Skip to comments.
Billy Joel doesn't sing on his anti-war song
cnn.com ^
| Dec 7, 2007
| AP
Posted on 12/07/2007 10:09:27 AM PST by RDTF
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100, 101-106 next last
To: RDTF
I just listened to it.
Color me unimpressed. The song is depressing. It isn’t ‘anti-American’, per se....but it does view the soldier as someone who is stuck in a hopeless situation and has the lack of ability to do any good.
If Billy truly wrote this, consider his career officially over.
61
posted on
12/07/2007 11:32:40 AM PST
by
hoagy62
(Happily watching the Left go full-goose bozo.)
To: jdm
Thanks. What a total crock of crap. Our youth are being fed this poisonous drivel on a constant basis.
p.
62
posted on
12/07/2007 11:48:36 AM PST
by
Paul_B
To: Revolting cat!
Joel’s best music is nothing like Manilow’s drivel.
63
posted on
12/07/2007 12:25:10 PM PST
by
Borges
To: Bitsy
He’s the closest thing to Irving Berlin the Rock Era had.
64
posted on
12/07/2007 12:26:16 PM PST
by
Borges
To: hoagy62
“We came to bring these people Freedom
We came to fight the Infidel “
WTF? Fight the Infidel? Does he have any clue what an Infidel is?
We came to fight ourselves?
To: RDTF
William Martin Joel of Levittown should get back to writing Four Seasons and Carol King rip-offs. He hasn't produced a truly great album since "An Innocent Man."
He remains a great live act, but needs to cut back on the booze and trashy women.
66
posted on
12/07/2007 12:39:34 PM PST
by
Clemenza
(Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
To: andy58-in-nh
Springsteen on the other hand, has written complex and searching songs, and has displayed a solid musical knowledge of blues, jazz, and other uniquely American forms without crushing them under the weight of his ego. BS is basically warmed over Dylan with a side of Stax. I find him to be the most BORING of "rock legends" and that's saying alot (considering how tedious much of the work of Led Zep and the Who truly is).
The only reason why he succeeded and Southside Johnny did not was his stamina as a live performer. He truly was the hardest working man in showbiz (with all due respect to James Brown) in the 70s and 80s.
67
posted on
12/07/2007 12:42:36 PM PST
by
Clemenza
(Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
This song is a third rate echo of the ‘Average Joe caught up in unfortunate circumstances’ aura he gave his best ‘political’ songs (Allentown, Goodnight Saigon, The Downeaster Alexa).
68
posted on
12/07/2007 12:43:48 PM PST
by
Borges
To: Clemenza
I’ve said it before...he’s written more pop standards then any American songwrirter of the last 35 years.
69
posted on
12/07/2007 12:44:47 PM PST
by
Borges
To: beer
"A bottle of red, a bottle of white ...
![](http://www.stereogum.com/img/billyjoel_snl.jpg)
I think I've got a bottle of Pineapple Schnapps in the backseat...
70
posted on
12/07/2007 12:45:04 PM PST
by
evets
(beer)
To: The KG9 Kid
Billy Joel has never made a single song that didn't make me want to snap off the radio as soon as I heard the first opening notes.
Same thing with Springsteen with the exception of maybe one tune. You gotta be an east coast Vinnie to like either performer. I think they both suck.
Preach it, bro! Couldn't agree more.
71
posted on
12/07/2007 12:47:00 PM PST
by
GodBlessRonaldReagan
(Big dog, big dog, bow-wow-wow! We'll crush crime, now, now, now!)
To: evets
72
posted on
12/07/2007 12:48:51 PM PST
by
Borges
To: GodBlessRonaldReagan
I remember Joel compared himself to the Ramones back in the 70s.
73
posted on
12/07/2007 12:50:50 PM PST
by
Borges
To: Clemenza
74
posted on
12/07/2007 12:58:41 PM PST
by
Cecily
To: Cecily
He used to. His voice is long gone. The victim of alcohol and cigarette abuse.
75
posted on
12/07/2007 12:59:53 PM PST
by
Borges
To: Clemenza
Springsteen's best work (IMHO) was on three albums:
Born to Run,
Darkness on the Edge of Town, and
Nebraska. The first is a masterpiece of monumental human energy and production values. The second features even better guitar work than on BTR and good, gritty urban poetry. The third is a stark and spare exploration of Americana, and a big musical risk for him at the time.
And yes, Dylan probably did it first (arguably better) on Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde, but Springsteen is a better guitarist if not as sublime a lyricist. I have to agree in retrospect on Led Zeppelin (although how much of their tediousness is the result of being sickeningly overplayed on FM Radio is hard to say). Early Who is still pretty cool to listen to, though.
76
posted on
12/07/2007 1:00:59 PM PST
by
andy58-in-nh
(Kill the terrorists, secure the borders, and give me back my freedom.)
To: Borges
I remember Joel compared himself to the Ramones back in the 70s.
You are freakin' kidding me! Da Bruddas wiped the floor with BJ.
True confession: in my early punk days, I pulled a Johnny Rotten and wrote "I Hate" on a Billy Joel t-shirt and wore it proudly.
77
posted on
12/07/2007 1:01:02 PM PST
by
GodBlessRonaldReagan
(Big dog, big dog, bow-wow-wow! We'll crush crime, now, now, now!)
To: The KG9 Kid
Me, too. I have never been able to figure out the popularity of either performer. Pretentious, vulgar, and cliche, both of them.
To be honest, I did like Billy Joel’s “tribute to doo-wop” period, but only because he was not writing in his own style, but in a Sha-Na-Na pastiche.
You have to be a real person to write real music which is why Texas is the greatest music state.
78
posted on
12/07/2007 1:03:22 PM PST
by
B-Chan
(Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
To: GodBlessRonaldReagan
Remember Glass Houses? Joel was writing concise 3.5 minute pop tunes at a time when the airwaves were flooded with awful Prog Rock and disco. His best stuff is timeless. A lot of people think Just The Way You Are New York State of Mind are actually old 1940s standards.
79
posted on
12/07/2007 1:07:23 PM PST
by
Borges
To: B-Chan
NY would have something to say about that. Tin Pan Alley and all.
80
posted on
12/07/2007 1:08:13 PM PST
by
Borges
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100, 101-106 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson