The Stranger by Billy Joel (1977)
The Stranger by Billy Joel is his fifth studio album, it was released on September 29, 1977. There are 9 tracks on this album which I will go in depth analyzing and discussing different elements of it.
Something that I have noticed from listening to Joel's albums is that there is an overall musical theme that flows through the songs on the album. Not in a bad way, but the songs sound the same as they were written by the same person within a short time period. His albums differ from each other in instrumentation, style, and lyrical content, but the individual albums have similar musical ideals.
1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) - Probably my least favorite song on the entire album, I don't think it's a bad song it's just the weakest when compared to other songs on the album. Possibly this is a smart choice for this song to be the first track as it sets the bar semi low for the rest of the album to have dominance over this song. By the time you get to side 2, this song is forgotten. The lyrical content discusses two characters, Anthony and Sgt. O'Leary. Anthony is a young man, who I believes still lives with his mother, he works in the local grocery store and is saving his money to possibly move out of his neighborhood to do bigger and better things. He isn't satisfied with the way that people "move up" in his neighborhood as it isn't enough for him. Sgt. O'Leary is a police officer who moonlights at a local bar, he doesn't have many pleasures in life except keeping up his car. He's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac, of course in the present time Cadillac's aren't seen as the top of the line car anymore but in the 1970's and 1980's it was seen as a symbol of "you made it." With his physically straining job as a police officer and then bartending on the side to be able to form the luxuries, he's "breaking his back" working so much to be able to afford these materialistic items. If he has a broken back from working, he can't drive his car but at least he can polish the fenders. In my opinion, the song is about the way capitalism runs our lives and materialistic objects prove our worth in life. Whether it be a car or a house in Hackensack, New Jersey.
2. The Stranger - The title track of the album, in the intro there is a piano motif with a whistling melody that is repeated at the end of the album. The whistling melody is repeated when the song starts by the guitar as a reminder of that tune. Musically, it is guitar and percussion driven, which is unlike the majority of Joel's music. The piano takes a backseat in this song, letting his band shine for this track. Lyrically speaking, it's about how there are sides of us that no one else sees except ourselves when we're alone. Joel suffered from depression earlier in his life, this song could elude to that part of his life where he hid this portion from his friends and family and this "face" would come out when he was alone. There are secrets of course that we do not share with anyone, including our significant others. When others start to share these secrets with us, it's as you don't recognize them. That they have a different "face" that makes them unrecognizable to someone that could know them extremely well. You have portions of yourself that is a stranger, even to yourself. Even if you don't show these to other people, there is a stranger within yourself. Obviously, this stranger within yourself is not going to be Ted Bundy, but concepts that are completely against what you portray to the outside world.
3. Just the Way You Are - The lovey, dovey song that everyone loves. It's one of my favorite songs from the album. This song could prove to be more true in our present society than it did 45 years ago. Joel was still married to his first wife at the time and this song was dedicated to her. In a world of instagram models and the Kardashians, women are pushed into the spotlight of being perfect and having particular features that make them attractive to the rest of the world. The lyrical content discusses how the narrator loves his significant other just the way they are, that the subject doesn't have to change anything about themselves, just to please the other person. Through good times and bad times, the subject is perfect in the eyes of the narrative despite their flaws that the subject may be self conscious about. As a woman in this world, I understand how reassuring that can be. This isn't the only song that could be about Joel's wife as we'll get to later in this discussion. As his wife and Joel had been together for four years at the point of the album being released and his newfound fame was starting to take off, this song could be a reassurance to his wife that he still wanted her by his side.
4. Scenes from An Italian Restaurant - Joel's Magnum Opus, this song is a combination of several different songs that he decided to combine into one. This is one of Joel's best songs, just in my opinion, lyrically and musically it is strong and it strengths Joel's role as a storyteller. The outset, or A section, of the song describes banter that would take place in an Italian restaurant, discussing wine selections and picking out seating in the narrators favorite Italian restaurant. After a brief transition, the tempo picks up to describe possibly a different interaction taking place at a different table in the restaurant. The B section of the song is a conversation between two old friends are meeting up again after graduating from high school together, discussing their lives after they left school. Two two reminisce, discuss old hangouts such as the Village Green, a popular restaurant when they were kids. This section borrows elements from traditional Mississippi River jazz, the regional areas that sit on the Mississippi River such as St. Louis, the Mississippi Delta, and of course New Orleans. There is an instrumental section that expands more upon this concept, with an outstanding piano solo from Joel himself before continuing with another segment of the story. The C section of this song focuses on the relationship of high school sweethearts, Brenda and Eddie. I'm unsure of whether someone else in the restaurant is discussing Brenda and Eddie's relationship or the two people from the B section are talking about a couple they knew in high school and one of the individuals is telling the other about how their relationship turned out. Brenda and Eddie had a typical high school sweetheart relationship, they were popular, they were prom king and queen. They got married not long after they graduated, their friends were against their marriage as Brenda kept up a high wealth lifestyle and her soon to be husband was far too lazy to work hard enough to keep up with her lifestyle. Even after their friends expressing their doubts, Brenda and Eddie were married. The couple began to fight when they had financial troubles and eventually divorced. The song then discusses how "the king and the queen" went back to the Green, representing the Village Green, their old haunt. The Village Green is now an upscale restaurant, another changing element of their childhoods. They can physically go back to the Green, but they can not go back to their innocence and how easy life was then. As they have grown up and faced the realities of being an adult, even the negatives. This concludes the story of Brenda and Eddie, the A section returns. Again, discussing wine selection and discussing how they will meet anytime in their favorite Italian restaurant. In my opinion, the song discusses how certain places can take you back to a point in your life that you wish you could return to. You can always return physically, but mentally and emotionally it will never be the same place as it was in your memories.
