Okay, I’m outing myself – when I was young, I was a little in love with Billy Joel. Even after I’d moved on, his early stuff could always transport me. Just a few bars from Piano Man, Italian Restaurant, She’s always a Woman and I’m back there at a particular time and place, filled with a sense of endless possibility.
I hadn’t thought about Billy Joel in quite a while. Then in February, I noted with only passing interest that he’d released his first new single in seventeen years. It took me a while to even bother looking it up on YouTube. When I finally did, I got more than I bargained for.
Turn The Lights Back On, using AI technology, opens with Joel at the piano in an empty concert hall. After a few chords, he is transformed into his much younger self, performing so convincingly I can’t believe it’s not a clip from the ’80s. Even the voice quality is that of a younger man. That’s the Billy I remember.
On the surface, the song is his reflection on a broken relationship. It’s full of regret, and a hope that a way back can be found.
I’m trying to find the magic/That we lost somehow
With each new verse, we see and hear a slightly older Joel, until he looks as he does now, his voice at times almost gravelly.
Familiar terrain for a love song – but It’s so much more. Although he’s continued performing, Joel hasn’t created new music for many years. Now aged 74 (at the time of release), he seems to be reflecting on those years of missed creative opportunity.
I watch it over and over and I don’t know why. The sight of a young Billy Joel evokes such a sense of nostalgia in me. More curiously, I feel protective of this twenty-something year-old. But it’s when the Billy Joel of today looks directly down the barrel of the camera (at me?) that it becomes almost too intense for me to meet his gaze.
Did I wait too long/To turn the lights back on?
Judging by my visceral response, the answer is yes. What have I done with all that time?
Joel is a decade older than me. He’s had a big life: four marriages, a difficult relationship with his father who left the family when Billy was a boy, faced financial ruin, and had many other ups and downs. Compare that with my small life. If I regret anything, is it that I didn’t take more chances?
I’m reminded of a Seinfeld episode where George describes how, in a hypothetical situation, he’d confront someone if slighted. When Elaine asks him if he’d really do that, he responds, Yes, if I were a different person.
Now reflecting on my suburban Sydney existence (still with husband #1), I wonder about missed opportunities. I could have been more adventurous, learned abseiling (okay not abseiling), taken piano lessons, gone into politics, written more books? Would I do it all differently if I had my time over?
Yes, if I were a different person.
I play the clip again and fall back in love with Billy Joel.
Thank you for sharing this Libby. The years peeled away when I listened and I remembered my favourite artist. He’s just a wonderful singer and there’s no-one to equal him. I also wonder how different my life would have been if I had been a different person.
I look forward to your next book, hopefully soon! And never move on to another partner when you already have the right one!
Good advice, Jen! I’ll stick with partner #1. Glad you love Billy, too. I’ll keep you posted about my next book 🙂
Elizabeth! You’ve taken me right back – I was, and remain, a Billy Joel tragic. Piano Man, Italian Restaurant, Always a Woman, tick, tick, tick. Can I add My Life? And Allentown? So I slurped this video up, and will play it again as soon as I’ve posted this note of gratitude. Welling up in anticipation. Thank you.
So glad to know this song hit the spot for you, too, Jen. And yes to My Life and Allentown. Thanks for reminding me.