Despite his tremendous success, Billy Joel’s gifts as a composer and commentator on American life are long overdue for a thorough investigation. In Billy Joel: America’s Piano Man, music historian Joshua S. Duchan looks at the career and music of this remarkable singer-songwriter, exploring the unique ways Joel channels and transforms the cultural life of a changing America over four decades into bestselling song after song and album after album.
Billy Joel has not always enjoyed the acclaim of music critics, who have characterized his music as inauthentic and lacking a uniqueness of style. Duchan corrects this misunderstanding by exploring the depth and degree to which Joel’s songs engage with social, cultural, political, and economic issues. Organized by major themes and including original interviews with Joel himself, Duchan’s book delves into Joel’s endeavors as a musician, lyricist, and commentator on questions of geography and regionalism, politics, working- and middle-class culture, human relationships, and the history of music itself. Duchan draws on key songs from Joel’s career to explore each theme, from his folk-like lament for Long Island’s changing industry and lifestyle in “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” to his emotional ode to Vietnam veterans in “Goodnight Saigon.”
Original interviews with Billy Joel blend with Duchan’s engaging analysis to provide readers of all backgrounds and ages a new look at these unforgettable songs. Music lovers and historians of both the academic and armchair variety will find this exploration of Joel’s work a rewarding adventure into America’s social, cultural, political, economic, and—above all—musical history.
Joshua S. Duchan is a musicologist specializing in American popular music. He currently teaches courses on music history and ethnomusicology at Wayne State University, and he is author of Powerful Voices: The Musical and Social World of Collegiate A Cappella (2012)
Chapter 1: “Somewhere Along the Line”: Biography and Influences
Chapter 2: “New York State of Mind”: Geography, Places, and Spaces
Chapter 3: “Where’s the Orchestra?”: Domestic and International Politics
Chapter 4: “Pressure”: Living in American Culture
Chapter 5: “She’s Always A Woman”: Relationships and Gender
Chapter 6: “The Entertainer”: Stylistic Authenticity and the Entertainment Industry
Chapter 7: “This Is the Time”: A Historically Conscious Composer
Chapter 8: “And So It Goes”: The Lasting Significance of Billy Joel
Further Reading
Further Listening
Musicologist Duchan presents an informative and entertaining look at the work of pop superstar Billy Joel, positioning his songs in the canon of 20th-century pop music. Despite Joel’s multiplatinum album sales, countless hit songs, and a performing career as long—and a fan base as loyal—as that of Bruce Springsteen, he has never been a favorite with critics. Duchan makes a powerful argument for the complexity in Joel’s work by keeping the spotlight on the music, tracing how Joel’s music kept alive an emphasis on well-crafted melody and harmony rooted in Tin Pan Alley traditions while incorporating rock, jazz, and doo-wop with lyrics that addressed his listeners through contemporary themes. For example, Duchan carefully shows how an unabashedly sentimental song such as New York State of Mind shares many of the features of the Tin Pan Alley genre (the song similarly includes four verses that roughly fit the ABAC pattern and finish with title lyrics). Duchan argues that Joel sings as, for, and about hard-working people whose circumstances are worsening and who have little control over the forces that affect their lives. He successfully argues for Joel’s music relevance.
— Publishers Weekly
Duchan takes a middle-ground approach to analyzing the work of one of America’s most recognizable musicians of the past five decades. This book is much more than a biography.... Duchan organizes his analysis of Joel’s work around several themes (e.g., place, living in American culture, stylistic authenticity, etc.). This approach works very well, especially at tracing the musician’s development over the course of his career and in providing context for some of his best-known and finest songs and instrumental compositions. The writing style is fluid and the research solid, providing much insight into Joel. VERDICT A must-read analysis of the work of one our most popular performers.
— Library Journal
Original interviews with Billy Joel blend with Duchans engaging analysis to provide readers of all backgrounds and ages a new look at Billy Joels unforgettable songs. Music lovers and historians of both the academic and armchair variety will find this exploration of Joels work a rewarding adventure into Americas social, cultural, political, economic, and contemporary American popular music history…. [U]nreservedly recommended for both community and academic library American Music History collections in general, and Billy Joel supplemental studies reading lists in particular.
— Midwest Book Review
Joshua S. Duchan has written a passionate study of the Piano Mans music and lyrics, decoding the artists songwriting process in a smart analysis that investigates cultural context and the language of song. Given its focus on music, Billy Joel: Americas Piano Man is a welcomed addition to the books that have come before.
— Jeff Schock, director of the Billy Joel Archives
