Billy Joel Quotes & Sayings

No end to sorrow, caused by the same endless fears. Why can't we learn from all we've been through after two thousand years? — Billy Joel

Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on / They never die, that's how you and I will be — Billy Joel

Sergeant O'Leary is walking the beat, at night he becomes a bar tender. — Billy Joel

I would not leave you in your times of trouble. We never could have come this far. I took the good times, I'll take the bad times, I'll take you just the way you are. — Billy Joel

She'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding. — Billy Joel

Hot funk, cold punk, even if it's old junk, it's still rock and roll to me. — Billy Joel

I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter. — Billy Joel

I did write a letter to the archdiocese who'd banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record. — Billy Joel

Don't be afraid to try again everyone goes south every now and then. — Billy Joel

I work with musicians whose opinions I respect and if they don't like something they don't hold back. They'll say, 'That really sucks' and 'You've lost it' and 'You're no good anymore.' And I crawl away with my tail between my legs and I fear that kind of ridicule, but I want them to like the music I'm bringing to them. — Billy Joel

I always wrote the music first, and the music gave me the mood and the lyrics were pretty much put in to give you a map, where that mood came from and where it's going. But my first love was really the music itself, and I guess I've gone back to that. — Billy Joel

We're only human, we're supposed to make mistakes. — Billy Joel

Some love is just a lie of the heart, the cold remains of what began with a passionate heart. — Billy Joel

Every time I've held a rose,
It seems I only felt the thorns — Billy Joel

Like family, we are tied to each other. This is what all good musicians understand. — Billy Joel

So before we end and then begin, we'll drink a toast to how it's been. A few more hours to be complete, a few more nights on satin sheets. A few more times that I can say, that I've loved these days. — Billy Joel

Advice is cheap; you can take it from me. — Billy Joel

I always hated my hair, so now it's going away. — Billy Joel

It's a little intimidating to walk into a studio and know that you're going to sing a duet with Barbra Streisand. — Billy Joel

You only beat me if you get me to hate. — Billy Joel

People always think I was just playing in a piano bar, but I only did that for about six months. The rest of the time I was playing in bands. — Billy Joel

Your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation. — Billy Joel

There was only really one accident that was kinda bad but it was nothing to do with booze, just bad luck ... I was having a hard time a couple of years ago ... I'm a good driver, I just had bad luck. — Billy Joel

Here I am starting a franchise and I'm gonna be 65 years old. I should've started this in 1978 ... I wrote like 300 songs and I'm gonna have to re-learn some of them! — Billy Joel

Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight, and make sure that all her dreams are sweet? Said now, would ya guide her on the roads, and make them softer for her feet? Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight, and make sure that she's gonna be alright, until she's home and here with me. — Billy Joel

She's got a smile that heals me. — Billy Joel

There are people who have lost every trace of human kindness. — Billy Joel

People in music lie, but they don't expect you to believe them. People in television actually expect you to believe the lies. — Billy Joel

I am the entertainer, the idol of my age I make all kinds of money when I go on the stage You see me in the papers, I've been in the magazines But if I go cold, I won't get sold I get put in the back in the discount rack Like another can of beans. — Billy Joel

My songs are like my kids. — Billy Joel

In an age of incompetence, I've been able to last in this crazy business. I actually know how to play my ax and write a song. That's my job. — Billy Joel

She always says I'm the best friend that she's ever had... how do you hang up on someone who needs you that bad? ~From 'Laura' on The Nylon Curtain — Billy Joel

Hope you don't think this is Billy Joel unplugged. I'm a piano player. I'm already unplugged. — Billy Joel

The joy of life is made up of obscure and seemingly mundane victories that give us our own small satisfactions. — Billy Joel

You can walk away from your mistakes You can turn your back on what you do Just a little smile is all it takes And you can have your cake and eat it too. Loneliness will get to you somehow But ev'rybody loves you now. — Billy Joel

I'm writing for the sake of writing music. Whether it gets heard or not isn't an issue for me. It keeps my own juices going and my mind active. — Billy Joel

If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time. — Billy Joel

I won't be righteous again. I'm not sure anymore. — Billy Joel

What will it take for you to believe in me, the way that I believe in you? — Billy Joel

I'm a cosmopolitan sophisticate of culture and intelligence. The culmination of technology and civilized experience. — Billy Joel

It should be easy for a man who's strong to say he's sorry or admit when he's wrong. — Billy Joel

I'm kind of putting my toe back in the water and seeing how it feels. We're going to be doing stuff we haven't done for years and years and years. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this stuff flies. — Billy Joel

I'm writing new music all the time. I'm just not writing pop stuff. It's not my goal. — Billy Joel

Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true. When will you realize ... Vienna waits for you. — Billy Joel

I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection. — Billy Joel

It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two — Billy Joel

When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music, I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created. — Billy Joel

There's a place in the world for the angry young man With his working class ties and his radical plans He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl And he's always at home with his back to the wall And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross And likes to be known as the angry young man. — Billy Joel

