional attachment
that we both have
to this thing.
And now I'm going to sing
with Ray Charles!
I was so intimidated.
She comes through ♪
She's the only one
who can ♪
My Baby Grand ♪
Is all I need ♪
I love the extended metaphor
of the piano
as a lifelong love affair.
I adore that song.
And then getting Ray Charles
to sing with him.
That's, that's genius.
Ray: All it takes ♪
Is the power in my hands ♪
And this Baby Grand ♪
Is good to me ♪
-That's the one.
-Oh, yeah, that's fine.
-That's soup.
-Soup!
Soup time. Soup time.
Soup du jour,
oh, yeah it is.
That's what happens
when you relax.
Yeah, that's right!
No, that's it.
A-one, a-two
a-one, two, three, four ♪
Dennis:
After "The Bridge,"
we were touring
all over the world.
Some love is just
a lie of the heart ♪
The cold remains
of what began ♪
With a passionate start ♪
Billy: We were
all over the place.
We played a lot of France.
-We were in Holland.
-Flew to London.
Billy: We played
in Berlin in 1989.
-The wall came down.
-Dennis: Right.
Billy: We were
the first act to get there
when the reunification
of Germany.
I had this whole speech.
Steve Cohen:
My sense of it is that
you would always want
to go someplace unique,
where people couldn't
experience this kind of stuff.
And you would say yes
to those things
that other guys wouldn't do,
like Russia.
reporter: What's the maximum
benefit you would like
to achieve out of this entire
two-week experience?
Billy: Make a lot
of friends,
hopefully make some people
happy with my music
and get something
that can be continued.
(choir harmonizing)
Swing low ♪
Sweet chariot ♪
Christie: This guy just
invited us to his house.
-You have good music.
-Billy: Thank you.
Pop music is
a universal language
among young people
in any country.
You know, the politicians
don't seem to be able
to make
any major breakthroughs.
I think sometimes
maybe it's up to the artists
to open up a dialogue.
-(fan speaking Russian)
-Billy: Bye-bye. Thank you.
We had a great audience
who were all excited
to hear rock and roll.
They wanted to rock out.
Steve: That was like
the spirit
of those people in Russia.
They wanted
to hang out with us.
The vodka bottle
would come on the table,
they'd take the top,
throw the top off.
I remember they didn't have
screw-on tops on the vodka.
It was a thing you took off
and you threw it away.
And I would say to them,
don't you have a top
that you can put back?
And they said, "Why?"
-Steve: "Why?"
-(laughter)
-"What for?"
-Steve: What for?
When I trashed the piano,
-the crowd loved it.
-Brian Ruggles: Oh, yeah.
They'd never
seen that before.
Rich Americans,
they smash their equipment.
Is he mad at us?
(in Russian accent)
What are you going
to trash tonight?
Whoa ♪
(audience cheering)
Christie: Da da! ♪
It's Daddy, Alexa,
in a helicopter!
It's Daddy!
Billy: I'm two days back
from Leningrad.
Christie: How does it feel
to be home?
I'm so glad
I'm-a livin' in the USA ♪
Whoa, yeah ♪
I'm so glad
livin' in the USA ♪
Hully gully ♪
Great to be back.
We're on
the road again, folks.
This time, we're going
up to Maine.
So far, we've gotten to here.
Bantam Lake.
Christie, why don't you give
'em a look at Bantam Lake.
Christie:
We actually set about
driving the coastline
from Maine,
zigzagging in and out
of the shoreline.
It was a magical trip
discovering little towns.
Billy and Christie:
My kind of town ♪
Menemsha is ♪
Christie: And it was funny
'cause every town
that we went in,
the waiter
or the owner
of the restaurant would go,
"Oh, yeah.
You guys own
that huge property
up the street."
We're like, no, no, we don't.
And then they would say,
"Oh, yeah, yeah.
You bought a, uh,
a horse from me, you know."
We'd go, no, no, we didn't.
This is interesting.
I'm kind of glad
we're going to stay
in the area
instead of driving
further down.
Because we're running
out of daylight.
Christie: We were bumping
into people,
and then it was like,
"Oh, yeah, you bought
this old hotel in,
you know, North Carolina,"
or something.
It's like, no, not us.
I started getting, like,
a little feeling
that his manager was
buying things with his money.
I thought, wow,
he's flying everywhere
on, like, a private jet.
He's buying
racehorses galore.
And everybody thinks
we own property near them.
Well, I know
you got your troubles ♪
Christie:
Something's not right here.
But I've got problems
of my own ♪
Christie:
I said to Billy,
Frank Weber
is ripping you off.
And he did not want
to hear that.
Billy: I had an apartment
in Manhattan,
and I went to look
at a house
that needed to be renovated.
And I heard that
there was issues
with the expense of that.
And people
in the music business
that I knew were telling me,
"You shouldn't have a problem
coming up with the money
to do this.
You just had
all these hit records.
Where's all your money?"
And I didn't have
an answer for that.
I really hadn't stayed
on top of that.
(applause)
Into each life
must fall some rain ♪
Jon: Billy called me
and he goes,
"I don't have enough money
to pay for my house."
I go, oh, but Frank
can pay for his house?
He goes, "Well, he doesn't
have the expenses I have."
I said, Billy, man,
you're so naive.
We all walk
in darkness sometimes ♪
Christie: Frank had become
like a confidante,
a trusted advisor.
Walter Yetnikoff:
Billy told me that
he doesn't have
a lot of money.
I mean, at this point
in his career
for Billy Joel to say,
"I don't have money,"
is ridiculous.
Something is wrong.
You've had top ten records.
You have tours,
which you should have
a lot of money.
Why don't you have
a lot of money?
What is the problem?
And he said to me,
"Mind your own
fucking business."
When I first said it
to him, he said,
"Hey, I've known him
a hell of a lot longer
than I know you."
He felt like
this was his family,
the family that he chose.
I said, look, I love you,
I'm trying to protect you.
I see people ripping you off.
Billy trusted him.
He trusted him
more than he trusted me,
which of course hurt me
to hear that.
And I said, why don't you
get an auditor?
Get an auditor.
Not saying anything is wrong,
but you ought to have
someone take a look.
So I had
an audit authorized.
And after the audit,
I found out
I didn't have anywhere near
the money I should have had.
It hit me like
a ton of bricks.
I should have been worth this,
and I was worth this.
Kurt Loder: Yesterday, Joel
filed a $90 million lawsuit
against Frank Weber,
his manager since 1980.
An independent audit of Weber
and his company,
Frank Management,
has found that, quote,
Weber used Billy as
his personal bank, unquote.
Now, it's bad enough
that the manager
used to be
Billy's brother-in-law,
but he's also the godfather
of Billy Joel's daughter.
Billy: I owed Uncle Sam
five million dollars.
I didn't have the money
I thought I had.
And it was devastating.
Dennis: Billy can have
a blind loyalty,
and he had a blind loyalty
to Frank.
And finally,
that loyalty was broken.
Billy: It was
an emotional shock.
If I can't trust this guy
to look after
my best interests.
How stupid was I?
How naive could I have been?
It was
a very depressing thing.
Frank Weber: When I started
working for Billy,
he didn't even own
all of his copyrights.
Under my direction,
we reacquired all the rights
to his, uh,
to his songs.
Rob Weller: Frank Weber says
he always acted
in Billy Joel's
best interest
and was totally unprepared
when he was hit
with a lawsuit.
Billy used to say that, uh,
he would take care of the, uh,
the music and I would
take care of the business.
(upbeat music playing)
Rob: Frank denies
these charges
and counters that
the investments
in question failed
because of the recession
and other factors.
("Last of the Big Time
Spenders" playing)
Alexa: That was
a life-changing,
tragic event for my father.
Well, if money makes
a rich man ♪
Alexa: When he betrayed
his trust
and betrayed
his friendship
Then I might never
make the grade ♪
Alexa: I think that that
was absolutely devastating.
He had a great deal
of pain about it.
I'll be
a small time operator ♪
Billy: When I found out
that my money
was pretty well spent,
I was furious.
I realized I gotta start
all over again.
I gotta go right back
to writing new songs,
recording the new songs,
and go out on the road
and try to make
that money back.
(audience cheering,
applauding)
You know, I got a family,
I got a kid,
I-I got a wife,
I-I got relatives,
I gotta take care
of everybody.
Because I was taking care
of everybody.
-Christie: You tired?
-I'm exhausted.
I haven't stopped.
spender ♪
Billy: I was worried about,
this is going to not be good
for my marriage.
This is not going to be good
for my relationship
with my daughter.
I am bitter about it.
And it gets me mad.
I want to be with them.
I don't want to be doing this
because of
financial problems.
But I had no choice.
I had to go out
and make a living.
I believe 'cause
I've been there too ♪
Christie: At this point
in his career,
he was able to book
multiple nights
at Madison Square Garden,
multiple nights in Boston.
So the possibility
of earning it back
was probably a better idea
than trying
to just keep fighting
and draining your energy
and dragging you down
and just (exhales)
So, the decision was made
to just roll up the sleeves
and get to work replenishing.
Bob Buchman:
Long Island's own
writer, composer,
singer, concert performer.
Billy Joel comin'
to Yankee Stadium.
The guy gets bigger,
I think, every single album.
Probably because
he stays a regular guy
despite all those
incredible talents.
You like the way this feels
down at the end?
Steve: Doing
a three-song encore?
That's really good, man.
Rock and roll, Billy Joel!
Good times, bad times ♪
You know I've had
my share ♪
I don't care what he sings,
I just want to see Billy Joel.
He's such an entertainer,
he gives the best concert,
-he's incredible.
-We drove all the way
from Ohio just to see
Billy Joel
play "Piano Man" once.
(folksy rock music playing)
Well, I'm on
the downeaster "Alexa" ♪
And I'm cruising
through Block Island Sound ♪
I have charted a course
to the vineyard ♪
But tonight,
I am Nantucket bound ♪
Billy: It happens
to a lot of musicians.
I got bills to pay ♪
And children
who need clothes ♪
We're not
financially oriented.
It wasn't about the money.
It was about being a musician.
Like all the locals here ♪
I've had to sell my home ♪
Too proud to leave ♪
I worked
my fingers to the bone ♪
So I could own
my downeaster "Alexa" ♪
I didn't like thinking
as a businessman.
I wanted to be an artiste.
I just wanted to think
about the music
and the creativity,
bah bah bah.
And I'm above all that.
Well, bullshit.
I wasn't above all of that.
and a good captain
can't fall asleep ♪
I needed to protect
these songs.
These were my children.
They were orphans
until I asserted
my parenthood of them.
from the bell
in Gardiner's Bay ♪
So I took over
my management,
and I never looked back.
But I got people back
on land who count on me ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
(audience cheering)
Bryant:
1989 has been a year
of great change
for Billy Joel.
He turned 40,
fired his manager,
added some new members
to his band,
and recorded his first album
in three years.
It's called "Storm Front."
(upbeat music playing)
Billy: The flag is
a hurricane flag.
It's a red flag with
a black square in the middle.
When you see that flag,
you don't go anywhere.
-interviewer: Is it a warning?
-Billy: Yeah.
It means something's going
to happen, man.
Means a storm front's coming.
And I am restless ♪
For the open water ♪
Red flags are flying ♪
From the Coast Guard mast ♪
They told me ♪
Name your favorite
Billy Joel album.
That's tough.
But for me, "Storm Front."
People go, "Oh, man,
if you're a Billy Joel fan,
that was so late
in his career."
How many other artists
do you know
that late in their career
has an album
that fucking moving?
There's a storm front
coming ♪
Sylvia Glover: After being
in the music business
for more than 16 years,
Joel says it's a challenge
to make
every new album different.
This time, he tried
to accomplish that
by working
with a new producer:
Mick Jones of Foreigner.
On the radio ♪
I never had a problem
with Phil Ramone.
I just wanted somebody
who was a songwriter this time
and someone who also played
an instrument,
which is Mick Jones.
I had been working
with Phil Ramone
up until the late '80s,
and we were
sort of falling into
what I thought was a rut.
And I recognized
it's time for a change.
Liberty: Phil was really hurt.
And I knew he was.
Because the relationship
was so tight.
It was like a breakup.
("Shameless" playing)
Well, I'm shameless ♪
Billy: The personnel
you're working with,
they become like a family.
And it's hard to break
out of a family.
It's not always easy
when you get used
to doing things
a certain way.
Well, I'm standing ♪
Here for all
the world to see ♪
Liberty:
But it was something
that Billy had to do.
He had to change
to stay current
and a different sound.
I just wanted you to
wanted you to know ♪
Shameless ♪
Liberty: Billy did that
with every album,
he changed things.
But I mean you can see
the difference on the album.
(both vocalizing)
(audience cheering)
("We Didn't Start the Fire"
playing)
Harry Truman, Doris Day
Red China, Johnnie Ray ♪
South Pacific
Walter Winchell ♪
Joe DiMaggio ♪
Joe McCarthy
Richard Nixon ♪
Studebaker, television ♪
North Korea, South Korea
Marilyn Monroe ♪
Billy: "We Didn't Start
the Fire"
was the first single
from the "Storm Front" album,
and it was a huge hit.
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb,
Sugar Ray, Panmunjom ♪
Brando, The King and I
and The Catcher in the Rye ♪
Eisenhower, vaccine,
England's got a new queen ♪
Marciano, Liberace
Santayana goodbye ♪
We didn't start the fire ♪
It was always burning
since the world's ♪
Billy: When I was writing
that song,
I was starting to come up
with an idea
of headlines.
And I went year
by year by year.
The headlines keep coming.
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov ♪
Nasser and Prokofiev ♪
Rockefeller, Campanella
Communist Bloc ♪
There's a palpable sense
of history
because of these headlines.
Dien Bien Phu Falls ♪
"Rock Around the Clock" ♪
Lebanon
Charles de Gaulle ♪
California baseball ♪
Lynn Sherr: Today at 41,
the punk who never
finished high school
has a surprising
new following:
school children.
We didn't start the fire ♪
Lea Tyrrell: Some educators
say Joel's song
is the greatest teaching tool
since Sesame Street.
Dennis:
"We Didn't Start the Fire"
just propelled Billy
to probably,
at that time,
the pinnacle of his career.
Paula Yates: He's one
of America's hugest stars:
-Billy Joel.
-Billy Joel.
-Billy Joel.
-Billy Joel.
-Billy Joel.
-(audience cheering)
Billy: We just started, uh,
rehearsing for a tour,
which we'll do in, um,
beginning in December.
We're going to be out
for a long, long time.
I don't like the travel part.
I like to play.
When musicians are having
a good time playing together,
you remember why did I do this
in the first place.
You're on top of the world.
Call me a joker
call me a fool ♪
Right at this moment
I'm totally cool ♪
Clear as a crystal
sharp as a knife ♪
I feel like I'm in
the prime of my life ♪
Christie:
"I Go to Extremes" was
kind of what was
going on in his life,
because he was boomeranging
between being a family man
and tortured artist.
Darling, I don't know
why I go to extremes ♪
Crystal Taliefero:
I don't know all that
he was going through
during that time.
But I saw
a struggling person.
But what musician
doesn't feel safe
onstage or in their music?
I mean, that's the only thing
that won't stab you
in the back, you know?
I'm sure that
that was his safe place.
Darling, I don't know
why I go to extremes ♪
It's kind of manic.
