Billy Joel famous quotes

Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts.
-- Billy Joel

#Heart #Voice #Musician

I'm not the kind of guy who wants to be on a pedestal.
-- Billy Joel

#Guy #Pedestal #Want

In an age of incompetence, I've been able to last in this crazy business. I actually know how to play my ax and write a song. That's my job.
-- Billy Joel

#Birthday #Song #Jobs

I look at some of the songs I wrote years ago and I can't believe I wrote such crap.
-- Billy Joel

#Song #Believe #Years

If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.
-- Billy Joel

#Love #Life #Motivational

Even when I stop performing or stop making records I won't stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.
-- Billy Joel

#Creative #Records #Outlets

I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.
-- Billy Joel

#Music #Art #Journey

Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.
-- Billy Joel

#Artist #Sea #Perception

Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.
-- Billy Joel

#Safety #Wire #Musician

I started taking piano lessons when I was about four years old. My parents were both musicians. So I took piano lessons. I didn't like the lessons very much, but I was enchanted by music. Music always transported me somewhere. Singing made feel good and being able to play the piano made me feel good.
-- Billy Joel

#Play #Piano #Years

I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.
-- Billy Joel

#Religious #Believe #Meditation

Do what you love, and you'll always love what you do
-- Billy Joel

I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter.
-- Billy Joel

#Lovers #Fighter

I said I love you and that's forever And this I promise from the heart I could not love you any better I love you just the way you are.
-- Billy Joel

#Friendship #Anniversary #Love You

There's nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.
-- Billy Joel

#Witty #Sex #Peanut Butter

I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun.
-- Billy Joel

#Song #Fun #Laughing

I'm sure you have some cosmic rationale, but here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice.
-- Billy Joel

#Friendship #Advice #Peter

For whatever reason, not all people are born with the particular gift of being able to express ourselves through music. And, believe me, it is a gift.
-- Billy Joel

#Believe #People #Able

You've got to be hard, like the rock in that old rock & roll.
-- Billy Joel

#Rocks

Musicians now find themselves in the unlikely position of being legitimate. At least the IRS thinks so.
-- Billy Joel

#Thinking #Musician #Irs

I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.
-- Billy Joel

#Mean #Singers #Opinion

More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.
-- Billy Joel

#Art #Literature #Music Is

Most people are satisfied with the junk food being sold as music.
-- Billy Joel

#People #Junk #Junk Food

When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music, I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created.
-- Billy Joel

#Art #Portraits #Looks

Say goodbye to the oldies, but goodies, because the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems
-- Billy Joel

#Goodbye #Tomorrow #Oldies

Don't wait for answers, just take your chances. Don't ask me why.
-- Billy Joel

#Waiting #Advice #Answers

Like family, we are tied to each other. This is what all good musicians understand.
-- Billy Joel

#Musician

Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue...
-- Billy Joel

#Lonely #Honesty #Insane

I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
-- Billy Joel

#Birthday #Insecurity #Age

Some people stay away from the door for the chance of it opening up.
-- Billy Joel

#Doors #Opening Up #People

Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, "Listen to me." Now it says, "Look at me."
-- Billy Joel

#Rocks #Rock And Roll #Vitality

In every heart there is a room, A sanctuary safe and strong, To heal the wounds from lovers past, Until a new one comes along
-- Billy Joel

#Strong #Heart #Past

Everybody is different. Some writers can write reams of great books and then J. D. Salinger wrote just a few. Beethoven wrote nine symphonies. They were all phenomenal. Mozart wrote some 40 symphonies, and they were all phenomenal. That doesn't mean Beethoven was a lesser writer, it's just some guys are capable of more productivity, some guys take more time.
-- Billy Joel

#Book #Mean #Writing

So I would choose to be with you, That's if the choice were mine to make, But you can make decisions too, And you can have this heart to break
-- Billy Joel

#Heart #Choices #Decision

It's OK if you mess up. You should give yourself a break.
-- Billy Joel

#Acceptance #Giving #Break

I don't know why I go to extremes.
-- Billy Joel

#Insanity #Extremes

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.
-- Billy Joel

#Inspiration #Unseen #Tangible

Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on / They never die, that's how you and I will be
-- Billy Joel

