SONG OF THE DAY

“Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel (The Stranger, Columbia Records, 1977). Written by Billy Joel.

MY TAKE

First, I love how Billy Joel looks like a hoodrat in that photo I chose. Ridiculous. Now for serious…

This song was probably milling around my world for a decade or so before I really took notice of it. The turning point for me getting into this song is actually kind of strange: my cousin Brian’s high school graduation a few years ago had a kid play this on piano during the proceedings. Weird choice of song during a high school graduation, I thought at the time, though now that I know the lyrics it totally makes sense, especially when you get to the lyrics of “The Ballad Of Brenda & Eddie”, i.e. section 3 of the song. What really struck me was that this kid in Brian’s graduating class had obvious piano skills and totally killed the song. I didn’t even see it live, I watched a crappy video taping of it—if that isn’t proof enough for you that the performance by this young one rocked, I don’t know what is.

This song has all of my favorite things in it: layers, interesting instruments that defy the genre (accordion, brass, sax solo), great lyrics, a bridge that totally goes through the roof, melody and tempo changes, and the ability to draw out of its performer an emotional performance. Honestly I think this song would have been terrific if it was just a piano solo, but I’m grateful that Billy Joel and his producer stepped eight levels past terrific and came up with this complex masterwork.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is a song from Billy Joel’s 1977 and fifth studio album, The Stranger. While his four previous albums had been moderate chart successes, this was his breakthrough album, spending six weeks at #2 in the U.S. album charts. It remains Joel’s best-selling non-compilation album to date.

– Although never released as a single, it has become one of Joel’s most celebrated compositions among fans, appearing on most of his compilation albums.

– The song is effectively a medley of three individual songs which are fused together. In an interview, Joel cites the second side of The Beatles album Abbey Road as one of the main influences behind it. The song starts with a gentle melodic piano ballad, which sets the scene of two old classmates in an Italian restaurant, moving on to a triumphant and uptempo jazz-influenced piece in the middle, with a clarinet and saxophone solo, which then segues into a rock and roll section (which Joel refers to as “The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie”).

– At 7 minutes and 37 seconds, it is the longest of Joel’s studio cuts.

– This album overtook Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water album to become the best-selling album on the Columbia Records imprint at the time.

– Generally regarded as Joel’s finest work, in 2003, the album was ranked number 67 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

– Since releasing his first hit song, “Piano Man”, in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA.

– Joel had Top 10 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and has 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote singlehandedly.

– He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 100 million records worldwide.

– He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009).

– Joel “retired” from recording pop music in 1993 but continues to tour (often with Elton John).

– Billy has a sister, Judith Joel, and a half-brother, Alexander Joel, who is an acclaimed classical conductor in Europe, currently chief musical director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

– Joel’s father was an accomplished classical pianist.

– Joel has banners in the rafters of the Times Union Center, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and Hartford Civic Center in Hartford.

– He has also sponsored the Billy Joel Visiting Composer Series at Syracuse University.

– Joel is the only performing artist to have played both Yankee and Shea Stadiums, as well as Giants Stadium.

VIDEO OF THE DAY