Why do I go to extremes?
Why am I always
at the end of my tether?
It's not always pleasant.
You're being torn one way,
torn the other way.
And when you recognize that,
you go,
I must be difficult
to live with.
It kind of reminds me
of my mom
because she was
very up and down.
She was depressed
then she was euphoric.
So, it probably runs
in the family.
(audience cheering)
(gentle music playing)
Liberty: We were
on the "Storm Front" tour.
And I've seen Billy lose it.
And this time,
he really went
just bad.
He would come into rehearsal
and sometimes be
so out of it,
between what's going on
and trying to soothe
the pain,
he would tell me to do
something on the drums
and then the next day come in
and ask me why I was doing
what I'm doing.
And the rest of the band
would look at him and go,
"You told him
to do that yesterday."
He goes, "I did?"
He just didn't remember.
Christie: This is the period
where Billy was reeling.
You know, there was just
too much unraveling
in his life.
One night,
I woke up in bed,
and I was like,
where's Billy?
And I literally
started calling
different bars out there
and found him.
They said, "Yeah, he's here."
And I said, okay,
don't say anything.
I just wanted to make sure
he was someplace.
But a few incidents
like that were starting
to sort of seep in
here and there
that I was aware of
that was disconcerting.
But he didn't really like
to talk about it.
He preferred to just
push it down deeper, away.
Alexa: So many artists
struggle with addiction.
They just need that outlet.
That, and on top
of the endless pressures
of being in
the entertainment industry.
The pressure of being
on stage.
The pressure of trying
to please everyone at once.
The pressure to keep
his marriage together
with my mother
or to stay going on tour.
I just think that he felt
the weight of the world
on his shoulders.
And it led him to drink.
interviewer:
So can you tell me what
you're working on now?
Yeah, I'm writing
and recording a new album
out here, actually, in
the east end of Long Island.
I have a little studio set up.
sound engineer: China,
very rough mix, 12/16/92.
Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
He wanted to do this
on Shelter Island
because he felt so grounded
on the east end
of Long Island.
Billy: I'm compiling
recordings.
The working title
for this thing now
is the
Shelter Island Sessions.
Hey, hey ♪
Advice is cheap ♪
His thoughts were like
let's keep it
where it was born
and raise it here.
Liberty: Billy was going
to produce it himself.
So now Billy's writing
the songs,
writing the music,
writing the words,
running the studio.
He couldn't do everything.
There's too many hats.
He said,
"I have to get a producer."
So he calls up
Danny Kortchmar.
Danny Kortchmar:
We originally took the tapes
back to a different studio
so we could listen to them
and see what he had on tape.
He asked me,
"What would you think?"
I said, there's three things
I really love.
I love the songwriter.
He's fabulous.
I love the keyboard player.
And I love the singer.
Everyone else sucks.
Now, I felt that these guys
ha-had gotten so complacent,
it just sounded like
they were phoning it in.
I said, just let me bring in
my own guys.
And if it doesn't work out,
you can go back
to doing
what you were doing.
No harm, no foul.
I don't want to shut myself
off from a novel idea
because I'm used to doing
things a certain way.
And I kind of liked
what I was hearing.
But in the darkness ♪
I see
your light turned on ♪
Liberty: I hear
Billy's back in the studio
with another band.
I said, I'll call Billy.
He says, "What do you want?"
I said, well, what's going on?
He goes, "What do you mean,
what's going on?
You called me.
What's going on?"
I said, Billy, I know.
He said,
"Lib, I have to try this.
"I just want to try it.
I'm going to do it
for one song."
One song turned
into two songs,
turned into three songs,
turned into the whole album.
It was time
to turn the page.
Billy turns the page
in a hard way.
Billy: He was my drummer
for a long time.
It just wasn't working
with me and Liberty.
There were differences
in tempo.
There were differences
in our personal lives.
And it was like a divorce.
And it was acrimonious.
There was tension created
because of that.
There was a lot of friction.
There was a lot
of hard feelings.
Liberty: I can remember
being upset about it.
I sent him a fax
and I said, Billy,
I realize you've got to do
what you got to do.
Your name's on the record.
But if you ever need me,
if you need my help,
call me, I'll be there.
But if Danny Kortchmar
needs my help,
tell him to kiss my ass.
Well, Billy took that fax
and just stuck it
on the wall at the,
at the studio.
Billy: A lot of people
are angry at me
because they think I did
something bad to Liberty.
And I'm not going to make
an excuse for it.
It wasn't working out with us,
and that's what happened.
I think Lib was
kind of bitter about it.
But we made up,
and we're friends again.
arranger: B, D, and F sharp
in our right hand.
(soft piano melody playing)
B, D, E.
Just to A, C sharp.
Danny:
I knew he was brilliant,
but I had no idea
what a badass he was
until I got
in the studio with him.
His adaption of
European music into pop music
was something that
practically nobody was doing.
Everyone else is coming
from folk music, blues,
or pop music of the day.
He started using elements that
weren't being used that much.
Billy: G, D, F sharp
on the right hand.
(piano music)
Billy: I saw a quote
from Neil Diamond,
who I think is
a terrific songwriter,
and he was talking about
how he's become comfortable
with his songwriting.
He said, "I forgave myself
for not being Beethoven."
And as soon as I read that,
I realized that's my problem.
I have not forgiven myself
for not being Beethoven.
And I would beat myself up
because, to me,
Beethoven was the greatest
composer who ever lived.
(classical music playing)
My own history
as a musician started
with me hearing
classical music,
because my father was a
classically trained pianist,
and those were the radio
stations my mom listened to.
A lot of kids first started
listening to the radio,
they listened to pop music.
I heard Mozart, I heard Bach,
I heard Beethoven.
And it was entrancing.
I actually brought
that classical education
into my writing.
It was whether
it could be played
as a piece
on its own without words.
Take, for example,
"Uptown Girl."
It could have been
a Mozart piece.
(playing cheery "Uptown Girl")
And that's imbued
a lot of my songs.
This night ♪
Like, "This Night"
is actually
a direct lift
from Beethoven.
It's from the "Pathétique."
("Sonata Pathétique" playing)
It was Beethoven
at his most melodic.
But I use his theme
for the "Pathétique"
to have the chorus
of "This Night."
But I gave him credit.
It says it on the back
of the album:
"L.v. Beethoven."
People said,
"He ripped off Beethoven!"
I didn't rip him off.
I didn't pay him,
but I didn't rip him off.
Itzhak Perlman:
We go back a long time.
I played violin
on "Downeaster 'Alexa.'"
And I noticed that he's
a real classical music lover.
He can play the piano,
he can do the orchestration.
What I admire is
his harmonic progressions.
Like "Allentown,"
it's full of little
harmonic modulations.
("Allentown" playing)
I'm always fascinated how
he maneuvers the harmonies.
In classical music,
it's the same thing.
Sting: All of us are standing
on the shoulders of giants.
Music doesn't just come
out of the air.
It comes from work and study.
You take what's been done.
You hear it, you absorb it,
and then you execute it,
but you enhance it
with your signature.
That's how music lives on.
(moody piano melody playing)
I don't really know
how to play it.
So this is the left hand
arpeggiating.
Nobody grew up
in a test tube.
We all grew up
with influences,
and I'm probably stealing
all the time
and not even aware of it.
-(piano music playing)
-arranger: G
Danny: He has all this
harmonic stuff in his head.
Remember, he's just
following his instincts
when he sits at the piano,
you know?
And his instincts have a lot
to do with classical music,
and also blues and rock
and roll, which he loved.
Billy: That album
is a journey.
One song begat another song.
There's a song cycle here.
A lot of it was how I write.
There's this dream state
I get into,
almost like a trance.
There's a flow to it
like a river.