#Gone #Goes On #Someday

I keep telling people: Don't make me the poster boy for AA because I don't know a lot about sobriety, but I do know a lot about drinking.
-- Billy Joel

#Inspirational #Drinking #Boys

The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.
-- Billy Joel

#Country #Rocks #Blue

I've reached the age where competence is a turn-on.
-- Billy Joel

#Competition #Age #Competence

Why do musicians give so much time to charitable causes? The most humanitarian cause that we can give our time to is the creation and performance of music itself.
-- Billy Joel

#Giving #Musician #Causes

I'm in a New York state of mind
-- Billy Joel

#New York #Mind #States

I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off.
-- Billy Joel

#Believe #Clouds #Important

Call you up in the middle of the night. It's awful hard trying to make love long distance, but I really need stimulation.
-- Billy Joel

#Distance #Night #Long

You just sit home and masturbate. The phone is going to ring soon, but you just can't wait.
-- Billy Joel

#Home #Phones #Waiting

We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes.
-- Billy Joel

#Doors #Musical #Tape

Rock and roll just used to be for kicks, now a days it's politics.
-- Billy Joel

#Rocks #Rock And Roll #Politics

Following a code of silence, you're never gonna lose the anger.
-- Billy Joel

#Silence #Adages #Code

Hot funk, cold punk, even if it's old junk, it's still rock and roll to me.
-- Billy Joel

#Rocks #Rock And Roll #Junk

I may be an antique like the Stones, but antiques are valuable.
-- Billy Joel

#May #Antiques #Stones

We drown our doubts in dry champagne and soothe our souls with fine cocaine. I don't know why I even care, we get so high and get nowhere.
-- Billy Joel

#Alcohol #Drug #Soul

Why don't the Beatles get back together? Why don't nobody sing of romance?
-- Billy Joel

#Romance #Together #Back Together

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania.
-- Billy Joel

#Arabia #Lawrence Of Arabia #British

We're only human, we're supposed to make mistakes.
-- Billy Joel

#Mistake #Making Mistakes #Humans

You may never understand How the stranger is inspired For he is not always evil, And he is not always wrong.
-- Billy Joel

#Evil #Understanding #May

Hope you don't think this is Billy Joel unplugged. I'm a piano player. I'm already unplugged.
-- Billy Joel

#Music #Player #Thinking

Do what's good for you Or you're not good for anybody
-- Billy Joel

Don't be afraid to try again everyone goes south every now and then.
-- Billy Joel

#Trying #Now And Then #Try Again

Slow down you're doing fine You can't be everything you want to be before your time.
-- Billy Joel

#Want #Slow Down #Fine

Remember how I found you there alone in your electric chair, I told you dirty jokes until you smiled.
-- Billy Joel

#Dirty #Quality #Remember

There's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin.
-- Billy Joel

#Men #Alcohol #Drug

Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight, and make sure that all her dreams are sweet? Said now, would ya guide her on the roads, and make them softer for her feet? Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight, and make sure that she's gonna be alright, until she's home and here with me.
-- Billy Joel

#Dream #Sweet #Travel

Though you can see when you're wrong, you know you can't always see when you're right.
-- Billy Joel

Davey Crocket, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland.
-- Billy Joel

#Peter #Disneyland

They say there's a heaven for those who wait, some say it's better I say it ain't.
-- Billy Joel

#Evil #Waiting #Heaven

Ain't no rainbows shining on me, shades of gray are the colors I see.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Color #Rainbow

Black and white is how it should be, but shades of grey are the colors I see.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Black And White #Color

I've lived long enough to have learned, the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burned.
-- Billy Joel

#Education #Fire #Long

You'll learn more from your accidents than anything that you could ever learn at school.
-- Billy Joel

#Education #School #Accidents

Critics have said I write without spontaneity, in cold blood. I don't. I write in hot blood.
-- Billy Joel

#Writing #Blood #Hot

Honesty is the best part of any art form. If you don't have that, you're kidding yourself and your listener.
-- Billy Joel

