And if he was losing his upper register (Joel has joked this was the last high note he’d ever reach), well he saved the best for last. Lyrically, vocally and production-wise, this is the album and Joel at his peak. In essence, it’s saying, “Don’t blame me because your last boyfriend was a jerk!” But his dramatic plea - “I AM an innocent man!” - isn’t as confrontational as it might be, more a cry saying “Trust me” rather than saying, “Why don’t you trust me?” And the lines are filled with empathy for someone who finds it a lot easier to check out than risk life again: “Some people stay far away from the door/ If there’s a chance of it opening up/ They hear a voice in the hall outside/ And hope that it just passes by.” That’s just.beautiful. Nothing against silly love songs, but this is a particularly mature, thoughtful number, with the singer comforting a love that has been bruised in the past, promising that they aren’t going anywhere. The bass line opens it up, accompanied by the lightest of percussion and Joel’s confiding, gentle vocals. I don’t think he could have done it better. But “An Innocent Man” is grand, emotional, open-hearted and again, you can’t help wishing Ben E. He had been improving from album to album and here he’s literally doing it all at some points, creating his own doo-wop group and doing it in high style. And Joel’s singing would never be better.
Throughout the album, the production is marvelous, from the horn section to the strings to the “live” feel of every track. It harkens back to “Spanish Harlem,” one of King’s greatest and on my short list of the greatest singles of all time. The meticulous but spare arrangement, the warm echo on the voice, the presence of the recording - which stops you in your tracks every time you hear it - is sensational. King, of course, and producer Phil Ramone’s production is so terrific you want to climb inside this tune and stay there. These two feel timeless to the nth degree, the sort of songs that live outside any era and might have been written any time, like Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.” Those are the title track “An Innocent Man” and “Leave A Tender Moment Alone.” The first is an homage to Ben E. These songs have nuance and uncertainty woven into them because a lot of the classic singles he was inspired by offer exactly the same sophistication.īut two songs transcend this high standard of sounding like throwbacks just as good as the songs they emulate. The giddy song “The Longest Time” actually begins by saying, “If you said goodbye to me tonight/ There would still be music left to write” and later adding, “Maybe this won’t last very long.” Two people falling in love on the romantic “This Night?” Actually, they’re both on the rebound and the singer cautions, “Didn’t I say/ I needed time to forget her?/ Aren’t you running from someone/ Who’s not over you?”And of course “Tell Her About It” is all about not taking love for granted. Listen closely and you’ll understand they’re not just breezy tunes of joy. The doo-wop of “The Longest Time,” the soaring ballad “This Time” (it wasn’t a single, but it could have been), the damn-I-wish-the-Supremes-had-sung-this pleasure of “Tell Her About It” and the spot-on Four Seasons treat of “Uptown Girl” all nail it. Joel not only serenaded Brinkley during “Uptown Girl” (and dusted off some of that original choreography she helped him with), he beckoned for his camera crew to capture her smiling and dancing in the front row.Many of these songs are just that and that’s pretty great. As recently as last year he told The New York Times how much he enjoyed teaching young students who “don’t ask me about what happened with Christie and ‘Uptown Girl.’” But he seemed to have put all that behind him this week at Madison Square Garden. The song and its inevitable association with his marriage has, at times, been a sore subject for Joel. When Joel was on his River of Dreams tour during the divorce, the hit “Uptown Girl” was missing from his set list. The couple were married and had a daughter together, but divorced in 1994. The two reportedly bonded over the experience with Brinkley, an accomplished dancer, walking Joel through all his choreography.
Joel was already an established star when, in 1983, he wrangled top model Christie Brinkley to star in the light-hearted, dance-filled music video for the song.
It’s been over thirty years since Billy Joel’s smash doo wop throwback hit “Uptown Girl” first hit the airwaves. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.