Billy Joel songs: My Life,Honesty,Big Shot,You May be right,Still Rock n Roll to me,Through the long night,Uptown Girl,Innocent Man,Allentown,Say goodbye to Hollywood,Just the way you are,She's always a woman to me,Piano Man,Only the good die young,Stiletto,Zanzibar, Movin' out,A matter of time.Tell her about it,She's got a way, and Don't ask me why
As a teacher, I play this song in my class a lot. And then once they decided they like the song, I had them identify why each event was important. Or why each person was important. The kids love it!
Some kid told him everything wrong in the world was his generation's fault. He told the kid, no, this has been going on since the start of time, then wrote this song.
Wikipedia at least claims that it was a friend of John Lennon's other son, Sean Lennon, who lamented how bad it was to be a 21 year old at that time. Joel then started asking this friend of Sean's if he had heard about various things that went on when Joel was 21 years old. And that's how the song began to take form.
What Joel said is true it has been burning since the world's been turning. But damn, Joel could take just the events of 2020 and have a version of the song just as long.
He wrote it in studio. Julian Lennon came in the studio with a friend who just turned 21. The friend told Billy" You guys had it easier than we do now." And then Billy wrote this right then and there as a response. LOVE Billy Joel. This song was always played by my teacher in the 6th grade. This song and the fall of the Berlin Wall always went together for me. I think of one and hear/remember the other.
That was the first time that i heard it also, after he rewound and reacted to it, never noticed it before that as many times as I have listened to it. Well done.
I was a freshman in high school when this was released. I have never heard the 'Psycho' music either until just now. Wow, you definitely learn something new every day🙂
That would’ve saved me a lot of stress when I studied history in high school 🤟😉 I ended up passing, but for some time, it was one of my weakest subjects. Overall grades “struck gold” when I hit the 10th grade ☝️😋👍✅✅✅
My history high school teacher did play this song in class. We had to write down as many things as we could and then we had a discussion about them. I was already familiar with the song but it was a great tool to help us learn.
@@mohamedbazeddi3943 nope, just a love of history. I remember the interviews with him when it was released. But lots of history teachers have since used this song. :)
My daughter graduated hs in 2001..she chose the lyrics of this song for her history special report..she walked around the house constantly saying the lyrics..i felt like i knew it by heart also..Shes a doctor now..pat myself on the back...
The events in the song begin with the year he was born and continue to the year the song was written. My social studies teacher actually had us learn the lyrics when it came out, and then had us update date it current events that had occurred since it was recorded.
I had one teacher called Mr Newbold, he did things differently and he's the only one I really remember 25years later. Unfortunately he passed away the year after I left education, rip Mr Newbold
Took forever to memorize this song when it came out. A few years ago it came on the radio at work and my coworkers couldn't believe I could sing along and never missed a word. 30 years and I still love Billy Joel. Love to see you do a reaction to his Goodnight Saigon.
As I recall, it's been a while, when the song was released the people of Allentown were not very fond of the song. I think they saw it as exploitative.
Christi Moisant I was a school librarian and the computer teacher and I used this to teach research skills to 8th grade, then they made a PowerPoint synced to the song.
Being a huge history buff, this has always been one of my favorite songs. Even if you don't understand the reference, the music is catchy. It's my understanding that he was talking to a boy in his 20's who didn't know about the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis. He wrote this toe-tapper from the Headlines of the day.
I came across this song again and haven't listened to it in about 5 yrs. I've always loved this song. I can relate to, being a Boomer born in 1954. Love Billy Joel!
My history teacher in High School had us do a report on this song. We had to go through and write a small piece about the significance of each of these events.
When this song came, a lot of history teachers used it as a teaching aid to get kids interested in 20th century history. You should check out the lyric video, but I'm glad you watched the official video first. #keepgreatmusicalive
When they interviewed Billy he said he came up with this song because he got in an argument with some younger guys saying you guys had it easy we got reall problems . so the song is him listing all the crap his generation dealt with.
The only one I didn't get was Malenkov. Must have had something to do with Russia. Never noticed the mention of the Rosenbergs before. Its a fascinating song!
zbagz01 Malenkov was Premiere after Stalin, but got outmaneuvered by Kruschev, who ousted him. Who knows if the Cuban Missile crisis would have happened under Malenkov. I think not.
Truthfully I got about 85% of them. I had to look a few things like Richard Starkweather and thalidomide, (Much of this start before I was born. It runs from the 50s to the 80s
Yes, a lot of historical headlines in the span of 4 decades I think. Glad you gave it a reaction and you had the same reaction everyone else had when we first heard it! Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing more of your video reactions!
