50 Essential Songs by Billy Joel
85Billy Joel is one of those artists that I grew up listening to because every member of our family always did. The reason for this is not just because I grew up on Long Island, but because my aunt Carol Freund actually worked for Billy back in the day. You can see her name is the liner notes of the album GLASS HOUSES. She worked at Home Run which was a publishing company that was run by Billy's ex-wife Elizabeth. Needless to say, I have heard and yes, practically memorized every song that he ever recorded. I am therefore qualified to make this list and cast my judgments.
Carol Freund, Billy & Elizabeth Joel circa 1979
There are only 50 Songs by Billy Joel that actually matter and they are...
Cold Spring Harbor ~ 1971
1) She's Got A Way
2) Everybody Loves You Now
3) Turn Around
4) Got To Begin Again
Piano Man ~ 1973
5) Travelin' Prayer
6) Piano Man
7) Ain't No Crime
8) You're My Home
Streetlife Serenader ~ 1974
9) Los Angelenos
10) Root Beer Rag
11) The Entertainer
12) Weekend Song
Turnstiles ~ 1976
13) Say Goodbye To Hollywood
14) Summer, Highland Falls
15) New York State of Mind
16) Prelude / Angry Young Man
17) I've Loved These Days
18) Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
The Stranger ~ 1977
19) Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
20) The Stranger
21) Just The Way You Are
22) Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
23) Vienna
24) Only The Good Die Young
25) She's Always a Woman
26) Get It Right the First Time
52nd Street ~ 1978
27) Big Shot
28) Honesty
29) My Life
30) Zanzibar
31) Stiletto
32) Half a Mile Away
Glass Houses ~ 1980
33) You May Be Right
34) Sometimes a Fantasy
35) Don't Ask Me Why
36) It's Still Rock-n-Roll To Me
37) All For Leyna
38) Sleeping With the Television On
39) Close to the Borderline
Songs in the Attic ~ 1981
40) Captain Jack (LIVE)
41) The Ballad of Billy The Kid (LIVE)
The Nylon Curtain ~ 1982
42) Allentown
43) Pressure
44) Goodnight Saigon
An Innocent Man ~ 1983
45 ) An Innocent Man
46) Tell Her About It
47 ) Leave a Tender Moment Alone
Greatest Hits Vol. 1 ~ 1985
48) The Night is Still Young
The Bridge ~ 1986
49) Code of Silence (Duet with Cyndi Lauper)
and finally last year in 2007..
50) Christmas in Fallujah (Cass Dillon)
All the rest of his songs are rubbish and every true fan knows this.
The Rubbish singles of Billy Joel are...
- Uptown Girl
- The Longest Time
- Keeping The Faith
- You're Only Human (Second Wind)
- This Is The Time
- A Matter of Trust
- Modern Woman (from Ruthless People)
- Why Should I Worry? (from Oliver & Company)
- We Didn't Start The Fire
- The Downeaster Alexa
- I Go To Extremes
- And So It Goes
- All About Soul
- Shameless
- The River of Dreams
- The Great Wall of China
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Okay truth be told, I accidentally published this hub without it being finished, here is the REAL ENDING.
I was gonna go on to say that despite my trying hard to be liberal with my picks in deference to the end of his career, I still can't live with this list like this so....
I'm officially trading in some bad songs for better ones.
Songs Deleted
- #28 HONESTY (Billy recently said on tour that he tried to be as honest as he could when he wrote but admitted, "except Honesty though, that was a bunch bullshit." Me & the rest of the MSG crowd laughed knowingly.)
- #46 TELL HER ABOUT IT
- the whole NYLON CURTAIN album sucks too.
New Songs Added
- Stop In Nevada
- Worst Comes To Worst
- Somewhere Along The Line
- Souvenir
- Streetlife Serenader
I was also going to list the 20 BEST SONGS IN ORDER BY GREATNESS..