#Art #Truth #Honesty

She'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding.
-- Billy Joel

#Cutting #Evil #Laughing

Drank a lot of take home pay.
-- Billy Joel

#Work #Home #Pay

Working too hard can give you a heart-attack.
-- Billy Joel

#Work #Heart #Giving

They are sharing a drink called loneliness.
-- Billy Joel

#Loneliness #Expression #Drink

I have to thank my mother for paying for the piano lessons for all those years.
-- Billy Joel

#Mother #Years #Piano

You can walk away from your mistakes You can turn your back on what you do Just a little smile is all it takes And you can have your cake and eat it too. Loneliness will get to you somehow But ev'rybody loves you now.
-- Billy Joel

#Mistake #Loneliness #Love You

If I traveled all my life And I never get to stop and settle down Long as I have you by my side There's a roof above and good walls all around You're my castle, you're my cabin and my instant pleasure dome I need you in my house 'cause you're my home.
-- Billy Joel

#Wall #Home #Long

From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia Rode a boy with a six-gun in his hand And his daring life of crime made him a legend in his time East and west of the Rio Grande. Well, he started with a bank in Colorado In the pocket of his vest a Colt he hid. And his age and his size took the teller by surprise, And the word spread of Billy the Kid.
-- Billy Joel

#Kids #Gun #Boys

So you play your albums and you smoke your pot And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot Oh, but still you're aching for the things you haven't got, What went wrong? And if you can't understand why your world is so dead And why you've got to keep in style and feed your head Well, you're twenty one and still you mother makes your bed And that's too long.
-- Billy Joel

#Mother #Girlfriend #Play

Streetlife serenaders Have no obligations Hold no grand illusions Need no stimulation.
-- Billy Joel

#Needs #Illusion #Stimulation

I am the entertainer and I know just where I stand Another serenader and another long haired band Today I am your champion, I may have won your hearts, But I know the game, you'll forget my name, And I won't be here in another year If I don't stay on the charts.
-- Billy Joel

#Heart #Years #Games

I have long admired Steinway pianos for their qualities of tone, clarity, pitch consistency, touch responsiveness, and superior craftsmanship.
-- Billy Joel

#Piano #Long #Consistency

I am the entertainer, I've come to do my show You've heard my latest record, it's been on the radio It took me years to write it, they were the best years of my life It was a beautiful song but it ran too long If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit So they cut it down to 3:05.
-- Billy Joel

#Beautiful #Song #Writing

I am the entertainer, the idol of my age I make all kinds of money when I go on the stage You see me in the papers, I've been in the magazines But if I go cold, I won't get sold I get put in the back in the discount rack Like another can of beans.
-- Billy Joel

#Idols #Age #Magazines

There's always a place for the angry young man with his fist in the air and his head in the sand. He's never been able to learn from mistakes, he can't understand why his heart always breaks.
-- Billy Joel

#Education #Mistake #Heart

The graduations hang on the wall, but they never really helped us at all.
-- Billy Joel

#Education #Wall

Forced to recognize our inhumanity, our reason coexists with our insanity. And though we choose between reality and madness, it's either sadness or euphoria.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Sadness #Reality

I hope it does not take the rest of my life until I find what it is I've been looking for.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Doe

I won't be righteous again. I'm not sure anymore.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Righteous #Not Sure

Let me go on sleeping and I will lose myself in palaces of sand, and all the fantasies that I've been keeping will make the empty hours easier to stand.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Sleep #Goes On

Why should I worry, why should I care? And even when I cross that line, I got street savoire faire.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #Worry #Care

You may be wrong, but you may be right.
-- Billy Joel

#Philosophy #May

All she wanted was sax.
-- Billy Joel

#Rock And Roll #Wanted

I can't remember faces, don't remember names, but after awhile and a thousand miles it all becomes the same.
-- Billy Joel

#Rock And Roll #Names #Faces

I've played all kinds of places, laid all kinds of girls.
-- Billy Joel

#Girl #Rock And Roll #Kind

She's the quiet type who's into heavy metal.
-- Billy Joel

#Rock And Roll #Quiet #Heavy Metal

The piano sounds like a carnival and the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say, man, what are you doing here?
-- Billy Joel

#Beer #Men #Rock And Roll

What if she figures out you're not very smart?
-- Billy Joel

#Smart #What If #Unanswered Questions