One of the lyrics in this song is the title of my favorite book, "Stranger in a Strange Land" which was written by Robert Heinlein. I remember the first time I heard this song, it gave me a feeling of connected-ness, knowing that Billy Joel must have liked the book too.
This is one of Billy Joel's greatest. I've heard it countless times, but this time through was a first -- I'd never heard the Psycho notes in the background before! Good catch - thanks for pointing them out!
Billy on a talk show said his fav song is Vienna. he did a top 10 of his own songs,but yes you cant go wrong with Billy Joel a master of his craft huge talent writer musician just a joy !
For a while, I had no idea what he was singing in the verses. I recently discovered he’s singing about events that happened from 1949-1989. From his birth year to the date when he recorded the song. I love the fact he’s a talented musician who can make such a unique song. Haven’t any songs to my knowledge like it. I enjoy watching your videos 👍😎
Billy Joel is one of of those artists who I always seem to forget about when talking about the all time greats. Until you go back and start listening to his stuff. He's got smash hit after smash hit after smash hit. Songs that you've known your whole life and are in your DNA, but haven't necessarily listened to in decades.
This song in particular got so much media coverage when it came out! The lyrics and video are on point of what the entire world was going through during the decades!
I was born in '68 so I've lived through a lot of this history and either seen it or learned about it in school as recent history. No wonder I feel burned out. That fire is still burning, dammit.
Born the year after you, and yeah. I'm not surprised HST killed himself when he did, he was an aware adult though most of it and saw it all coming back around. First as tragedy, then as farce.
This is the de facto Boomer Generation anthem. I'm 70 now and every time I hear this song, i can recall almost every single name and event. We were a strong, ethically based generation that stood tall and showed the strength of our convictions. We were, though, just a mooncast shadow of the generation that preceded us. They were forged in the Great Depression and WWII....they were made of iron and honor.
You are mad if you think that,those characteristics only stand for the principles you gave listed. That's where the term "k,boomer" comes from.and neither of us are boomers.ffs!
@@jensm4026 Boomer stand for the "baby boom" which includes anyone born between 1946 and 1964. There was an explosion of population in North America after WW2 that led to the use of this expression.
Just heard Billy Joels "Pressure" again in the show The Boys. An incredible song, and no one on YT reacted to it. You know... keep great music alive hm? ;)
just a little history lesson from billy - one of the great songwriters of our time. saw him in 1971 before anyone knew who he was - the lead act before taj mahal - absolutely blew everyone's minds and a year later EVERYONE knew who he was
Billy Joel: The Longest Time (My favourite of his), Uptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll To Me, Only the Good Die Young, Sometimes A Fantasy, River of Dreams, My Life, Matter of Trust, Pressure.
When I was in high school, we tried to learn this song by heart so we could perform it for history class. Imagine... 40 teenagers shouting this song as loud and as fast as they can on a school bus five days a week until we got it all down perfectly...
Some of my favorite Billy Joel Songs you need to listen to: Scenes of an Italian Restaurant, Storm Front, River of Dreams, Matter of Trust, Downeaster Alexa, Allentown, Goodnight Saigon, I Go to Extremes, Still Rock N Roll to Me, Travelin' Prayer, Stop In Nevada, Los Angelenos, Weekend Song, New York State of Mind, Only The Good Die Young, Moving Out (Anthony's Song), Prelude/Angry Young Man, Miami 2017 (I've Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), The Stranger, Big Shot, My Life, Zanzibar, Stiletto, You May Be Right, Easy Money, An Innocent Man, The Longest Time, Tell Her About It, Baby Grand, Big Man on Mulberry Street, Shameless, No Man's Land, Blonde Over Blue, Shades of Grey, All About Soul, Pressure, The Entertainer, Captain Jack, Running on Ice
Listening to this never gets old. it has to be one of the top 10 best songs of the 1980s. I'm a Genx'r The reason I love this is because I lived through the events in the later parts of the song. My nostalgia really kicks in whenever I play this.
Wow I never noticed that Psycho music in the background. Jamel you always notice every detail in the music. I'm amazed at the new things I've discovered from you watching your reactions that I never paid attention to before.
I actually like when you pause the videos. I already know the songs and enjoy seeing your reaction to a certain line, verse or maybe an instrumental solo. Stay safe. Stay happy.
Oh my gosh, Jamel, you got me thinking how old I am, and wondering how young you are. But you did say you remember some of this stuff. I remember too much of it, and can only despair at history repeating itself, often literally on fire. If you've ever watched one of Billy Joel's master classes, you would appreciate even more his astounding musicality.
My senior year of high school (2003) my AP history teacher had us write our own versions of this song going through our lives up til present day. It was the most fun I ever had on a school project. Thanks for it miss stillwell!
My children’s high school freshman teacher used this song as an entire class. Went through all that happened. Great song, great class, great teacher!!!