"ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG" ● Billy Joel
BILLY JOEL / Publicity Photo CBS Records 1989 / Credit: Paul Cox / IVOX MEDIA collection
"ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG" ● Billy Joel
Song● Only the Good Die Young
Writer● Billy Joel
Producer● Phil Ramone
Recorded● Spring-summer 1977 at A&R Recording in New York City
Released● Fall 1977
Players●
:: Billy Joel -- vocals, keyboards
:: Doug Stegmeyer -- bass
:: Hiram Bullock -- guitar
:: Liberty DeVitto -- drums
:: Richie Canatta -- woodwinds
:: Steve Zahn -- guitar
:: Patrick Williams -- orchestrations
Album● The Stranger (Columbia, 1977)
Also On●
:: Greatest Hits Volume I And Volume II (1973-1985) (Columbia, 1985)
:: Kohuept (Live In Leningrad) (Columbia, 1987)
:: The Complete Hits Collection 1974-1997 (Columbia, 1997)
:: Greatest Hits, Vols. I, II & III (Columbia, 2000)
:: 2000 Years -- The Millennium Concert (Columbia, 2000)
:: The Essential Billy Joel (Columbia, 2001)
A native of Long Island, New York, Billy Joel tried his hand at boxing before settling on a career in music. He told Billboard, "I became a musician partly because of my physical limitations. I wasn't tall. I don't have Cary Grant looks. I had to transcend somehow, so when I'm in the studio and I'm free to move, I'm six-foot-six and I look like Cary Grant."
Joel had been recording for six years before The Stranger album broke through to a mass audience, starting with the hit ballad "Just The Way You Are."
"Only The Good Die Young" is a plea for sexual favors from a "good" Catholic girl. The song didn't amuse some Catholics, and priests spoke out against the song.
Of the controversy surrounding the song, Joel has denied that "Only The Good Die Young" is anti-Catholic. He also says he isn't religious -- "I still feel very much like an atheist in the religious aspect of things. But there are spiritual planes that I'm aware of that I don't know anything about, that I can't explain."
"Only The Good Die Young" peaked at Number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of Joel's most popular radio songs.
The Stranger peaked at Number Two on the Billboard 200. It was also Joel's first million-seller, and has sold more than ten million copies.
The Stranger ● Billy Joel
The Stranger is Billy Joel’s fifth studio album, released September 29, 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel's albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would work for five subsequent albums.
Billy Joel stopped recording pop music after 1993's River Of Dreams and has devoted himself to classical and instrumental music ever since, though he did release a one-off pop song called "All My Life" earlier this year. He put out his first classical album in 2001 and has said he'll continue in that vein.
Joel continues to tour periodically, both by himself and with Elton John in their Face To Face concerts.
Joel has received career citations from the publishing house ASCAP; the Songwriters Hall Of Fame; the Grammys, which gave him the Living Legend Award in 1990; Billboard magazine, which gave him its Century Award in 1994; and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, when he was inducted by his idol Ray Charles.
A stage production called Movin' Out, which paired Joel's music with choreography by Twyla Tharp, had a very successful run on Broadway in New York City. Joel shared the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations with Stuart Malina.
KWXY plays the music of Billy Joel and “The Stranger” album, including the song “Only the Good Die Young” is in the station’s music library and playlists. Listen to the Sound of the Desert for More than 50 years, bringing independent, and iconic music to Palm Springs, the Desert Cities, and the Coachella Valley.
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