Duchan - Billy Joel: Americas Piano Man

Tempo: A Rowman & Littlefield Music Series on Rock, Pop, and Culture offers titles that explore rock and popular music through the lens of social and cultural history, revealing the dynamic relationship between musicians, music, and their milieu. Like other major art forms, rock and pop music comment on their cultural, political, and even economic situation, reflecting the technological advances, psychological concerns, religious feelings, and artistic trends of their times. Contributions to the Tempo series are the ideal introduction to major pop and rock artists and genres.

The American Songbook: Music for the Masses, by Ann van der Merwe

Billy Joel: Americas Piano Man, by Joshua S. Duchan

Bob Dylan: American Troubadour, by Donald Brown

Bon Jovi: Americas Ultimate Band, by Margaret Olson

British Invasion: The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence, by Simon Philo

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet, by Donald L. Deardorff II

The Clash: The Only Band That Mattered, by Sean Egan

The Kinks: A Thoroughly English Phenomenon, by Carey Fleiner

Kris Kristofferson: Country Highwayman, by Mary G. Hurd

Patti Smith: Americas Punk Rock Rhapsodist, by Eric Wendell

Paul Simon: An American Tune, by Cornel Bonca

Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation, by Heather Augustyn

Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps, by Aaron J. West

U2: Rock n Roll to Change the World, by Timothy D. Neufeld

Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles, by George Plasketes

Americas Piano Man

Joshua S. Duchan

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Duchan, Joshua S.

Title: Billy Joel : Americas Piano Man / Joshua S. Duchan.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Series: Tempo: a Rowman & Littlefield music series on rock, pop, and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016042191 (print) | LCCN 2016043127 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442242050 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442242067 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Joel, BillyCriticism and interpretation. | Rock musicUnited StatesHistory and criticism.

Classification: LCC ML420.J72 D83 2017 (print) | LCC ML420.J72 (ebook) | DDC 782.42166092 [B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042191

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Erin, Julia, and Mara

As you go through your day with the music of American popular culture streaming around you through commercials, shows, films, shopping centers in-store music players, or your own collected or suggested playlists of classics and contemporary covers, you are just as likely to hear a Billy Joel song as you are a song by the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, or Bob Dylan. His hits are still as popular as their hits, and his influence on younger artists is likewise as prevalent, particularly on those who approach composing popular music as both a craft and career. His complex yet accessible arrangements with solid, inviting melodies and harmonies serve storytelling lyrics, all of which have contributed to developing a popular culture that values music that connects us locally and nationally and helps us respond to the ups and downs of life.

Billy Joels music does all of that and has long been awarded for its commercial appeal. Joels intelligence and artistry have earned him critical acclaim as wellsome of it quite prestigiousbut perhaps a secret has been kept too well, such that outside of a few scholarly studies and college master classes at select schools and conservatories, he is still underappreciated for his indelible mark that has enriched American popular music. This contribution to the Tempo series by Joshua S. Duchan makes the case, convincingly so, that Joels excellent songwriting is the engine that has driven the performer to a place of widespread cultural appeal and influence. Duchan has assembled the evidence and assessed its effect with a technicians skill but writes for everyone who is curious to know more about Joels music and why he matters to so many.

Put simply and personally, I can get into the songs and the songs continue to entertain me and speak to me as I move through lifes stages. They express a relatable emotion about a relatable story line, be it joy, pride, hope, anger, grief, or resolve, and the circumstances Joels characters face feel similar to mine, my friends, and the strangers I see often enough that they have become regulars in the scenes of my life. Joels music is personal but not insular. It often contains a wry observation wrapped in an upbeat line. The mood might be colored by melancholy, self-deprecation, or a devil-may-care joie de vivre, and in almost every song, I hear a protesteither faintly or loudlybut it strikes me as coming from a protestor who wants to be heard and included, not abandoned. Its these complexities and tensions, which Joel takes great interest in exploring in lyric and music, that make his work fit so well into American culture and that almost necessitate for its fullest expression influences from jazz and classical traditions. This goes some way to explaining what seemed like an incongruity in my younger life when I picked through my fathers record collection. Hes a classical music guy through and through, who also likes choral music, show tunes, and the lighter jazz, ragtime, and operatic fare. On the record shelf, arranged to the right of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Grieg, Mozart, Satie, and so many others, were the 1970s records of Billy Joel. Most of what we think of as rock and roll and popular music has no appeal for my father, but Billy Joel was the exception. I have to think he got on that shelf with the classical artists because at the core of all their talents, they were, first and foremost, piano men.

Scott Calhoun