Mark Pentleton » billy joel

279/365 Songs: Goodnight Saigon – Billy Joel

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:48:47 +0000

This song takes me back – my brother Derek and I used to sing along to this song, probably long before we understood the lyrics. It was released on Billy Joel’s 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, and is one of the most well-known songs about the Vietnam War. Not sure about the dodgy helicopter sound effects…

228/365 Songs: Leave a tender moment alone – Billy Joel

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:50:03 +0000

When choosing a Billy Joel song for Celeste the other day I recorded Leave a tender moment alone as well as An innocent man. Leave a tender moment first appeared on the 1984 album An Innocent Man and was subsequently released as a single. In a move virtually unheard of today, the song didn’t have a music video. Perhaps because of this it only reached #27 in the American Billboard charts. It’s still one of my favourite Billy Joel songs!

225/365 Songs: An Innocent Man – Billy Joel

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:19:46 +0000

Today’s song is Billy Joel’s 1983 classic An Innocent Man and it was specially requested by Celeste Teenan who celebrates her birthday today. Happy birthday, Celeste! Hope you have a lovely day and that you enjoy the song.

200/365 Songs: Piano Man – Billy Joel

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:47:01 +0000

Given that this is the 200th song in my 365songs project (just 165 to go…!) I wanted to play something big today and I’ve opted for the Billy Joel classic Piano Man. I’ve always loved this song – I used to play the harmonica along to it, but I couldn’t find a harmonica when I was recording today! It dates from 1973 and was written following the failure of Billy’s first album Cold Spring Harbor when he was making his living playing in bars, helping the regulars to “forget about life for a while”. The record company executives decided the original recording was too long, so they cut two verses in half and spliced them together. Billy makes reference to this in his later song The Entertainer: “it was a beautiful song, but it ran too long: if you’re gonna have a hit, you’ve gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05″. Catriona and I went to the last Billy Joel concert in Glasgow (and two previous ones) and I’ll never forget the encore of Piano Man and the many, many times the crowd sang the chorus as Billy stood ‘conducting’, before eventually bringing his piano and the band for one last chorus.

So, any ideas for the next 165 songs? Is there a song I’ve not played yet which you like? Or an artist which I’ve not really covered? By now I’m sure that you know my style, so let me know if there’s something you think would fit!

198/365 Songs: 2000 years – Billy Joel

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:44:28 +0000

On New Year’s Eve 1999 Billy Joel performed at Madison Square Garden in New York. I would have loved to have been there (though we had a very enjoyable and memorable night at Glenda and Brian’s!) and one of the most poignant songs from the concert is the song 2000 years. The lyrics of the song are much debated and it’s not quite clear what the song refers to, though many believe the lyrics to be about Billy’s faith, following the River of Dreams and Goodnight, My Angel. Whatever the meaning, the song was perfect to lead into the countdown to the new millennium: “This is our moment, here at the crossroads of time; we hope our children carry our dreams down the line”.

160/365 Songs: And so it goes – Billy Joel

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:53:44 +0000

In my opinion this song is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It dates from 1983, although it wasn’t released until six years later on Billy Joel’s Stormfront album. It’s said to tell the tale of the relationship between Billy Joel and the model Elle Macpherson, a relationship which the musician knew would never last. I think the aspect of the song I like the most is “what happens in the middle”: not the melody line or the bass, but the harmonies and “inner voices” which make an exceptionally simple-sounding song actually quite complex. I hope you enjoy it. If you want to hear the man himself perform it, have a look at this live performance on YouTube.

134/365 Songs: Honesty – Billy Joel

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:54:00 +0000

I’ve had some requests over the past few days to play the Billy Joel song She’s Always a Woman as the Fyfe Dangerfield version is being played all the time in the John Lewis ads on tv at the moment. I’ve actually already played this song, back in January, but I thought I’d do another Billy Joel classic today instead. This is Honesty, and it’s for my friend Pierre-Benoît Hériaud, star of our French video series, Walk, Talk and Learn French. Honesty was released in 1979, and was the third single from the album 52nd Street.

115/365 Songs: I’ve loved these days – Billy Joel

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:50:15 +0000

We’re returning to Billy Joel for today’s song. I’ve loved these days was written in 1976 and first appeared on the Turnstiles album. In 1976 Billy Joel returned to New York after living in California. It is said that the lyrics of I’ve loved these days refer to the decadence of his time spent living in Hollywood.

365 Songs – She’s always a woman – Billy Joel

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:56:18 +0000

After yesterday’s late posting, I thought I’d get today’s posted nice and early! It’s one of my favourite songs by Billy Joel and it’s also one of Catriona’s favourites, so this one is for her.

She’s always a woman was released in 1977 on the album The Stranger. It was also released as a single in the same year peaking at no.17 in the US Billboard chart, but only 53 in the UK singles chart.

I hope you enjoy today’s performance.

365 Songs – Just the way you are – with special guest Joe Moretti

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:10:44 +0000

As part of the Apple Leadership conference happening alongside BETT I attended a dinner on the Silver Sturgeon last night and I had been asked to play a few songs with saxophonist and fellow ADE Joe Moretti. We hadn’t had the time (or piano) to rehearse anything, but enjoyed ‘busking’ our way through a few songs. I managed to record some of the songs so I’m including our version of the Billy Joel song Just the way you are recorded live last night as today’s performance.

365 Songs: New York State of Mind – Billy Joel

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:45:43 +0000

In this morning’s Herald “Review of the Decade”, I was reading about 9/11 and I was thinking back to one of my lasting memories from the time after the horrific events. Billy Joel performed the brilliant New York State of Mind at the benefit Concert for New York City and along with the other brilliant performances from the concert it represented so much.

The song was written in 1976 and first appeared on theTurnstiles album. Here’s my performance of New York State of Mind. It doesn’t quite have the emotion of the NYC concert, but I hope you like it nonetheless!