5. Vienna - The opening of the B side of the album. Vienna could mean two different things, the obvious one is the city in Austria, and possibly could be a "happy place" that you could escape to in your mind. Joel's father was living in Vienna at the time of the composition, this song could be a narration of Joel's father to his younger self. His father left when he was quite young and this could be a conversation that he wish his father could've had with him in his younger days, encouraging his career decisions as a singer-songwriter. The first few opening lines solidify this concept. Vienna represents the rest of his life and that it's waiting for him. As Joel has accomplished so much in his short life already that he has so much waiting ahead of him and he should enjoy his life and relax. Another connection to this song and what inspired him, Joel studied classical piano as a child. He became a big fan, even using the opening motif from second movement of Beethoven's Pathétique Piano Sonata as the main melody for a song from his album, An Innocent Man (1983). Mozart was a native of Vienna and was involved in Austria and Germany for the majority of his lifetime. Mozart did not live a full life, dying at the young age of 35. Mozart had accomplished so much in such short time, he never got to sit back and relax. This element of his classical background could've made its way, subconsciously, into the context of the lyrics.
6. Only The Good Die Young - A possible novelty song, this lyrical content discusses the narrator chasing after a young woman, Virginia, who attends a Catholic school and trying to convince her to have sex with him, telling her that "only the good die young" and she should give in to her sinful temptations to be with him. The narrator's qualities do not align with Virginia's, he runs with a "dangerous" crowd and isn't shy to admit that. One of my favorite lines from the song is, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun." The authoritative figures in Virginia's life are against her being with the narrator, and he knows. This drives him even more complete his conquest, even antagonizing those figures, such as her mother asking if they've even said a prayer for him.
7. She's Only A Woman - Another song that possibly discusses his wife, this lyrical details discuss a woman who is incredible gorgeous and intimidating to most men, but to the narrator she's just a woman to him. That these qualities of her, make her the woman that she is, an independent and captivating woman. She enjoys the chase that she gives other men, the narrator is serious about this her and understands that these callous qualities about her is a mechanism to keep admires that she isn't serious about at bay.
8. Get It Right the First Time - Now we're starting to get to the deep cuts, the other songs except the last two on this album have become extremely popular, even when they weren't singles. This song is one of my favorites from the album. The content of the song discusses someone who meets a woman and the narrator possibly did not make a good first impression with her, but he wants to keep this woman in his life. He starts to discuss how he isn't good at first dates and he worries he'll say the wrong things that will drive the woman out of his life. He doesn't believe in first impressions as he isn't very good at them, people don't usually like or believe in things that they aren't very knowledgable about. The narrator is shy, but tries to convince himself to put that aside to be able to make a lasting impression on this woman.
9. Everybody Has A Dream - The grand finale to this wonderful album. This song was originally written in 1971, years before his fame that he knew of when this album was released. This song discusses his dreams of having it all, not having any hardships and being able to provide for his wife and being able to enjoy his years with her. His dreams and fantasies of success drives his work ethic to being able to life out his life the way he wants to. This song provides a good finale as this is one of Joel's best albums and it shows how far he has come since his young age and the worldwide success he had up to that point and continued to have for years to come.
Conclusion: When this album was conceived, Joel had just finished a big transition in his life. When he previous album was released, he had just had the move from Los Angeles to his home state of New York, being back in the city where he grew up brought on lots of memories from when he was a kid growing up in the city. This is shown in many of his songs as there are concepts of youth and "making it big." The last time he lived in New York, he was a kid just trying to break out in the music business. He was a high school dropout and his teachers thought that he needed to stay in school to make something of himself. Coming back to his city and being someone was a reassuring thought to himself, I'm sure, that he made the correct decision in his career choices. There are many elements of reminiscence, in each song. This is one of my favorite albums, it is almost a perfect album in my eyes. There isn't a skippable track to me.
Overall Theme of the Album: Youth and having dreams of making something of yourself.
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