Prelude/Angry Young Man
7 MORE DAYS!!!
The songs I’m posting for my top ten are in no particular order from my least favorite to most favorite or anything like that. They are just my favorites …. and I could have done a top 20 list of his songs, but the concert isn’t THAT far away!
I’m posting these favorite songs because I was given A Magical Gift recently.
Prelude/Angry Young Man
Every young kid taking piano lessons wants to learn how to play this after hearing it! It’s that simple. By the time I had finally really “heard” this song, I had convinced my mom to let me stop taking piano lessons, but the piano was still in the house. I remember sitting at the piano, wondering how he could hit the right notes so quickly. I still wonder it.
It was 1980-something and my cable channel was playing a special….. Billy Joel – Live from Long Island. I recorded it on my VCR (young pups will have to look this piece of technology up to see what I’m talking about) and played it over and over. I can still close my eyes and picture Billy in his black suit and skinny tie, complete with gym shoes, Mark on his sax and playing the steel pipe in the song, “Allentown”, Liberty crashing away at the drums making it seem like an aerobic sport in clothes that looked like he wore to bed, and the lead guitar in his cut-off red shirt. It was the very first time I was seeing the band. Up until that point I had only listened to the records and I was way too young to go to a concert. So this was MY concert. I always made sure to turn the volume down at the end when Billy left by saying, “And don’t take any shit from anybody!” Had my mom heard this, I probably wouldn’t have been able to watch it anymore.
So, the song starts with this mesmerizing percussive beating of the piano keys. His hands are a blur as they fly to hit precisely the notes he wants. 
Then, the lyrics come and his microphone bounces to the beat as he tries to follow it with the lyrics. To this day, after hundreds of attempts, I STILL cannot sing along and get all of the words.
The best part, for me, is the bridge where he once again….spoke to my soul at various ages of my life.
“I believe I’ve passed the age
of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right”
In an interview, Billy said that the inspiration for this song came from a former road manager who he had hired. The guy was such a jerk, couldn’t get along with anyone, and when he was fired, he played the martyr. Well, in my opinion, the guy did do ONE thing right. He inspired Billy to write a damn good song.
This is another song off of the Turnstiles album, released in 1976.
Watch the thumb of Billy’s left hand… it’s bandaged from a motorcycle accident he was involved in prior to the concert. It was broken, but when asked if he would cancel his concert because he couldn’t play, his response was, “I’ll play with my elbows if I have to. This is Rock ‘N Roll!”
To see previous favorites click a countdown day:
