IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKIN' ALONE: The Official ILM Track-by-Track BILLY JOEL Listening Thread

Hmmm, you're making me wonder if that song's lyric is meant to unfold in time, across the verses... I've always read it as basically describing one point in the character's life, but maybe the Village detour happens during a semester at NYU, the father's death over the summer, etc.

Doctor, I, too, have always understood it to mean one specific "tonight."

Maybe he's on Long Island in a place where he can get to the city for a little bit in the daytime, but the train schedules and/or parental restrictions make it difficult as an evening excursion?

So it would be theoretically possible to go to the Village for a while to people-watch. But he's got to be back in Hicksville (or whatever) before things get interesting in the city. That makes the whiny bits about his sister being on a date, but he's got no place to go, make a tiny bit more sense.

But for decades I've wondered why he doesn't just stay in the Village and, like, I dunno, go see a band or something. Also, he can get heroin! Jeez. In my experience, most teenagers I knew back then would have felt like scoring H and hanging on Bleecker was a pretty exciting evening.

Another narrative song, but less forced and more solidly melodic than "Streetlife Serenader." I like the way that the lyric "We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs / With the TV on and the neighbors there" kind of tumbles out, sounding anxious and frustrated compared to the rest of it; there's some anger barely creeping in here that is sinisterly hinted at with the early line about the gun. It's not a subtle song, necessarily, but it leaves some things tantalizingly unsaid.

That said, I don't know what's going on with that Moog, either.

New theory: Jack operates a small ferry service - with the option to ride "high" up in the crow's nest for an extra fee - whose stops include a small, rocky outcropping much beloved by the main character. Unfortunately, the last boat out is at 7 PM, so there's really no option to do much in the city if you want to make it.

I like the album art.

captain jack to me occurs over time

he's IN the one horse town ie home/suburbs
so he GOES to the village
but all the while throughout the song he is still living at home (mum makes yr bed etc)

i assume "the great suburban showdown" is the same narrator as "captain jack" a few years down the line. and now he's a boring, cynical asshole with a shitty office job in san diego who thinks he's seen the world. also, he owns a moog. i'd much rather hear the song from mom and dad's point of view. junior's just kind of boring me to death here.

I like the way that the lyric "We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs / With the TV on and the neighbors there" kind of tumbles out

i do like that line.

the most interesting angle, and the most Joel-ish, would have been to make an earnest case *for* Long Island suburban life and family - stick it to all those cooler-than-thou Los Angeles snobs with their Pleasant Valley Sundays and Paved Paradises!

we are the long island preservation society
god save the northern state, easthampton and anxiety

Anyone get a Jackson Browne vibe from this song?

ew no

but then I don't like him so my brain doesn't really even go there

jackson browne is a good call on this one.

I don't know if the Moog is the best instrument for the ends he wants to achieve

we'll be hearing more of that. i think it was a new toy and he wanted to use it every chance he got.

sing us a song yr the moog man

suburban showdown really needed a "Scenes from an Italian restaurant" style break in the middle where the tempo speeds up and they all have a big argument or something and then switch back to humdrum suburbia

that would've been cool

yeah totally!

Jackson Browne was a better melodist and storyteller, even at this stage.

go peddle yr JB love on the Eagles thread buddy

Alfred otm

"like"

and I'm not remotely a fan

"Somebody's Baby" >>> entire BJ catalog imo

Browne and Joel have their respective gaucheries, so they cancel each other out.

except that jackson browne is creepy & gross & i hate him

he looks like a serial killer who goes around playing a guitar luring women

The Nice Guy Killer

bleh

the intersection of the jackson and billy venn diagram is "lawyers in love," which should have been on one of billy's '80s albums.

so.... the difference w Billy Joel is he plays piano?

xp

Joel comes off plenty creepy and gross, as we'll soon see.