Oh, another thing
I thought of:
when we do the stops
Da da da da da ♪
How do you pick up
The song
"The River of Dreams"
came to me in a dream.
I woke up hearing
the rhythm,
hearing the call
and response,
the gospel aspect of it.
I'm not a gospel artist,
but that was
so different to me.
(ethereal music playing)
And I said, I'm not going
to write this.
No, no, no.
I rejected it immediately.
In the middle of the
I go walking in the ♪
(hums)
Call and response,
which they do in church.
And I went and took a shower.
And I'm soaping myself
and I'm singing
In the middle of the
I ♪
And it would not go away.
It became part of my being.
It wouldn't leave me,
and it was like,
you're going to have
to write this
whether you want to or not.
When something
is that powerful
and that evocative,
you should usually go
with it.
It needs to be written.
In the middle
of the night ♪
I go walking in my sleep ♪
Walking down to the banks ♪
Of a river so deep ♪
I must be looking
for something ♪
Something sacred I lost ♪
But the river is wide ♪
And it's too hard
to cross ♪
In the middle
of the night ♪
I go walking in my sleep ♪
Billy: I was going
through a catharsis.
I had to rediscover faith
in humanity.
I needed to renew
my faith in myself.
I needed to be redeemed.
Even though I know
the river is wide ♪
I walk down every evening
and I stand on the shore ♪
I try to cross
to the opposite side ♪
So I can finally find out
what I've been looking for ♪
In the middle
of the night ♪
I go walking in my sleep ♪
I go walking
in my sleep ♪
Through the valley
of fear ♪
Valley of fear ♪
To a river so deep ♪
River so deep ♪
I've been searching
for something ♪
-Taken out of my soul ♪
-Taken out of my soul ♪
Something I'd never lose ♪
-Never lose ♪
-Something somebody stole ♪
Billy: By the time I got
to the end of the album,
I recognized that
the song form
had come full circle.
I was tired of writing words.
Not that I was going
to give up music
or that I was going
to stop writing music.
But I've had my say.
This is pretty much it
for my songwriting.
Sitting here in Avalon ♪
Looking at
the pouring rain ♪
Billy: I was tired
of the tyranny of the rhyme.
everybody's home again ♪
Pink: I asked him why
he stopped writing pop songs,
and he said because
it's the most awful,
excruciating experience
he will ever go through.
Because he's a perfectionist
and it was ruining his life.
These are the last words
I have to say ♪
Writing is a have-to
kind of thing.
It's like being hungry.
If you don't have that
in you,
you're just not going
to write.
There will be other words
some other day ♪
Mark: I think by the time
he wrote "Famous Last Words,"
he was like, I don't want to
compete with myself anymore.
I don't want to be compared
to "Just The Way You Are"
or "The Stranger"
or any of that.
I think there's a time
when you have to be
a philosopher and say, oh,
now is the time
to be silently stoic.
And, uh, I respect that.
These are the last words
I have to say ♪
Billy:
I still feel like it was
the natural progression
of things.
Say ♪
So I kind of closed the book.
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Thank you.
Nick Paumgarten:
When Billy stopped writing,
he talked about how once
he became famous,
everybody read too much
into whatever he had to say
in his songs,
and everything got seen
or heard
through the filter
of his celebrity,
of his private life,
his marriages.
And something snapped.
Something broke.
I think some of it might
also have to do with fear.
He didn't want to be someone
doing lesser work
as he got older.
Anthony:
I think Billy wanted
a certain type
of recognition
that he had never gotten.
Kind of serious,
literary, poetic.
The critical response
to Billy
kind of improved
over the years,
but I don't think it was
quite enough for him.
Nick: There's something
a little sad about it.
You know, here's this person
who was like a fount
of creativity who's gone dry.
To see that person
still around
as a very much
functioning artist,
performing with as much,
sort of,
vivacity as he had before,
but having stopped writing,
it's almost like a puzzle.
(audience cheering)
In the middle
of the night ♪
Middle of the night ♪
I go walking in my sleep ♪
I go walking in my sleep ♪
Through the desert
of truth ♪
-To a river so deep ♪
-River so deep ♪
-We all end in the ocean ♪
-End in the ocean ♪
We all start
in the streams ♪
Billy: After I wrote
"River of Dreams,"
it was necessary for me
to stop writing songs.
But it was a hit.
Go figure.
the middle
of the night ♪
I go walking in the
in the middle of the ♪
Mark: Not only did
he make that money back,
he came back bigger
and better
maybe because
of the adversity.
You knock me down, fuck you.
I'm coming back
with a vengeance.
(audience cheering,
applauding)
John Tesh: It has been three
years since his last tour,
but having a number one album
to take to the road
makes getting on stage
a whole lot easier.
With the crowd screaming for
more at the end of the night,
Billy ducks out the back door
and it's on to the next show.
And that next show
is in Boston.
Then it's on to Philadelphia
and New York.
The River of Dreams tour
will be on the road
for two years.
fan: We were just wondering
how your daughter, Alexa,
and Christie handle you being
out on the road for so long.
Do they go along with you?
Billy: Well, from time
to time, they will join me.
Uh, the fact that Alexa
is in second grade now
tends to make it
more difficult
for her to come out.
But it's one of the reasons
that I've referred to this
as the last long tour
that I'm going to do.
Uh, I really don't want
to continue
to live a life
of Willy Loman.
Larry King: You want to watch
your kid grow up.
Yeah. I don't want
to become Uncle Daddy.
Christie: Our relationship
went from lots of fun
and really totally enjoying
each other and everything
to his work
consuming him.
And if I did go on the road,
I wasn't seeing him
because the unwind period
after the show
was going on
till late into the night.
And it's like,
what am I even doing here?
And I just got like,
I don't know what to do.
But I can't be lonely,
just me and Alexa
in this big old house
that was supposed
to be so full of life
and love and music
and laughter and all of that.
Things were starting
to deteriorate.
Billy: I was in
a relationship with someone
who I cared deeply about,
but I was not able
to be at home.
I was not able to be
with my family.
It was a very sad time for me.
Goodnight, my angel,
time to close your eyes ♪
And save these questions
for another day ♪
At that time,
I think Alexa knew that
her parents were going
to split up.
And for a child, that's
a very traumatic thing.
She needed to know
I would always be there.
I promised I would
never leave you ♪
Alexa: "Goodnight, My Angel,"
"Lullabye,"
I can't even really talk
about it without choking up.
Wherever you may go
no matter where ♪
Alexa: He wrote that song
saying no matter what,
I will never leave you.
far away ♪
Goodnight, my angel ♪
Now it's time to sleep ♪
And still so many things
I want to say ♪
I just remember that it was
a very emotionally
tumultuous time.
When we went sailing
on an emerald ♪
Christie: I don't think
it's a secret
that his drinking
got pretty bad,
and he couldn't
really remember
what he did
when he was drinking,
and so he didn't really know
how he could hurt people.
The water's dark
and deep ♪
Inside this
ancient heart ♪
Christie: I would just pretend
that I was sleeping
when he'd come in,
because I didn't want
to see him
in that condition.
And one night,
we had an argument and I said,
I really can't
take this anymore.
And I'm just going
to take Alexa
back up to New York
and leave.
And he said,
"Yeah, fine. Go."
Billy: I realized
love is not concrete.
You know,
you feel like it is.
But there are things
eating away at it.
And in the end,
it all catches up.
And it's hard.
And I was so devastated.
Someday your child
may cry ♪
And if you sing
this lullaby ♪
Then in your heart
there will always ♪
Christie: I tried.
I wanted it to work.
I knew how lucky I was,
having music and all of that,
but it just didn't work.
("Lullaby (Goodnight,
My Angel)" playing)
Someday we'll all be gone ♪
But lullabies go on
and on ♪
They never die ♪
That's how you and I ♪
Will be ♪
In 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: I would say
if there was a skeleton key
to unlocking
what's behind the songs,
it would probably be
my relationships with others.
