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Billy Joel

Billy Joel

Style marker

Syncopated 3-note rhythm

Several Billy Joel songs from the mid-'70s contain a similar rhythmic pattern: he sings a dense sequence of sixteenth or eighth notes, with a note onset on all subdivisions but the first in each group of four.

Album artwork for Billy Joel's Angry Young Man.
Angry Young Man (1976)
Billy Joel
Transcript of a line from Billy Joel's 1976 song Angry Young Man.
Album artwork for Billy Joel's Anthony's Song (Movin' Out).
Anthony's Song (Movin' Out) (1977)
Billy Joel
Transcript of a line from Billy Joel's 1977 song Anthony's Song (Movin' Out).
Album artwork for Billy Joel's Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (1977)
Billy Joel
Transcript of a line from Billy Joel's 1977 song Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.
From early on, I felt Beethoven. I still think he is the greatest composer who ever lived.

— Billy Joel, interview in Far Out Magazine (2025)

Album artwork for Ludwig von Beethoven's Sonantina in F Major.
Sonantina in F Major (ca. 1807)
Ludwig von Beethoven
Transcript of a line from Ludwig von Beethoven's 1807 song Sonantina in F Major.
Album artwork for Billy Joel's Anthony's Song (Movin' Out).
Anthony's Song (Movin' Out) (1977)
Billy Joel
Transcript of a line from Billy Joel's 1977 song Anthony's Song (Movin' Out).

The sequence [that opens the chorus of Movin' Out] is heard untransposed [...] in the F-major Sonatina ascribed by Thayer to Beethoven's Bonn period (first movement, mm. 35-38).

— Walter Everett, 2000. "The Learned vs. The Vernacular in the Songs of Billy Joel". Contemporary Music Review, 18(4).

I see critics compare me to Elton John,. I see Harry Chapin, and I go 'No, no, it's McCartney.'

— Billy Joel, New York Times interview (1978)

Album artwork for The Beatles's She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.
She Came In Through the Bathroom Window (1969)
The Beatles
Transcript of a line from The Beatles's 1969 song She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.
Album artwork for Billy Joel's Close to the Borderline.
Close to the Borderline (1980)
Billy Joel
Transcript of a line from Billy Joel's 1980 song Close to the Borderline.

Points of connection

  • Both songs are in the key of A and share a single rhythmically-identical pentatonic melody line (highlighted)
  • Phonetically similar lyrics in the same rhythmic positions ("thought I knew"/"think I need", "an[swer]"/"an[ything]")

Something to add?

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