The beauty of Billy Joel? Theres no myth-building…
Normally, if you see somebody’s 4 wives all talking about them on TV, it’s a protected wager you’re watching a “Dateline” homicide thriller.
So it’s astonishing to witness all three of Billy Joel’s exes seem as properly as his present spouse in the documentary “And So It Goes,” the second episode of which premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on HBO.
Heck, even his former bandmate Jon Small is a frequent voice in the movie. Small was married to Elizabeth Weber when the Piano Man and Weber fell in love.
The fallout from that triangle led Joel to attempt suicide, and he says he felt like a “homewrecker.” But Small “finally got over it” — and even went on to direct the music video for “Uptown Girl.”
Last summer time, Billy Joel ended his long operating residency at Madison Square Garden. Getty Images
I can’t account for his personal interactions and how he’s still on good phrases with all these people, but it says a lot about the person. Forgiveness is difficult.
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And so is self-examination. But Joel, who has an inherent likability, appears to be well-practiced in the artwork.
Not that he didn’t give the ladies in his life agita. Much of his marital strife was fueled by alcohol abuse, and a lot of that was properly documented in the press over the years.
“Some of the stupid stuff I did, that’s painful to talk about,” the 76-year-old just lately advised People magazine, including that administrators Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin “asked me for some thematic guidance. I said, ‘Just tell the truth.’”
HBO’s two-part documentary “And So It Goes” explores the life and music of Billy Joel.
What’s fascinating is just not just his story but the best way he tells it, and the best way he let the filmmakers have free rein. Lacy stated they got “complete and utter independence” by the singer-songwriter.
Unlike with so many stars, there’s no myth-building at play. There’s no artifice.
As advised in the documentary, his exceptional life may be summed up by the opening anecdote. Joel, who grew up in Hicksville, Long Island, recollects working on an oyster boat as a younger man. He’d look up a sprawling mansion and sneer at the “rich bastards” who lived there.
In the Eighties, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley had been the largest celeb energy couple — and she was his muse. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
“Well, I own that house now,” he stated.
It doesn’t come off as an conceited mic drop, but moderately a “pinch me” second.
And while he famously has a tune known as “Angry Young Man,” it’s the very fact that he remained a man of the people that’s been the important thing to his success.
He is just not, as Bruce Springsteen notes in the movie, “an angry activist man. He never directly goes there. Which is part of why the material hasn’t dated.”
Billy Joel began taking piano classes as a younger boy in Hicksville, Long Island. Photograph by Billy Joel Archives/HBO
“Say Goodbye to Hollywood” was written when Joel and Weber had been dwelling in California — and he realized that the Empire State was a higher persona match.
Relieved to be back, he actually wrote “New York State of Mind” while on a Greyhound bus heading to Highland Falls, where Weber had discovered them a home.
With “Goodnight Saigon,” he wove a lovely narrative through the tales of his pals who had returned from Vietnam.
Billy Joel’s first spouse, Elizabeth Weber, was also his supervisor. She is interviewed in “And So It Goes.” AFP via Getty Images
“Lullaby” was written for his daughter Alex Ray Joel as he was splitting with second spouse Christie Brinkley.
“Piano Man” is rightfully praised in the documentary by rapper Nas as a “mirror facing the mirror.”
There’s themes of love, loss and looking for his absentee father. Joel discovered him dwelling in “Vienna.”
But he has never really advised people how to suppose — a rarity these days.
Billy Joel performing in the Nineteen Seventies. Photograph by Art Maillet/Sony Music Archives/HBO
As critic Steven Hyden remarks in the movie. “He writes about people. Not causes or concepts.”
Joel has stated he is aware of people don’t need to hear him on his cleaning soap box.
Appearing on “Club Random,” he just lately advised Bill Maher he has no time for woke scolds.
In 2015, Joel married his fourth spouse, Alexis Roderick, and the pair share two daughters, Della and Remy. Wireimage
“On the other hand, I’m always trying to find out the other point of view. What’s, you know, not my point of view — somebody else’s point of view,” Joel advised Maher. “OK, I’d like to understand why they think that way.”
It’s apparent why people join with the man. He’s one of us, only with six Grammies and a spot in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
The father-of-three was just lately identified with regular stress hydrocephalus, a mind disorder that causes, among different issues, points with cognition and stability. This week, he advised Maher that he “feels good” save for his stability: “It’s like being on a boat.”
On a latest episode of “Club Random” Billy Joel advised Bill Maher that he “feels good” despite his diagnosis of regular stress hydrocephalus. Youtube / Club Random w/ Bill Maher
He also promised that he isn’t executed yet.
Music to my ears.
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