Everything I write
is influenced
by someone else.
And still I feel ♪
I said too much ♪
Billy: You know, true love
isn't always floating
on clouds and ecstasy.
A lot of it's pain.
And every time
I've held a rose ♪
It seems I only felt
the thorns ♪
And so it goes ♪
And so it goes ♪
And so will you soon
I suppose ♪
It's so hard
to write something
very simple
and very profound.
It only happens once
in a lifetime, sometimes.
Then that would be
my worst mistake ♪
Billy:
It's got discords in it.
It's got a sour note
in almost every chord.
It's a note
that needs to be resolved.
It's a suspended chord.
And it builds tension.
That's if the choice
were mine to make ♪
It's sort of like
the end of a romance.
No resolution, which is
terrifying to consider.
And you can have ♪
This heart to break ♪
That's why I wrote it.
Unresolved chords.
And so it goes ♪
And so it goes ♪
And you're the only one ♪
Who knows ♪
Jill Rappaport: He is back.
The one and only
Piano Man, Billy Joel,
has just kicked off
his East Coast tour.
The first reaction
when you hear that an artist
is going back
on the road is oh,
he's promoting a new album.
This is a unique concept.
Billy:
This is the first time
we've gone on tour
without a new studio album.
So it's new for us too.
(audience cheering)
Steve Kroft: Between now
and the end of the year,
he'll travel Europe,
Asia, and the US,
nearly a hundred
performances.
He is road weary,
but for those two hours
he's onstage,
he still loves it.
Come out, Virginia ♪
Don't let me wait ♪
You Catholic girls
start much too late ♪
Sooner or later,
it comes down to fate ♪
I might
as well be the one ♪
Billy: Performing music,
you have to leave it
all on the stage.
You can't hold back.
And there's a euphoria to it.
I think I needed that
at that point in my life.
have done ♪
Only the good die young ♪
That's what I said.
Only the good die young ♪
Only the good die young ♪
And that's when I started
doing the Elton tours.
Reg Wells:
Tonight, the Piano Man
met the Rocket Man onstage.
Thus, the stage was set
for what some call
the tour of the century.
Friday night
I crashed your party ♪
Saturday I said I'm sorry ♪
Sunday came
and trashed me out ♪
Billy: Well, I was aware
that the perception was
that there was a rivalry.
I always got compared
to Elton
because he hit big first.
And I did resent it
at the time,
but I got over it.
Billy and Elton John:
You may be right ♪
I may be crazy ♪
There was
a healthy competition
going on
between the two of them.
They're different kinds
of piano players,
so I thought they complemented
each other fantastically.
Don't try to save me ♪
Crystal: Our time
touring with Elton,
it was like being in camp.
It was fun!
And I enjoyed watching
that camaraderie
between the two there.
(laughter)
Jay Leno: Well,
how many outfits backstage?
I got rid of a lot recently,
so I probably have
about 20 outfits.
-Jay: Twenty!
-And I've got more coming.
And, now how many
do you have?
Uh, this is it.
We enjoyed it
and the audiences liked it,
and it got bigger
and bigger and bigger,
where there's 50,
80,000 people.
And it went on for 16 years.
You may be right ♪
I said a-one, two
one, two, three, four ♪
(both laugh)
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Jill: And we've been
reading so much lately
that pop may be a thing
of the past for you,
and that classical music
is now the direction
that you're going in
full time.
-Any truth to that?
-Billy: Yeah.
I'm not saying I'm,
you know, good enough
to be a classical composer
yet, but I'm starting.
You know, I've been
writing music
for this guy named Billy Joel
for all these years.
I'm kind of getting tired
of him.
When I first started
writing music,
classical music was
the girl next door.
And then I was swept away
by this temptress
of rock and roll,
you know,
in black fishnet stockings
and smeared mascara
who smoked cigarettes.
And that was a hot affair for,
you know, 25 years of my life.
And then all of a sudden,
I discovered
the girl next door again.
(classical music playing)
The first piece that
I finished in its entirety
was called
"Soliloquy on a Separation,"
which was about my daughter
visiting with me
after we got divorced
and then leaving.
And those emotions
I was having
weren't something I could
easily write with lyrics.
Like, I see my kid come,
I see my kid go.
It hurts so bad
to want to be a father
and not be able to be one.
And I wrote these chords:
"We say goodbye."
"And then I watch
as you leave."
"And then I slowly return"
"to this quiet house."
And I said,
why do I have to say that?
The music is saying it.
Maybe at that point
in my life,
I was ready to express myself
purely with music.
But I realized when I had
been writing these pieces,
I'm not the guy
to play this stuff.
I can play bits of it
in increments,
and I can compose well enough
to have somebody do
the notation.
But I can't play the bravura
the way it should be played.
Hyung-ki,
that's his expertise,
is Rachmaninoff,
Chopin, Tchaikovsky.
And this is the guy
who I want to play my stuff.
Do you want
the first time to be
like a suggestion
or you want, you want
-No, it can be stronger.
-It can be stronger, right?
So it's already present.
He lost the ability
to read music
and to notate.
And so everything
he does from ear,
which is absolutely
mind boggling to me.
It's incredible.
A lot of people
who are his fans
don't actually understand.
Wait a minute.
He's the Piano Man.
He's a great pianist.
What does he need you for?
And of course,
he's a fantastic pianist.
But it's a bit like asking
a ballet dancer to breakdance,
or vice versa.
I mean, they're both brilliant
in their field and virtuosic,
but one can't necessarily
do the other.
And then it has to go
And then that F would
open it up there.
Itzhak:
He hears a certain way.
Classical music is something
that really is
very close to his heart.
And you feel it.
Hyung-ki Joo: We worked
on these ten piano pieces
which would
eventually become
the album
"Fantasies & Delusions."
Billy: The reason I named it
"Fantasies & Delusions,"
because I recognized
I'm delusional to think
I'm a classical composer.
You know, I'm a rock
and roll piano player.
It's a fantasy.
It's a delusion.
Let's call it what it is.
Hyung-ki: The album has
some amazing moments.
I mean, this is
from "Innamorato."
(gentle piano music playing)
(gentle piano music continues)
Billy: There's an inherent
lyric in that, which is
(music pauses)
"You are
my heart's desire."
(music resumes)
And I keep repeating it.
It's an obsession.
One, two, three, four.
Hyung-ki: This album
stands out in many ways.
It was certainly number one
on the classical Billboard
charts for 18 weeks.
I think it's one
of the most successful
classical albums
of all time as well.
(upbeat piano music playing)
Billy: I knew I was going
to get savaged
by the classical critics,
but I was trying to convey
what I loved,
which is
the romantic piano music.
(gentle piano music playing)
I think, in a way,
that album for me
is an homage to Dad.
It's-it's an homage
to our father.
I don't know
if Bill sees it that way,
but maybe it's subconscious.
(music continues)
Billy: He was still alive
when I did
"Fantasies & Delusions."
But I never heard
what he, like,
what he thought
about my piano pieces.
Alexa: I know
that my father has
a lot of abandonment issues.
His father left
when he was seven.
He never got over that.
It was a very impactful
moment in his life
when he tracked him down,
but he had to find him.
You know, I think it broke
his heart a little bit
that his father
didn't come to him.
He had to go to Vienna.
(music continues)
He was always looking
for that deeper connection.
If anything, I think
he found it more
through his brother, Alex,
who's a conductor.
(applause)
Alexa: And I think
it meant a lot
to be able to finally connect
with that part of his family.
Alex: It's a shame
Dad didn't become a musician.
I could have seen him
being very happy
just working in
a little opera house.
I think the same thing.