- Vienna
- The Stranger
- Summer, Highland Falls
- Miami 2017
- Don't Ask Me Why
- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
- You May Be Right
- Big Shot
- Piano Man
- Captain Jack (LIVE)
- I've Loved These Days
- Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
- Turn Around
- New York State of Mind
- Prelude / Angry Young Man
- Get It Right The First Time
- Los Angelenos
- Sleeping With The Television On
- She's Got a Way
- Got To Begin Again
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I love this hub! Billy Joel is my all-time favorite musician. With all these great hits, how could he not be?
Great hub. Turnstiles was my favourite Billy Joel album for a long time :)
Hum...I've always enjoyed one of your rubbish picks, River of Dreams. But glad to see #46 made your list of "essential" --- fun hub!
i like it u share soo nice collection of Billy Joel thanks for the share these songs
Updated with a Photo of my late aunt, Carol Freund.
Well done.
I 100% agree.
Thank You very much.
Summer, Highland Falls is one of my favorite Billy songs ever... It brings a tear to the corner of my eye.
Great song dude. One of my favs.
Sadness or euphoria!
I really enjoyed your list and almost completely agree with you. Only quibble I'd have is trading "Falling of the Rain" from CSH straight up for "Weekend Song," which always struck me as ersatz Springsteen. And if there is anything I like more than your list, it's the photo. The sepia tone reminds me of one of those Wild West photos you can get at carnivals, but instead of being dressed as bar wenches and a saloon keeper, they're in '70s finery. The women look great and Billy looks like he's being goosed by his Elizabeth, who was quite a knockout.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
Just found this page. Your are right on with these lists, I agree with about 95% of your choices. How do you feel about "Until the Night" and "Famous Last Words"? I think those are underrated.
Bull shit. Of all the lists of songs I've seen, this is probably the worst. You can't say a whole Nylon Curtain album is shit. Remember Where's the Orchestra? Yep. How can you say that you represent the Billy Joel fan communtiy and cut out All About Soul? In fact, where is River of Dreams anyway? According to your list, you said that the boring, ordinary repeated song called Turn Around was better than the ENTIRE album, which may be his most profound and exciting one. And by the way, he ddn't duet with Cyndi Lauper. She backed him up and co-wrote it. Maybe you should take your head out of your ass listen to his stuff again, and change this fucking list.
lol, he's mad about a list of Billy Joel songs. Have a nice life dude and good luck.
I am a huge Billy Joel fan and have been since piano man was released. I recently saw him in concert with Elton John...A great show...
not sure that 'River of Dreams' needs to be on the 'rubbish list' and also think that 'Tomorrow is Today' needs recognition!!
You're Only Human should NOT be on the rubbish list. The song is about teen suicide prevention and is inspirational since he went through depression himself!
Yes, but have you heard the song? it's unlistenable.
ok you know all the songs and lyrics, so can you PLEASE help me out?? i have been haunted by an obvious BJ song i heard on the radio but i don't know the name... it's more or less a ballad about how he was down and out and on the street and met this woman who turned his life around etc etc. super-generic, i know... but the chorus goes "oooooooooooooooooooh....i love you" and then there's another verse and then it goes "ooooooooooooooooooooooooh...i need you", and then verse and then "oooooooooooooooooooooh...i want you" etc. i know this is as pathetic as it gets for trying to give clues but other than humming it, that's all i got. if you know this tune, can you tell me the name? i'll eat my hat if it's not billy joel! thanks for helping me out on this quest, and great list by the way!
I didn't agree with a lot of this list. Storm Front is my favorite Billy Joel Album, and you didn't include any songs from that album on your list. But i find many of the early songs very good too.(the stranger is my second favorite) I think your rubbish songs are the songs that one would hate to hear frequently. But I think most of them are still nice songs to hear once in a while. I don't think you like any bad songs, but I do think you dislike a few that are good.
