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5 Overlooked Billy Joel Songs
I came of age in suburban Staten Island during the 80’s, back when you couldn’t hang on the stoop without someone blasting Billy Joel from a boombox. Even my Italian grandparents loved “that little Jew.” They would pop in an 8-Track of The Stranger or 52nd Street in the Caddy on our trips to the city. I’d time it so the title track on The Stranger would blossom just as we popped out of the tunnel into the Battery.
My friend was more fanatic and would dress like Billy Joel… jacket, tie and jeans. I always looked like a shlub next to him. I was infatuated in my own less demonstrative way. I listened to a lot of those albums exclusively for years, took it personally when anyone criticized Billy, and wore out my VHS of Live from Long Island pretty quickly.
That being said, I’m not into many of the hits anymore. With 33 songs in the top 40, that’s a lot of songs to ignore. Don’t get me wrong, I had a ball at Brooklyn Bowl watching Gene Ween sing them live, but I’m not alone in never wanting to hear Piano Man or goddamn Uptown Girl again, am I? Billy has to be sick of those songs, too.
So what are some overlooked gems from the Billy Joel catalog? I thought you’d never ask.
1. All for Leyna / Glass Houses, 1980
Ok, I’m gonna start with an obvious one. Obvious to fans, that is. Let me be clear by saying good Billy Joel songs are not “overlooked” by fans, just by Joe Shmoe who probably only knows a fistful of hits.
As a ten year old in 1980 my only experience with women was a quick kiss here and there, yet lyrics like “I don’t wanna eat, I don’t wanna sleep, I only want Leyna one more time” spoke to the part of me that gave into obsessions. Granted most of my obsessions involved eating entire boxes of Cap’n Crunch when no one was looking, but there was definitely a girl or two I couldn’t get off my mind during all that crunching.
All For Leyna is Joel several albums away from his sweet and folksy debut. By now he’s heard The Police and wants in. My English teacher thought Glass Houses was the best example of Billy Joel selling out. He probably also thought Dylan sold out when he went electric. Whatever. At their core, these guys are entertainers, and entertainers like to make crowds happy. Billy started in a piano bar, for chrissakes.
2. Worse Comes to Worst / Piano Man, 1973
“And if I don’t have a car, I’ll hitch. I got a thumb and she’s a son of a bitch.”
3. You Look So Good To Me / Cold Spring Harbor, 1971
You won’t look cool blasting this at full volume cruising down the bully, that’s for sure. It kinda sounds like white people getting dressed for an early supper. Almost like a James Taylor or Carol King cover, but it’s a Billy original, yo.
I’ve never heard it outside playing it for myself. Not on the radio, not in concert, never heard fans talking about it. Yet to me it’s the perfect little pop song. A little light lyrically, but Stevie Wonder could have a field day funking this love song up.
4. Close to the Borderline/ Glass Houses, 1980
“I got remote control and a color TV. I don’t change channels so they must change me.”
Sung via the same impatient point of view as Pressure from The Nylon Curtain, it’s another litany of modern day anxiety encapsulated in four minutes of rock. It’s a road-house stomper that doesn’t take itself too seriously – which Joel is sometimes guilty of.
5. Surprises / The Nylon Curtain, 1982
“Don’t look now but you have changed.”
The Nylon Curtain is famous for Allentown, Pressure and Goodnight Saigon, but Surprises, Laura, and A Room of our Own are the best tracks if you ask me, and you didn’t. It’s grown-ass suburban music fo’ shizzle. That he followed this record with a concept album exploring doo-wop is still jarring.
And so it goes… 5 overlooked tracks among many possible choices by a guy who has sold more than 150 million records worldwide. He even got to keep some of that money.
Now if only we could get him to write something new.
Almost every year for the past 6 years and on the same day, I’ve posted the same pic of me in the hospital during my temporary and untimely demise in 2015. A few weeks after I was back to “normal”, I asked Eric “Why’d you take the pics?” And he said, “I knew you would want to write about it if you lived.” Eric was right. Eric was often right and Eric always had my best interest at heart. I am going to miss my friend.
You ever meet someone and become friends immediately?! Well this was not the case with Eric. Before he was my manager at Morgan Stanley, I would often see this 6’4″, giant white guy walk up to the only black woman at work, say something then walk away without any hint of human emotion. Naturally I thought he was a jerk until I asked her “Yo, is that dude bothering you?” She laughed and proceeded to tell me he was a great person, which I ultimately got to experience first hand. Little did I know this Italian from Staten Island was more Brooklyn than most Brooklynites.
Eric was not with the shits!! If there were ever someone who lived their life in direct, honest and no uncertain terms, that would be Eric. He would ask me questions at work like “Why are the other consultants making more money than you?” I knew the answer to that question and so did he. Eric then proceeded to increase my salary by 15K. After arguing with all our managers that “You need to hire Alfred!”, they eventually did 1 year prior to the 2015 incident. In the hospital, one of my friends asked me, “What if you didn’t have health insurance when this happened?” I would be in debt for the rest of my life is the obvious answer. I still am in debt for the rest of my life but at least, it is to those who made sure I had a more enjoyable life and for that, I will gladly repay.
My mom loved to tell me the story of how she met Eric. After they told her I was going to be in the ICU for some time, she told the doctor “Well I’m not going anywhere.” She then hears a voice from that back of the room that says “Well I’m not going anywhere either!” That was Eric and in true form, he was at that hospital every single day until I was discharged.
Eric passed away in December 2021 of stage 4 cancer. After feeling faint on his way to my bbq, he went to get checked out and was diagnosed. During the past 5 years, Eric lost his mom, twin brother and dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like but I’m glad that pain he was feeling is no more.
From being my manager to my business partner, writer, book editor, artistic director, and most importantly, my friend, I am going to miss you MC Krispy E a.k.a “Enrique Pollazo!” And although you told me Enrique means Henry in Spanish and not Eric, it was too late!
Sidebar. The day I was discharged, while everyone was deciding what was best for me, no one had remembered that I would need clothes in order to leave the hospital. Eric shows up (unasked) with all the clothes I had on the day I coded, laundered and ready to go. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve friends like this but i need to keep doing it! Sidebar complete.
Rest in Peace Eric. “Be Good.”
I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on writing your first book, presented by the Harlem chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Alongside Jim St. Germain, Author – A Stone of Hope: A Memoir and Dr. Keneshia Nicole Grant, Author – The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century. We opined on pain points, benefits and strategies regarding our inaugural voyages into authorship. Feel free to watch for your self and I hope this provides some insight to all those looking to make the same voyage. Enjoy!
