walking upstream…
Billy Joel
photo: raph_ph · cc by 2.0 ↗Billy Joel
Billy Joel is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist, born in the Bronx and raised in Hicksville, Long Island, whose run of hits through the 1970s and '80s — 'Piano Man,' 'Just the Way You Are,' 'Uptown Girl,' 'Vienna' — made him one of the best-selling recording artists in the United States. Classically trained on piano as a child and steeped in Beatles-era pop, doo-wop, and R&B, he built his songs around melodic piano hooks and character-driven storytelling. His 1973 signature 'Piano Man,' drawn from a stint playing a Los Angeles cocktail lounge, remains his defining calling card.
the sound in question
1973
Piano ManBilly Joel
walk the tributaries ↓
Ray Charles1950s–60s · R&B / Soul / Jazz
Joel has called Ray Charles one of his heroes — he named his daughter Alexa Ray in tribute, and the two later cut the duet 'Baby Grand' — and Charles's gospel-steeped, blues-inflected piano and conversational phrasing echo through Joel's balladry.
listen: upstream & here
1960
Georgia on My MindRay Charles
1976
New York State of MindBilly Joel
listen forPlay Charles's aching, hometown-longing 'Georgia on My Mind,' then Joel's 'New York State of Mind' — hear how both wrap a slow, gospel-blues piano and a smoky, unhurried vocal around a love letter to a place.
Ludwig van Beethoven1800s–1810s · Classical / Romantic
Joel trained on classical piano as a child and has folded classical quotation into his pop writing; the chorus of his 1983 single 'This Night' is built on the melody of the second movement (Adagio cantabile) of Beethoven's 'Pathétique' Sonata, a borrowing Joel openly credited.
listen: upstream & here
1798
Piano Sonata No. 8 'Pathétique': II. Adagio cantabileLudwig van Beethoven
1983
This NightBilly Joel
listen forListen to the serene, hymn-like main theme of the Pathétique's Adagio cantabile, then the chorus of 'This Night' — it's the same rising-and-settling melodic arc, lifted nearly intact and set against 1950s doo-wop changes.
The Beatles1960s · Rock / Pop rock
Joel has often said that watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was what made him want to become a professional musician, and his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain is widely described as his most openly Beatles-indebted record, layering dense studio textures and oblique lyrics in the manner of the band's late-'60s work.
listen: upstream & here
1967
I Am the WalrusThe Beatles
1982
Scandinavian SkiesBilly Joel
listen forCue up the Beatles' swirling, dreamlike 'I Am the Walrus,' then Joel's 'Scandinavian Skies' — listen for the same droning string textures, tape-warped haze, and half-submerged, non-linear lyric that turns the studio itself into an instrument.