He used to play
all the operas to me
on the piano
before we used to go see them.
I know he loved music.
He really
and truly loved music,
but he hated
his own musicianship.
We had a piano
in the back room,
and he'd go in
and he played.
He's probably playing
a Chopin piece
or a Beethoven sonata,
and he'd come out of the room
all dark and pissed off
and, "Ah, I suck."
-To me, it sounded great.
-Alex: Yeah.
I thought, wow, if I can play
like that, I'd be so happy.
But he was never content
with what he was playing.
And I, I said to myself
when I was a kid,
I don't want to be like that.
I don't want to have that kind
of relationship with music.
So I never tried to become
a concert pianist.
I went kind of in a different
direction where I was,
I wanted to create
my own music.
He was very proud of you.
He really was.
Dad was incredibly proud
of Bill
and everything he's achieved
and, uh
Susan Lacy:
Do you think Bill knows
that his father
was proud of him?
I don't think so,
you know.
I've told him,
but he doesn't believe me.
Billy: I think my dad was
the missing link
in a lot of things.
And when he passed away,
I kind of freaked out
a little bit.
Wow, he's gone,
and I'll never get
to know him.
But I had no animosity
towards him.
I just had a sense of loss.
And I think he wanted to say
"I love you" to me,
but I never heard it.
Judy Molinari:
When Howard was dying,
we stood at his bedside.
And I remember
Billy and Howard
looking at each other,
and there's just a blank look
on each of their faces.
No emotions, no anything.
I'm sure it made
a terrible void
in my brother's life,
and it left a hole
in his heart.
Billy: My mom used
to tell me,
"The quality of mercy
is not strained."
I didn't understand it
when I was little,
but I understood it
when I was growing up.
So I forgave him
a long time ago
You have to be able
to forgive to heal yourself.
(classical music playing)
Billy: After "Fantasies
& Delusions,"
I felt like, okay,
I've done it.
Not just
with classical music,
but popular music.
I mean,
I had been performing
and been a rockstar
for a long time.
And I thought,
what else is there for me?
I was feeling that
I was missing something.
Len Cannon:
"The Daily News" is reporting
that the singer
just got engaged
to his girlfriend Katie Lee.
Billy: In terms
of long-term relationships,
I was gun shy
about making a commitment.
But it was kind of fresh,
and I think all the rules
went out the window.
When you fall
in love, you fall.
It's not like you're flying.
You're falling.
Katie Lee: When we first
got together,
Bill wanted to take
a break from touring.
And so, I just took him
for his word at that
and I thought
that's what he wanted.
Steve: He would say
a lot, like,
I'm just tired
of being Billy Joel,
tired of playing
these same songs.
And I think that
that dissatisfaction
with the thing
that he loved so much,
I think that was tough
for him.
Nick: When you don't
have anything new to offer,
you don't have anything
to hide behind.
And I think that
exposed him to the world
and made his difficulties
more acute.
At that time in his life,
he was drinking a lot.
And over the years,
he had sort of
a series of calamities.
He was making
a mess of it in public.
And when that happens,
the public chorus
can turn on you.
Alex Witt: We begin with
Billy Joel's car accident
in Long Island,
New York, just this morning.
The singing superstar
is recovering
from a big scare.
Billy: You know,
along with fame
comes a lot
of gossip, rumors.
I didn't like
the tabloid kind of press.
Him being here in one
of the biggest media centers
in the world
was difficult for him,
because there was
a lot of scrutiny.
They love to capitalize
on the mistakes
that we have all made.
Julie Chen: And Billy Joel's
got another smash hit,
but not one he wanted.
The singer crashed his car
into a house yesterday,
his third wreck in two years.
Bill McCuddy: The question
this morning, obviously,
Eric, is: did someone put
more than bread
in Billy Joel's jar
last night?
Billy: For example,
there's this rumor
that I have all these DUIs.
That never happened,
but people
keep repeating the myth.
Oh, he's got so many DUIs.
I never had a DUI,
so fuck you.
Edna: There was
kind of a fallow period
where he wasn't writing
and didn't have
much of a profile.
He became the butt of jokes.
I can drive
these streets blind.
woman: Watch out!
Nick: When I say
that he was a punchline,
they treated him
as an unserious person.
That was close.
Almost gave me
a heart attack
ack-ack-ack-ack-ack.
Billy: Well,
the press can be mean,
so having that much attention
paid to you is not easy.
Katie: It's really hard for me
to talk about that time.
I felt like he needed
to be creating,
he needed to be
making music, performing,
to turn down that anxiety
of not having
an artistic outlet.
And there were struggles
with addiction.
It was really hard
to navigate that
because I had
no experience with it.
But he went
to Betty Ford for rehab.
Billy: She kind of gave me
an ultimatum.
Either you do something
about your drinking,
or this isn't going
to work out.
Katie: When he first got home
from Betty Ford,
it was a really fragile time
for both of us.
Steve:
I always wondered about
that particular period
of time with him,
because at that point
Billy was sober.
I always felt
that he was rediscovering
a different part of himself.
And when you rediscover
a new part of yourself,
you change.
Katie: He had
experienced everything.
He had lived this huge life.
But I was young and had not
experienced anything.
So I always wanted to go out,
and Bill wanted
to be at home.
Billy: At that point,
yeah, the relationship
wasn't doing well.
Our own Katie Lee
is going to show you--
Billy: She became
very career oriented,
and she wanted to be
in the city,
she wanted to socialize.
There's a theory
that she was having
an affair with some guy.
That's a bunch of bullshit.
We just drifted apart
from each other.
Katie: I wanted to be doing
all of the things together.
But I think that that's where
our age came into play.
Also, I think that
there was, maybe,
always a little bit
of resentment
that I had really pushed him
to go to Betty Ford.
Billy: With rehab, you
don't go for somebody else.
You have to go for yourself.
You have to want to do it.
I didn't want to do it.
Katie: It was hard
on our relationship,
and in a lot of ways,
it was hard
to recover from that.
I don't think either one
of us wanted it
to not work out,
but it just became obvious
that it wasn't working.
And I remember one night
we had dinner,
and I said, Bill,
I'm unhappy.
And he said, "Do you want
to get a divorce?"
And I said, yeah.
And he said, "Okay."
And that was it.
Billy: I was going
through another divorce.
Three times.
A three-time loser.
And the fear of being
alone again, dying alone
uh, not having that person
in my life anymore
and getting old.
So, I was drinking again,
just to kind of ease
+that pain.
So it was Yeah,
it was kind of a lost time.
Jon: We were having dinner
one night.
Billy was just
basically devastated.
Tears coming down
his eyes and said,
"I got a half
a billion dollars,
and I have nobody to love."
And it just hurts you,
tears your guts out
to watch somebody
fall down that hole.
(audience cheering)
Billy: And that
time period coincided
with working
with Elton again.
Paula Toti:
The Billy Joel/Elton John
concert was canceled.
Angela Pace: Joel and John
canceled their show
in Detroit last night.
Curt Ludlow: He canceled
Thursday's concert.
Of course, everyone was
worried about Billy Joel.
Steven: The story
I remember is Elton John
accusing Billy Joel
of drinking too much,
which Billy Joel
did not care for
when he read that.
Dennis: Billy wasn't really
open to hear about it
and certainly not publicly.
And it led
to certain questions
about where he's going
in his career.
I think he didn't want
his demons
and his issues out there.
So that kind of
pissed him off.
Billy: Elton had made
a comment
that he thought
I needed real rehab.
He chalked it up to,
"Oh, he's a drunk."
And that really hurt me.
I said, wait a minute.
Don't you know me
better than that?
And there was bad blood
for a little while.
There was a dovetailing
of things
that happened
during that time.
I felt like I was clobbered.
(somber music playing)
So, yeah.
That was rock bottom.
