"We Didn't Start the Fire": Billy Joel and Popular Music Studies

by Ryan Raul Bañagale (Editor), Billy Joel (Foreword by), Ryan Raul Bañagale (Contribution by), Jonathan D. Bellman University of Northern Co (Contribution by), James Deaville coeditor of Oxford Han (Contribution by) Ryan Raul Bañagale

Overview

Billy Joel has sold over 150 million records, produced thirty-three Top-40 hits, received six Grammy Awards, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fans celebrate him, critics deride him, and scholars have all but ignored him. This first-of-its-kind collection of essays offers close analysis and careful insight into the ways his work has impacted popular music during the last fifty years. Using diverse approaches, this volume serves as a model for how any scholar can approach the study of popular music. Ultimately, these chapters interrogate how popular music frames our experiences, constitutes our history and culture, and gains importance in our daily lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793601827
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	08/10/2020
Series:	For the Record: Lexington Studies in Rock and Popular Music
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Joshua S. Duchan is associate professor of music and director of graduate studies in the Department of Music at Wayne State University.

Ryan Raul Bañagale is associate professor of music and director of performing arts at Colorado College.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Billy Joel



Introduction: “The Stranger”: Locating Billy Joel in Popular Music Studies

Ryan Raul Bañagale and Joshua S. Duchan



Part I: “Somewhere Along the Line”: Considering Tradition



Chapter One: From Liverpool to Hicksville: Sgt. Pepper Meets The Nylon Curtain

Joshua S. Duchan



Chapter Two: Movin’ Out on Thunder Road: Images of Ambition, Escape, and Authenticity in Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen

John J. Sheinbaum



Part II: “This Is the Time”: Performance Analysis



Chapter Three: Billy Joel, Piano Culture, and Rock’s Road Not Taken

Jonathan D. Bellman



Chapter Four: Form, Lyrics, and the “Short-Short-Long” Pattern in Billy Joel’s Music

Don Traut



Part III: “You’re My Home”: Imagined Locations



Chapter Five: “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”: Billy Joel Signifies Folk

Morgan Jones



Chapter Six: “Nothing Rhymes With Bethlehem”: City Branding Schemes and the Strategic Deployment of Billy Joel’s “Allentown”

Sarah Messbauer



Part IV: “Stop in Nevada”: Live Performance



Chapter Seven: “She’s Got a Way”: Gendered and Physical Embodiment in Interpreting Billy Joel in American Sign Language

Elyse Marrero



Chapter Eight: Twenty-First-Century Patronage: The Road to Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden Concert Residency

Stan Soocher



Part V: “Just the Way You Are”: Arranging Billy Joel, Arranging Ourselves



Chapter Nine: Scenes From a Music Museum: The Piano Man’s Notebooks in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Jason Hanley and Kathryn Metz



Chapter Ten: Disavowing Billy Joel: Taste Shaming and “Schlock” Fandom

James Deaville



Chapter Eleven: My Lives: Greatest Hits and the Arranging of a Career

Ryan Raul Bañagale



Part VI: Transcript



Chapter Twelve: “Take the Phone Off the Hook”: A Public Interview with Billy Joel, interviewed by Ryan Raul Bañagale and Joshua S. Duchan



About the Editors and Contributors



Discography

Editorial Reviews

A wide-ranging look at the work of a pop master. This illuminating collection of essays offers diverse perspectives on Joel’s music, making a compelling scholarly case for his legacy as one of rock’s great songwriters and performers.

Albin Zak

Duchan and Bañagale have brought together 12 essays on musician Billy Joel (b. 1949), preceded by an introduction and a brief foreword by Joel. Though there have been many biographies of Joel, this is a valuable addition to the scholarship.. . The book concludes with Bañagale and Duchan’s 2016 interview with Joel. Many of the essays include music transcriptions. A discography lists Joel’s dozen solo studio albums; bibliographical references stand in for a bibliography. This is a useful addition to the literature on Joel’s musical heritage. Recommended.

Choice Reviews

We learn from many insightful perspectives how to fully appreciate Joel’s intriguing body of work. The writers have geared their presentations for the non-specialist reader, a great feat given the multileveled complexity of the lyrics, music, and sonics in Joel’s catalog. The collection is topped-off with a penetrating discussion with The Man himself—Bravi!

Walter Everett

Ultimately, I leave the interpretation of my music to others. I’ve said all I can, in the music and in interviews. I’m flattered that the last few years have seen an increase in interest in my music on the part of musicologists and other scholars, seeking better understandings of my songs and their place in American history and culture. If that all continues, great. And the chapters in this book are a very good place to start. —from the Foreword by

Billy Joel

Duchan and Bañagale have brought together 12 essays on musician Billy Joel (b. 1949), preceded by an introduction and a brief foreword by Joel. Though there have been many biographies of Joel, this is a valuable addition to the scholarship.. . The book concludes with Bañagale and Duchan’s 2016 interview with Joel. Many of the essays include music transcriptions. A discography lists Joel’s dozen solo studio albums; bibliographical references stand in for a bibliography. This is a useful addition to the literature on Joel’s musical heritage. Recommended.

Choice