Call it a 'guilty pleasure' if you like, but I love Billy Joel's 'Uptown Girl'. It's one of a couple of songs I very clearly remember hearing and enjoying when I was still much too young to be properly 'in to' music. My Dad would have Capital Gold on in the mornings and alongside 'Lola' by The Kinks, it was a song that I would instantly recognise. Years later it's one of maybe 4 songs of Joel's that I consider to be absolutely outstanding pop tracks, but I never thought to investigate his work further. For whatever reason, one day last year I found myself on his Wikipedia page and discovered that 3 of those 4 songs were from the same album- 'An Innocent Man' (the 4th being 1980's 'It's Still Rock & Roll To Me'). I kicked myself for not reading up on it sooner, as the album is a tribute to the music of his teenage years and his memories of the time- American pop, motown, doo-wop, soul of the late 50's to mid 60's. With 'Uptown Girl', 'The Longest Time' and 'Tell Her About It' being tracks I had admired for years as great tributes to the likes of The Drifters, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson etc as well as great pieces in their own right, I was very keen to hear the rest of it.
The album starts with a blast of James Brown-esque funk/soul- a gambler's anthem of a night that's young, and full of possibility for someone with cash in their pocket looking to try their luck.
'Take me to the action, take me to the track
Take me to a party if they're bettin' in the back
I've been working all my life, can't afford to wait
Let me call my wife so I can tell her I'll be late'
Track 2 is the title song, a dramatic change of pace and tone. I'm surprised at its position on the album and would have thought it better placed as the penultimate track. I was blown away by this on first listen- a stripped back, soul-bearingly honest, human, cathartic ballad. I doubt very much that it was not an autobiographical song. Dealing with the same subject matter as The Beach Boys' 'I'm Waiting For The Day', he sings about what it's like to be the one who picks up the pieces of a broken relationship. Paying penance for another man's misdeeds he bears the emotional brunt and misdirected anger, refusing to give up on someone who after a setback, is ready to give up on themselves.
'I know you don't want to hear what I say
I know you're gonna keep turning away
But I've been there and if I can survive
I can keep you alive
I'm not above going through it again
I'm not above being cool for a while
If you're cruel to me I'll understand
I am an innocent man
Oh yes I am
An innocent man'
The use of the phrase 'innocent man' I thought was a clever analogy for the subject matter- he's asking not to be held accountable for the pain inflicted by someone else. I'm sure it's a situation a lot of people have experienced or can relate to on either side of the coin. Like the hungover student who swears never to drink again, the heartbroken who can't bear to risk it happening again shut out any potential suitor.
'Some people say they will never believe
Another promise they hear in the dark
Because they only remember too well
They heard somebody tell them before'
I hope anyone reading this will be encouraged to play the album but if not, at least give this one a listen or read the lyrics.
This one raises the spirits again with 3 and a half minutes of catchy, feel-good, mostly acapella harmonising. The video echoes the album's theme, with an 'older' Joel sitting lonely in the aftermath of a high-school reunion, before his old buddies file in and the clock is turned back. (Look out for the worst double-take in the history of moving pictures). Billy Joel is actually the only singer on the song, the recording being 14 layered tracks of his own lead and backing vocals. A simple love song of a man renewed. As the track before describes, a relationship ending can feel like the end of the world but if you pick yourself up things can be good again.
'Once I thought my innocence was gone
Now I know that happiness goes on
That's where you found me
When you put your arms around me
I haven't been there for the longest time'
If this album was an American teen movie this is the 'prom night slow-dance' scene, where the two lovable losers who have been given the run around by the wrong partner finally get it together.
'Didn't I say
I needed time to forget her?
Aren't you running from someone
Who's not over you?'
Very 1950's, with its 'shoowap's and 'woooah's, and a bit of sax for good measure.
An unmistakably 'Supremes'-sounding track, could hardly be more motown if Diana Ross was singing it. Rather than singing about his own experiences this time, the song is directed to a thrid party, giving some great advice we all should heed more often.
'Listen boy I don't want to see you
Let a good thing slip away
You know I don't like watching anybody
Make the same mistakes I made
Listen boy I'm sure that you think
You got it all under control
You don't want somebody telling you
The way to stay in someone's soul
You're a big boy now and you'll never let her go
But that's just the kind of thing she ought to know'
I can't help but imagine all the poor souls listening to this in 1983, getting thoroughly carried away and dancing off to make a well-intentioned but ultimately doomed declaration of love off the back of it... I'm sure it would have been responsible for more than a few happy endings too, though.
Everyone will know this one already. Very 'Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons'. A driving drum beat, irresistably 'sing along', and that bit where the harmony builds and the motorcycle revs... Love it.
Taking on a Sam Cooke vocal style for a song that, considering the theme of the album could be about the whispers and behind-the-back gossip that goes on in your teenage years, jealousy and spite from spurned lovers... or considering his growing profile as a celebrity and his high-profile partners (models Elle MacPherson and Christie Brinkley)
'Careless talk...
That's what you heard about me
Jealous talk...
That's what I heard about you
Everybody's telling lies,
I don't even know why
Why can't people
Find something better to do?'
A 'Little Richard' rocker, one of the weaker tracks. Plods along nicely enough but... every album has its 'filler'.
Leave A Tender Moment Alone
The 5th single (of 7!) released from the 10 track album. The quiet, reflective 'Leave A Tender Moment Alone' is, lyrically, an inner monologue- the explanation he can never offer face to face as to why he's quiet or awkward in the company of a girl.
'Yes I know I'm in love
But just when I ought to relax
I put my foot in my mouth
Cause I'm just avoiding the facts'
Keeping the Faith
'Keeping The Faith' is a full stop to the nostalgia, explaining that 'the good ol' days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems'. He recounts his routine for a night out- the clothes, the hair and paints a vivid picture. Rather than reminiscing and lamenting the loss of days gone by, he approaches it as you would looking back at old photographs- happy to have had the time and appreciative of chance to look back, but none-the-less able to put it away and live in the now.
'I'm going to listen to my 45's
Ain't it wonderful to be alive
When the rock 'n' roll plays
When the memory stays
Yeah
I'm keeping the faith'
Whole album can be played in full here;
Billy Joel- An Innocent Man (Full Album)
