He’s incredibly good at turning experiences into words. Allentown is still relevant today, the way he wrote it it just describes so many peoples American experience.
But he did that a lot. Where I think he’s best with it is more emotional songs, he really captures whatever emotion he’s getting into words well. Like, Captain Jack does a good job of telling the story of someone in small town America, but I always heard it as a song about depression. All this stuff is happening around you and you’re just kinda there for it, not really feeling much of anything.
Or how he captures that nervous feeling about meeting a girl for the first time in Get it Right the First Time. He is so good at getting emotion into music.
I was recently revisiting some Billy Joel. He really was a great folk storyteller.
Like, Allentown tells a history so succinctly but authentically. It really is a skill he honed.
He’s incredibly good at turning experiences into words. Allentown is still relevant today, the way he wrote it it just describes so many peoples American experience.
But he did that a lot. Where I think he’s best with it is more emotional songs, he really captures whatever emotion he’s getting into words well. Like, Captain Jack does a good job of telling the story of someone in small town America, but I always heard it as a song about depression. All this stuff is happening around you and you’re just kinda there for it, not really feeling much of anything.
Or how he captures that nervous feeling about meeting a girl for the first time in Get it Right the First Time. He is so good at getting emotion into music.