Billy Joel songs

[MotorCityMinion]

oh, and Billy had one of the best backing bands in history. I put right up there with E-street and the Heartbreakers.

OT. Check out the Netflix documentary Hired Guns. I thought the man and the original line up were great until I saw this. It's also noteworthy to say that I'm not a professional musician.

https://decider.com/2017/12/29/hired-gun-on-netflix/

The film begins with an archival interview clip of singer-songwriter Billy Joel bragging about how his backing band isn’t just “a bunch of sidemen,” but a communal and collaborative musical group, even if he is the star of the show. The plight of Joel’s band, which played on his career-making ’70s records up until the turn of the century, is used as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of being a musical hired gun. While elite level musicians are sought out, they seldom share the critical acclaim or monetary rewards or their employers, and are easily cast off at the end of a tour or at the whim of artists and management.

Another interesting read.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Killing Floor]

Speaking of Kroger I need to pick up a few things this afternoon.

 

[dalkowski]

Allentown is my choice.

Not really a party song for the crowd IMHO, but you do you my brother.

 

[mstillman]

Not really a party song for the crowd IMHO, but you do you my brother.

Given the present situation, I think we'll avoid songs with depressing lyrics about urban blight.

 

[dalkowski]

Given the present situation, I think we'll avoid songs with depressing lyrics about urban blight.

Yeah you could do a 3-fer with "My Hometown" and "Rain on the Scarecrow." That'll clear the dancefloor.

 

[dave64o]

Only the Good Die Young seems like it should work.

 

[TheReceder]

We played all three of the BJ songs you mentioned. best response to worst....
You may be right (hated the song, but because of the crowd reaction learned to tolerate it).
Only the good die young. (Good crowd response. kept it on the setlist for a while)
My Life. (Of the three my preferred BJ song... I was the one that recommended we drop it because of the weak crowd response.)

One you didn't mention that we had good luck with... Sometimes a fantasy.

 

[nickpc]

I once heard an instrumented version of The Longest Time. Started out acapella, then added some light piano/keys, then layered in some guitar, added in some bass, drums came in, by the end it was running full tilt. They did speed it up as it went as well so it was definitely a dance tune, and had everyone up and moving.

It was at a wedding, and the band had been playing background music during the meal. The song successfully transitioned the reception back to the "LET'S DANCE!!!" mode.

 

[JMacBass65]

OT. Check out the Netflix documentary Hired Guns. I thought the man and the original line up were great until I saw this. It's also noteworthy to say that I'm not a professional musician.

https://decider.com/2017/12/29/hired-gun-on-netflix/

The film begins with an archival interview clip of singer-songwriter Billy Joel bragging about how his backing band isn’t just “a bunch of sidemen,” but a communal and collaborative musical group, even if he is the star of the show. The plight of Joel’s band, which played on his career-making ’70s records up until the turn of the century, is used as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of being a musical hired gun. While elite level musicians are sought out, they seldom share the critical acclaim or monetary rewards or their employers, and are easily cast off at the end of a tour or at the whim of artists and management.

Another interesting read.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Yeah, it was pretty disappointing to hear what he did to Libery DeVito etc. I had thought better of him.

 

[yodedude2]

another vote for 'you may be right'.

 

[BassBrass]

Allentown is my choice.

Always! "but the restlessness was handed down"
But what effect makes a piano sound out of a vagabond's guitar?

 

[ZedLepp]

Has your group considered "It's Still Rock N Roll to Me" ?

I used to play in a band that did like a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version of this song. Went over really good. We also did "You may be right" as well. I know right before we broke up we were talking about another Billy song, but I can't remember what it was. More black coffee needed.

 

[David Jayne]

We do My Life in a 'yacht rock' thing we put together. It does go over well. But you gotta get the backing vocals together, and they're not simple or easy.

 

[sawzalot]

I've been in bands that played My Life and Only the Good Die Young. Both got great responses, actually Only the Good Die Young got a really good response. I've also played Miami 2017, which also got a good response back in the day. My Life might be good. One of my favorites is Zanzibar off his 52nd Street album, but I don't think anybody else likes that but me.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

I would have thought 'My Life' would play better, but some responses here suggest otherwise.

On an unrelated note, we play 'Maria' in our tribute and it's a weird song; it doesn't get people on the dance floor the way some other tunes do but a handful of our best fans demand it.

 

[LordRyan]

I worked with a band leader who when holding auditions for new members would ask them if they liked Billy Joel. Usually they were caught off guard and would say something like "Oh yeah, I love Billy Joel" and had no idea they just failed the audition.

 

[MegaSwing]

I’m partial to ‘Keeping the Faith’ and ‘River of Dreams’. Both are catchy, mid-tempo, and swinging. You might consider ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’, ‘The Stranger’ or ‘Pressure’ as well.

IMO, ‘You May Be Right’ is the default safe choice among Billy Joel rockers. It’s a go-to for jammers who don’t each other well.

 

[john_g]

Played Only the Good Die Young, Big Shot and You May Be Right...actually we also did Miami 2017 for a couple gigs too, and they were all crapshoots IMO. Depends on how it works with the rest of your setlist and then it depends on the crowd. Sometimes they would work, others, not so much. My favorite to ply was Good Die Young with its "walking" bass.

 

[MegaSwing]

I worked with a band leader who when holding auditions for new members would ask them if they liked Billy Joel. Usually they were caught off guard and would say something like "Oh yeah, I love Billy Joel" and had no idea they just failed the audition.

My question to him would be, ‘What’ve you got?’

And trust me, I’m not a huge Billy Joel fan, but it is hard to play a long time without some migrating into your set lists. He was very prolific.

You don’t normally get the luxury of loving everything you play. Still, a song is a song, and no knowledge is wasted.

 

[Ken R]

Los Angelenos, the live version.