Billy Joel himself said we didn't start the fire was the dumbest song he ever wrote and he couldn't believe people liked it so much.
11/15/10 Today on the Howard Stern show Billy Joel said "And so it Goes" may be the song he's most proud of
Interesting.
This is amazing! Great job. :)
Just one comment: I want to take issue with your notion that you are "qualified to make these judgments." You think that because your aunt worked for Billy Joel and that you "memorized" his songs that you are "qualified" to judge an artist's work? Here's the essence of my comment: You, sir, are an asshole. I too dislike many of Joel's songs. No one can like ALL an artist's work. Some of Cezanne's work sucked, some of Michelangelo's work probably sucked too. So what? Of the entire body of Joel's compiled works he displays his genius as a songwriter. Some of those songs don't work, but some are masterpieces. You, on the other hand, my friend, have probably done nothing of note, so why not just abandon this list? It seems as though you've put a lot of work into it, and I'm really not sure why. What has this list achieved? Are you that starved for attention that you require people you don't know to comment on your ridiculous project? Why do this? In enumerating Billy Joel's tunes, and without regard to what you like or dislike, all you've managed to do for me is illustrate what a fool you are. There is virtually no purpose to this list. Let us out here simply enjoy his good music and dispel those tunes that have made less of an impact. Woudln't that make more sense?
What's wrong with A Matter of Trust that it's on the rubbish list?
Billy Joel is my favorite artist. I downloaded all the songs that you put on the list that I didn't have. Don't say those songare trash, i go to extremes and for the longest time are two very good songs. Just sayin. Great list! We all have our preferences.
Again. Mostly you picked the songs that went mainstream.
My local radio station plays BJ's songs every freakin day, it's driving me nuts, two keep popping up regular 'Uptown Girl' and 'Tell her about it', It's got to the stage where I have to turn the radio off when he comes on ..... I HATE BILLY JOEL, if you see him driving around in a brand new Mercedes he's probably bought it off the royalty's just off my local station, if you're listening WM Radio ...... SHUT THE **** UP !!!!
I'm surprised you left "I don't want to be alone" out from Glass Houses. It is just so catchy
You're Right. Good call Alex.
Always liked 'This Night.' I know it's not much, but there's something about it I like.
Obviously, I dont know what I am talking about and have my head up my arse.
Great list. I agree with alot of the rubbish songs, but i love the river of dreams, and the downeaster alexa is actually ight.
Are you dense? Where's Tomorrow is Today? This is the Time is RUBBISH?!?! I don't think your brain is connected properly because there is no bad Billy Joel song.
uptown girl is great
Dude, your list sucks. Billy Joel has had a very long career, and he's written far more than 50 decent songs. Half the songs you call "rubbish" are very good, and many of us true fans would question your credibility. Billy Joel is incredible. ?
Terrible list... Are you even from Long Island? Actually... I dnt care so dnt bother answering...
How come Lullabye (goodnight my angel) is not on the lists at all. It's such a beautiful song.
You are a jerk Mr. "DJ Funktual," you didn't even put Lullabye/Goodnight My Angel on the list of the good songs. And the "rubbish songs are actually catchier than some of the crap you put on the good list. Also "And So it Goes" is a beautiful song that my boyfriend and I cherish. Jerk.
Your music must suck by the way if you can't even pick out decent music from a person who is a better musician than you will ever be. So what if you're on youtube? I have never even heard of you before now. If I were in your presence I would be using the force to strangle you, Mr. "suck a ball Clambelly." Dude, suck your own balls 'cause you know you can't get anyone to do it for you.
Okay, just so I have this straight. You read a list of songs I wrote 3 years ago and came out of it wanting to strangle me and telling me to suck my own balls, is that right? It is. Oh ok. Just checking.
vienna is awesome...you definitely have that right as the #1
danielpyle 4 years ago
Great list! Add number 17 To Make You Feel My Love...and this is complete...LOL..Thanks for the hub