Browne plays piano too!

billy plays guitar too! (more or less)

GODDAMMIT WHY DO I HAVE TO EVEN DEFEND BILLY JOEL AGAINST MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON BROWNE IN A THREAD THAT ISNT EVEN ABOUT JACKSON BROWNE IN THE FIRST PLACE

you are all wrong and you should all shut up imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKrd0lv_p1c

Root Beer Rag is the first of two instrumentals on the record, and perhaps reflects the enthusiasm for ragtime following the massive success of The Sting the previous year. Somehow, Columbia managed not to make it the b-side to "The Entertainer," which surely could have snagged a few unsuspecting Joplin fans, but in an odd twist it would be used as the b-side for several 52nd Street singles in different markets. Meanwhile, per Wiki, it saw plenty of use as TV theme and incidental music, including as the opening to the very first, local-to-Chicago Siskel & Ebert program. It's also been covered a few times, including an a capella rendition by the German Wise Guys.

Joel remains fond of the song; here it is live in 1978 (there's the Moog next to him!) and 2013. Finally: "Root Beer Rag" was also the name of a Billy Joel newsletter (now defunct) published in the late 1970s to late 1980s.

By the way, since the album cover came up, here's that entry from Pop Spots, a charming site previously invoked with regard to the original Piano Man bar location.

And, from that link, this great ad which I missed when introducing the album:

http://www.popspotsnyc.com/streetlife_serenade/Steetlife_Ad_1_800.jpg

Um, cute?

nightmarish

a city full of Billy Joel's talking about Billy Joel, that's some malkovich malkovich malkovich shit

original concept for Longest Time video iirc

lol that'd be amazing. each new vocal part, another advent-calendar window pops open or another target-practice cut-out springs up from the ground, hey it's billy!

"root beer rag" makes me ridiculously happy.

tbh I'm kinda looking forward to getting to the video-era cuz BJ videos are ridiculous

Tip: do not google "BJ videos."

unless, y'know...

"Root Beer Rag" was also the name of a Billy Joel newsletter (now defunct) published in the late 1970s to late 1980s.

A proud former subscriber, right here.

Was about to make some lame joke about using this on Zen Arcade instead of Mondays Will Never Be the Same, but held back for once. Then I open up DC's link and see that the Streetlife cover was from San Pedro! Take that, Huskers!

So, any ragtime heads on this board? The most I can say about this song is it sounds nice on the record and it's probably real fun to play. The instrumentals on this album are usually cited as evidence of how dry Billy's well was, but I think this one at least is fun.

...oh well! Moving on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP4HygPI9lA

Roberta closes out side one of Streetlife Serenade. This is one of several "woman's name" songs in Joel's quiver around this time; "Rosalinda" and "Josephine," heard on the Sigma Sound performance, were never recorded for an album. An "I'm in love with a stripper" tale, it seems in some ways like the most "Billy Joel" song we've heard so far.

This seems like the kind of offbeat sentiment that Billy could really get into, but the song never really builds up any steam.

Root Beer Rag is fun, def makes me nostalgic for commercials of my childhood

Roberta is good, best non ragtime song so far

(on this album)

Yeah Roberta's really good and *very* Billy as Dr C rightly points out.

Piano sounds really beautiful on this - I don't know much about pianos so I'm not really sure why it sounds better than other piano songs he's played. Maybe it's just the way he's playing? It is a mystery. But I like it.

I'm following this thread with interest, my first agonizing "which record do I but with my allowance" choice was between Glass Houses and The Cars' debut. I'm still glad I went with The Cars, but it's interesting to see how much more of a soft spot I have for Joel's schtick than I do with (to pick another ILM "listening thread") The Eagles. Joel is putting down his friends/lovers, singing "I don't care what you say anymore," extolling the virtues of early death, and riding his motorcycle through the rain. The Eagles are telling a desperado to "come to his senses," getting lost in hotels, and warning about the dangers of a fast life. I know which worldview I prefer in my pop songs!

but = buy