The Stranger
Thirty years.
THIRTY. YEARS.
I remember. Senior year of high school. I was student body president, and we (myself and the H.B. Plant High School Student Council) were working on The Prom. The big dance.
(Time for a chuckle. The school mascot was a panther. The big dance was called “Pantherilla”. Probably because in Tampa, the big to-do every year was Gasparilla in February. Gasparilla is Tampa’s personal Mardi Gras, a city-wide celebration of Jose Gaspar and everything pirate. But it was still a silly name for a high school dance.)
We had to pick a theme, and a theme song. One of the girls on council brought me a record (It’s a big, round, black shiny thing made of vinyl, with music engraved on it. You put it on this player that spun round and round and a needle rode on the grooves and…oh, nevermind. Think of it as a prehistoric CD). The record was called “The Stranger“, and the artist was a guy named Billy Joel. The last cut on the record was a song called “Everybody Has A Dream“, and she thought it would make a good theme song.
I listened to the song. Yeah, it would do.
Then I put the needle at the beginning of the record.
Then my life changed.
From then on, Billy and I were close. If you asked me to sing somewhere, I was gonna sing one of Billy’s songs. When I finally started writing, I was writing my versions of Billy’s songs (I finally found my own voice…well, hopefully anyway…but you can still hear Billy in the echoes).
And now, the 30th Anniversary Edition of “The Stranger” has been released.
THIRTY. YEARS.
“The Stranger” is thirty years old. Billy is thirty years older, as am I. Billy said that only the good die young. Well, good music never dies. Listen to “The Stranger” today, and you’ll see what I mean.
So, Happy Birthday to one of the seminal works of art in my life. I still hope to meet Billy in person one of these days, just to shake his hand and say thank you. (I did get backstage passes to one concert on the Storm Front tour in Atlanta, thanks to Billy’s drummer Liberty DeVitto…but Billy had left the building. Something about being married to Christie Brinkley and she was waiting for him. Like that’s an excuse.) But maybe one day.
And I will get this 30th Anniversary set…although now that my daughter’s getting married, non-essential expenditures will be taking an extended holiday…but again, one day.
“The Stranger”.
Thanks again, Billy.
(This isn’t from “The Stranger”, but it’s one of my all-time favorites…”I Go To Extremes”. Amazing songwriting…the bridge rocks, and the lyrics are killer…including one of my favorite opening lines of all time: “Call me a joker / call me a fool / right at this moment, I’m totally cool”. Man, I wish I had written that. Enjoy the video.)
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Comments
Paul, you just earned my never-ending loyalty. ‘The Stranger’ changed my life, too. Billy Joel catapaulted my piano-playing past Elton John and Barry Manilow (yeah, I know. What can I say?) and opened up a whole new world.
It’s so cool to have an awareness of something so tangible in my soul. I hear shades of this album every time I play.
Great post, happy anniversary to all.
This is an awesome post. Very interesting, thanks for sharing! I am not a crier and I literally have tears running down my face at your daughter’s proposal video, my boys want to know what is wrong. Congratulations!