I was disillusioned
with what I thought
it was all supposed to mean.
It's like all signs
were pointing to me: Enough!
And I wrote
this letter to the band:
I don't want
to do this anymore.
I'm going to,
I'm going to stop.
(somber music continues)
Tommy Byrnes:
I think he was trying
to save his own life.
It's hard to have control
over yourself
when you work that hard.
To survive, you need
to leave that behind.
Steve: He had spoken about
taking time off for years,
but this was really
a goodbye.
He became
very uncommunicative.
I didn't talk to him a lot
during that period of time.
And I have to say
that I was worried about him,
because I believed that Billy,
without this outlet,
that he wouldn't have
anything to live for.
And I thought that the
I honestly thought
that that was
that the clock was ticking.
(birds squawking)
In the beginning ♪
There was the cold
and the night ♪
Billy: When I was 18,
I got my first boat.
It was about 18 feet long.
Rowing it was a heart attack,
and it leaked like a sieve.
But it was my boat.
Being on the water,
it means a lot of things.
Part of it is freedom.
You've left the land,
and you are on your own.
You're navigating.
You're controlling
where you're going.
Too many kingdoms ♪
Too many flags ♪
So you've gotta
always be in control.
And there's something
exhilarating about that.
So many wounds
to be healed ♪
Time is relentless ♪
I am in control.
I am the captain of my ship,
against all the forces
of nature.
And it's a,
it's a strong feeling.
It's very powerful.
It's been a long time ♪
And now I'm with you ♪
After
two thousand years ♪
It's similar to music.
It's healing.
I've made a lot
of mistakes in my life.
But I've grown from them.
I've learned from them.
And even after everything
I've gone through
-(Billy speaking indistinctly)
-Okay, so when you get home--
Billy:
I still believe in love.
I still believe
in relationships.
And it's always a big factor
in my life.
I probably am a romantic
at heart.
Billy:
When you meet someone
who captures
your imagination,
it renews, it revitalizes.
(gentle piano music playing)
I remember
the first time I met Alexis,
we went to my house,
and I wanted
to play the piano for her.
It's a form
of communication for me.
There's a scene
in a movie called
"The Seven Year Itch"
with Tom Ewell,
and he wants to impress
Marilyn Monroe.
So he plays Rachmaninoff.
You came. I'm so glad.
And he's got the ascot on
and he's puffing
on a cigarette.
Don't stop.
Don't ever stop.
Billy: So I'm playing that,
and she's completely
unimpressed with it.
Totally.
She couldn't care less
what I'm playing
and I'm thinking,
oh, okay, this isn't working.
She was very unimpressed with
the whole Billy Joel thing,
which impressed me
because I thought, okay.
Maybe she's just here
because she likes me,
not the Billy Joel guy.
Alexis:
We stayed in touch
after I met him originally.
We would speak on the phone,
we would exchange emails,
and we got to know
each other really well.
And I felt
really comfortable with him.
Billy: I don't know
if I was open
to starting
a new relationship.
I thought that wasn't going
to be possible.
How am I going to be able
to do that again?
I can't go
through that again.
But all of a sudden,
something happened.
Something popped.
And I was open to it.
When Alexis and I
got together,
she was still working.
She was in charge
of a whole section
of a financial company,
and she was successful at it.
And I wasn't really thinking
about working anymore,
so I was home a lot.
And when she got home,
there I was cooking
and serving dinner.
Alexis: He makes
a mean salmon teriyaki.
He would have it marinating
all day for me,
and have it ready
with my vegetables,
and I would come home
to my salmon, my vegetables,
and glass of wine.
So it was wonderful.
(gentle piano music playing)
(birds squawking)
Billy:
I hadn't really thought
about having children again.
I thought I was too old.
Look at you, big girl.
Billy: But having
these little kids
at this time
in my life is such a joy.
I have time to be with them.
I don't have to be recording.
I don't have to be writing.
I can just hang out
with my children.
Alexis: Can you say,
"I love you, Daddy"?
Love you, Daddy!
Alexis:
Bill's number one saying is,
"I'm going to be
the best dad I can be,
because I didn't have a dad."
And after years of learning
and personal growth,
my kids have the most
amazing version of him.
They're really lucky.
Billy: And I wanted
to make sure
that they got everything
they needed from me.
So I kind of knuckled down
and took fatherhood
very, very seriously.
I felt like, oh,
these are things I missed.
I want to make sure
they don't miss it.
(gentle piano music playing)
I didn't know if they were
going to be musical or not,
but there must be something
to the genetic aspect of it.
My parents had this
incredible musical ability.
(all singing indistinctly)
Billy:
And my brother has it.
Billy: My eldest daughter
Alexa has it.
Just in a New York ♪
State of mind ♪
Yeah ♪
Billy: Della has it.
Keep it to yourself
it's my life ♪
Billy: She can pick out
melodies on a piano
without even knowing
how to play the piano.
And I see it in my youngest,
in Remy.
She's picking out melodies.
She's singing.
It's part of the DNA.
It's history.
And it goes on.
Alexis:
In the beginning,
we had
a couple years together
before we had kids,
and he had completely
stopped doing shows.
We traveled everywhere.
We did a motorcycle trip
from Maine
back down to Long Island.
We were on boats 24/7.
We were in Europe.
We had so much fun.
Billy: I was
pretty much retiring.
I just I didn't want
to do it anymore.
I thought that part
of my life was over.
Alexis: I think that
he was enjoying
not going on the road
and not working.
But then everything changed.
Sixty-six million Americans
are bracing for impact.
Matt Gutman:
The weather is intensifying,
and it's just going
to get worse.
citizen: Oh, my God.
(debris clatters)
Scott Pelley:
Sandy may go down
as one of the
costliest storms in history.
Billy: Sandy destroyed
a good amount
of the south shore
of Long Island.
I was here
during the storm,
and I saw boats
being torn off moorings,
crashing onto the shore.
Houses being flooded.
It was scary.
I'm a Long Islander.
And these are my roots.
This is my home.
And it was hurtful
to see the damage
and how those lives
were wrecked.
They were putting together
a benefit concert
for the recovery effort,
and they called me.
I said yes, even though
I wasn't really performing
at the time.
How do you want the vocal?
This was something
I could do.
I couldn't be
a first responder,
I could be
a second responder.
announcer: Live from Madison
Square Garden, 12/12/12:
The Concert for Sandy Relief.
That was quite the hallway.
Everybody was there, right?
I mean, McCartney, Daltrey
and Townshend, Keith Richards.
David Rosenthal:
When we did 12/12/12,
Billy hadn't done any shows
in several years
and, at the time,
hadn't seemed interested
in really doing any.
Billy: We got
the spirit here tonight.
We're going to be okay.
We're going to get
through all this.
We're going to be alright.
Steve: He came out
on stage very nervous.
We hadn't played
in a very long time.
And he was going
to do four songs.
Anthony works
in the grocery store ♪
Savin' his pennies
for someday ♪
Steve: But his voice
was pure,
the band was great.
note on the door ♪
Said, "Sonny, move out
to the country" ♪
Ah, but workin' too hard
can give you a heart attack ♪
Ack, ack, ack, ack, ack ♪
You oughta know by now ♪
He just came in, and his voice
sounded like a million bucks.
He had all of this energy
that I think he wasn't
even sure that he had.
And it seems
such a waste of time ♪
If that's what
it's all about ♪
Mama, if that's movin' up ♪
Then I'm movin' out ♪
Steve: We knew
at that moment
that guy had everything back.
Like, nothing had left.
Sergeant O'Leary
is walkin' the beat ♪
At night he becomes
a bartender ♪
Nick: Billy gets
up there and blows it away.
Billy:
down on Sullivan ♪
Nick:
And I'm watching television
saying, oh, my God.
These songs are not just
dead songs
that are in amber.
These songs are alive.
They still come across.
You oughta know by now ♪
You can pay Uncle Sam
with the overtime ♪
Is that all you get
with your money? ♪
And if that's what
you have in mind, yeah ♪
If that's what
you're all about ♪
Good luck movin' up ♪
'Cause I'm moving out ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Steven: During the 12/12/12
concert, you know,
which I watched while looking
at my social media feed.
And they were just having
a ball
ripping on all these, like,
classic rockers on stage.
You know,
these guys look old.
They're over the hill.
We're sick of all these songs.
The one person they liked
(tweets chiming)
Steven: Billy Joel.
You look at a lot of artists
from his generation,
they're trying to look like
they did in the 70s.
The songs that they wrote
work better
if you imagine
a younger person singing them,
and I don't think
that's true of Billy Joel.
Some folks like
to get away ♪
Take a holiday
from the neighborhood ♪
Steven: I actually think
that there's a lot of songs
in his catalog
that make more sense
for him to sing
as an older man.
They have a certain gravitas
to them
that his age enhances.
But I'm taking
a Greyhound ♪
On the Hudson River line ♪
I'm in a New York
state of mind ♪
Nick: For years,
there were critics
that didn't like him.
Then there were people
that liked him
only ironically,
you know, as like,
"Hey, Billy Joel,
Long Island."
Suddenly, it seemed like
there was an explosion
of unironic appreciation.
The songs themselves were
standing the test of time.
He, as the guy
who had written the songs,
was now getting
not even grudging respect,
like actual respect.
People were talking about him
as an American treasure
as opposed to a celebrity
that was a punchline.
That was when his sort
of renaissance began
in the world
of popular music.
And I don't want
to waste more time ♪
Just in a New York
state of mind ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
(smooth jazz music playing)
(audience cheering,
applauding)
Billy: When I look back
to that time,
I was very humbled.
And I think
it made me realize
there's still some gas
in the tank.
Maybe I shouldn't
throw this away.
(audience cheering)
Billy: Good evening,
New York City!
First night of our Madison
Square Garden run here.
(audience cheering)
I have no idea
how long this is going to go.
Billy: My booking agent,
Dennis,
came to me with the concept:
what about doing a residency
at Madison Square Garden?
Seen the lights go out
on Broadway ♪
I saw the Empire State
laid low ♪
Billy: I said okay,
ma-maybe that'll last six gigs
or something like that.
I thought it was
just going to go ehh, womp,
and then we'd run
out of ticket buyers.
To watch
the island bridges blow ♪
But the demand
for tickets never dropped off.
They turned
our power down ♪
They drove us
underground ♪
It got bigger
and bigger and bigger.
But we went right on
with the show ♪
The first time I played
the Garden was 1978.
And now,
almost 40 years later,
it felt like
I had come full circle.
I've seen the lights go out
on Broadway ♪
And I'm playing
with these guys
who I've been with
for years and years.
They really are
my extended family.
And we were like
the house band
at Madison Square Garden.
Maybe the best-known venue
in the world
for rock and roll.
This is a dream come true.
on 42nd Street ♪
New generations of people
were the ones filling out
the audience.
I was seeing that
every night.
And they were making
a lot of noise.
Don: They love
to sing his songs.
And that's what
it's all about,
is that collective experience
of people coming together.
Garth Brooks: Billy Joel
is unmistakably New York.
I've seen the lights go out
on Broadway ♪
So how come
if this guy is unmistakably
from one pinpoint
on the planet,
why do we feel that
he belongs to all of us?
Nas: He was born
to do this.
He's so good,
I don't even know
if he knows how good he is.
And as big as he is,
he comes off as an everyday,
around-the-way guy.
He's like us. He sings
from that point of view.
You feel that truth.
You feel that honesty.
Powerful.
Long Island
loves Billy Joel.
This is my 123rd
Billy Joel show.
His music has become
a part of our everyday lives.
I want to see Billy Joel
every month
at Madison Square Garden.
fan: They say
he's the soundtrack
of our lives,
and it's true.
I saw him play
at Yankee Stadium in 1990,
and it blew my lights off.
His music just rocks.
There are not many
who remember ♪
Jerry Seinfeld: Tonight,
we're going to commemorate
the 100th consecutive sellout
of the Madison Square
Garden residency.
to tell
the world about ♪
The way
the lights went out ♪
And keep the memory ♪
Alive ♪
Billy: It lasted
for 10 years.
It gave me
a whole new appreciation
of what I did
and the power of music.
(audience cheering)
Check how much film
I got left.
Sorry, fellas.
Hold on one second.
director: Take two.
(playing "Piano Man")
It'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" ♪
Oh, la da da didi da ♪
La da didi da da dum ♪
I don't know
what I would've been
had I not been a musician.
I don't know where I
would've been in this life
had it not been
for the piano.
And he's quick
with a joke ♪
Or to light up
your smoke ♪
But there's someplace
that he'd rather be ♪
He says, "Bill, I believe
this is killing me" ♪
As the smile ran away
from his face ♪
Steven: We're now 50 years
into Billy Joel's music
being a huge part
of American culture.
Why are these songs
still speaking to people?
Don't take any shit
from anybody.
He is this guy
who by any measure
has achieved
all of the dreams
that any singer/songwriter
would want.
A dream of mine.
And yet, the overriding theme
of his songs
is sort of this, like,
existential dissatisfaction.
Well, we're all
in the mood for a melody ♪
Steven: There's something
at his core
that's still searching
for something.
And that's
the human condition.
So, to me,
I think that's why
people connect with him,
still, after all this time.
Paul is
the real estate novelist ♪
Who never had time
for a wife ♪
Anthony: You can hear
all of the complexities
of his life
in those songs.
You know,
I think the songs are
the best expression of Billy.
And in Billy's case,
I think
that's where
he wanted things to end up.
And the piano, it sounds
like a carnival ♪
Alexa: The main thing that
he would always say to me is,
"If you do what you love
then you'll love
what you do."
And that that's really
the secret to life.
And I think for him,
through all the sadness
and all the struggles
that he went through,
he was still doing
what he loved.
Are you not entertained?
And that's really
what kept him going
and kept the music coming.
Sing us a song
you're the piano man ♪
Billy: I think music
saved my life.
song tonight ♪
Well, we're all
in the mood for a ♪
It gave me
a reason to live.
And you've got us
feelin' alright ♪
(audience cheering,
applauding)
(playing "And So It Goes")
My hope was that
my music would continue
to resonate.
And I'm glad it has.
There'll be a part of me
that goes on.
(birds squawking in distance)
You created something.
You made a mark on your time.
I don't know why
that's so important to me.
It just is.
But I'm not finished.
I'm as lost
as everybody else.
I'm still looking.
I'm still searching.
I may not ever
figure it all out,
but I'm trying.
("Vienna playing)
Slow down
you crazy child ♪
You're so ambitious
for a juvenile ♪
But then
if you're so smart ♪
Tell me why are you
still so afraid? ♪
Mm ♪
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 ♪
And only so many hours
in a day ♪
Hey ♪
But you know that
when the truth is told ♪
That you can get
what you want ♪
Or you can just get old ♪
You're gonna kick off ♪
Before you even get
halfway through ♪
Ooh, when will
you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪
Slow down
you're doin' fine ♪
You can't be everything
you wanna be ♪
Before your time ♪
Although it's so romantic ♪
On the borderline tonight ♪
Tonight ♪
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 ♪
They'll all come true ♪
Ooh ♪
When will you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪
And you know that
when the truth is told ♪
That you can get
what you want ♪
Or you could just get old ♪
You're gonna kick off ♪
Before you even get
halfway through ♪
Ooh ♪
Why don't you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪
When will you realize ♪
Vienna waits for you? ♪