Move to California - my first impression of the Wild West. — Billy Joel

I took a fresh pack of Luckies, a mint called Sen-Sen, my old man's Trojans. — Billy Joel

We drown our doubts in dry champagne and soothe our souls with fine cocaine. I don't know why I even care, we get so high and get nowhere. — Billy Joel

I look at some of the songs I wrote years ago and I can't believe I wrote such crap. — Billy Joel

It feels great to have a #1 album. — Billy Joel

I see the children with their boredom and their vacant stares. — Billy Joel

I've lived long enough to have learned, the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burned. — Billy Joel

Son, can you play me a memory. I'm not really sure how it goes. It was sad and it was sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes. — Billy Joel

Sweetness flows from your appearance and your beauty makes me fall more in love with you. Anytime I feel low, I think about the good times you have given me and everything seems good again. — Billy Joel

I didn't graduate high school, so I never got a teacher's education, I'm mostly self-read, self-taught. I always loved music, so I would probably either be in a band with another group of people, or an arranger, a producer, a musicologist, a music history guy, something to do with music. Either that, or I would probably be in jail. Or dead. — Billy Joel

Following a code of silence, you're never gonna lose the anger. — Billy Joel

It's OK if you mess up. You should give yourself a break. — Billy Joel

Though you can see when you're wrong, you know you can't always see when you're right. — Billy Joel

We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes. — Billy Joel

Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, "Listen to me." Now it says, "Look at me." — Billy Joel

If you tell kids they can't have something, that's what they want. — Billy Joel

I am the entertainer, I've come to do my show You've heard my latest record, it's been on the radio It took me years to write it, they were the best years of my life It was a beautiful song but it ran too long If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit So they cut it down to 3:05. — Billy Joel

I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist. — Billy Joel

Don't go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before. — Billy Joel

The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent. — Billy Joel

I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. — Billy Joel

Some people stay far away from the door if there's a chance of it opening up. They hear a voice in the hall outside and hope that it just passes by. — Billy Joel

I've written a bunch of stuff that no one's ever heard, and I don't know if they ever will. I'm just doing it for my own edification. — Billy Joel

If you said good-bye to me tonight, There would still be music left to write. — Billy Joel

Well we're waiting here in Allentown For the Pennsylvania we never found For the promises our teachers gave If we worked hard If we behaved So the graduations hang on the wall But they never really helped us at all No they never taught us what was real — Billy Joel

They're sharing a drink called loneliness, but at least its better than drinking alone. — Billy Joel

She can kill with a smile. She can wound with her eyes. She can ruin your faith with her casual lies. And she only reveals what she wants you to see. She hides like a child, but she's always a woman to me. — Billy Joel

You look so polished from your hair down to your toes, but still your finger's gonna pick your nose. — Billy Joel

More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible. — Billy Joel

...And you're the only one who knows. — Billy Joel

A typical day in the life of a heavy metal musician consists of a round of golf and an AA meeting. — Billy Joel

I was listening to stuff and I realized that I've had a lot of different lives. You know the theory [that says] every seven years, you have a different life? I think that's true. — Billy Joel

What if she figures out you're not very smart? — Billy Joel

They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known. And I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own. Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lovers eyes ... and I can only stand apart and sympathize ... for we are only what our situations hand us ... it's either sadness or euphoria ... — Billy Joel

I was thinking of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and when I was thinking "Uptown Girl!" I was trying to sing like Frankie Valli. They had a song called "Ragdoll," which was about a poor girl and a rich guy. So I just flipped it around and made it about a rich girl and a poor guy. — Billy Joel

For whatever reason, not all people are born with the particular gift of being able to express ourselves through music. And, believe me, it is a gift. — Billy Joel

When I was 19, I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked. — Billy Joel

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. — Billy Joel

You've got your passion. You've got your pride. But don't you know that only fools are satisfied? Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true. — Billy Joel

I'm a history nut. — Billy Joel

Remember how I found you there alone in your electric chair, I told you dirty jokes until you smiled. — Billy Joel

I watched the mighty skyline fall — Billy Joel

You can pay Uncle Sam with all your overtime, is that all you get for your money? — Billy Joel

I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 - to meet women. — Billy Joel

I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off. — Billy Joel

So many faces in and out of my life Some will last Some will be just now and then. Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again. Say goodbye to Hollywood Say goodbye my baby Say goodbye to Hollywood Say goodbye my baby. — Billy Joel

In hell there's a big hotel where the bar just closed and the windows never opened. No phone so you can't call home, and the TV works, but the clicker is broken. — Billy Joel

Call you up in the middle of the night. It's awful hard trying to make love long distance, but I really need stimulation. — Billy Joel

And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together — Billy Joel

Rock and roll cola wars, I can't take it any more. — Billy Joel

The graduations hang on the wall, but they never really helped us at all. — Billy Joel

So I would choose to be with you, That's if the choice were mine to make, But you can make decisions too, And you can have this heart to break — Billy Joel