Best Billy Joel Quotes & Sayings

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

Sing us a song you're the piano man.
Sing us a song tonight.
Cause we're all in the mood for a melody,
And you've got us feeling all right. — Billy Joel

Black and white is how it should be, but shades of grey are the colors I see. — Billy Joel

She can kill with her smile, she can wound with her eyes. — Billy Joel

I don't know why people thought I was retiring. — Billy Joel

There's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin. — Billy Joel

I'm carrying the weight of all the useless junk and modern man accumulates. — Billy Joel

Rock and roll just used to be for kicks, now a days it's politics. — 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

Honesty is the best part of any art form. If you don't have that, you're kidding yourself and your listener. — 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

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

music it says all the things that words alone can never say — 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

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

Well I never had a place that I could call my very own/That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home. — Billy Joel

Why don't the Beatles get back together? Why don't nobody sing of romance? — 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

People pay a lot of money to go see shows now, they don't wanna know about your technical problems, or if you're not feeling good, they don't wanna know we have a glitch. It's their night, you better do something to earn that money. — Billy Joel

You get paid like a really good call girl. Walking offstage is like the walk of shame. — Billy Joel

You've given me the best of you, but now I need the rest of you. — Billy Joel

Most people are satisfied with the junk food being sold as music. — 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

Drank a lot of take home pay. — Billy Joel

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

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

The piano sounds like a carnival and the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say, man, what are you doing here? — Billy Joel

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

There was an edge of, 'Go away kid, you're bothering me'. I've kicked myself a million times since. I could've discovered Whitney Houston. — 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

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

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

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it — Billy Joel

I never said I wasn't going to play any more. I don't know where that came from. — Billy Joel

You can linger too long in your dreams... — Billy Joel

Every child had a pretty good shot, to get at least as far as their old man got. But something happened on the way to that place. They threw an American flag in our face. — Billy Joel

My favorites growing up were always Billy Joel, Michael Jackson ... and Placido Domingo. — Josh Young

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

I always thought of myself as the piano player in the band. That, I suppose, I'm confident about, and I guess my songwriting developed as I went along and I got a certain amount of confidence in that. The songs are like my kids, I'm proud of all of them for one reason or another. — Billy Joel