Fierce independence is at the heart of rock-n-roll, and this is one of its classic anthems: "I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life. Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone. I never said you had to offer me a second chance.... Don't get me wrong, you can speak your mind, but not on my time." This song and album were towering successes, with the song reaching #3. This 1978 album (52nd Street) went #1, with three top 40 songs, garnering two Grammys.

52nd Street is rightly claimed to be the first commercially released CD (compact disc for younger audiences) released in October 1982 (though it was with a batch of 50 other CDs released the same day, but this album had the lowest catalogue number (35DP-1) so is considered the first. It was also the first album Sony released when it started returning to vinyl record production in 2018. The NYC location of 52nd Street became a traditional jazz musician gathering spot, and so on this 6th album, Joel decided to add some more jazz elements to his songs, plus his record label at the time was on 52nd Street (CBS) and he also recorded this album about a block away, also on 52nd Street, so the album was very much about geography.

In the album version of My Life, the backing vocals are sung by Chicago's Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus. And it was the theme song for the TV series Bossom Buddies, which was one of Tom Hank's first famous works. The song got yanked from the DVD and syndicated releases because of a licensing dispute. The lyric "closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the west coast; now he gives them a stand up routine in LA" is claimed to be about the comedian Richard Lewis (RIP) who is from the same area as Joel.

Joel's famous drummer, Liberty DeVitto, fought with producer Phil Ramone on this song, saying "He wanted me to play a very straight beat, and I bucked him. 'I ain't playin' that disco bulls--t!' I said. Phil got up, slammed something on the console, and scolded me like he was my father. 'You've been in this business for what, 12 minutes? And you're gonna tell me how you're gonna play? Just get the hell out there and play it the way I told you to play!' I grumbled about it then, but every time I see the gold record I received for 'My Life' on the wall, I mutter, 'F--king guy was right.'"

Billy Joel loves classical music, composing and releasing a classical album, and so it was cool that he intro-ed this song with Beethoven's Symphony #9.

Check out the OG video here:    • Billy Joel - My Life (Official Video)   Really cool old footage, from NYC, showing the gathering of the band from the street (52nd Street, the album title) and then performing.

Then this song pairs so well with "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" at least in terms of geography as it talks about working class folks putting their dreams on hold, working jobs to make ends meet, so they can afford a house in the suburbs. Billy Joel told Howard Stern "I've seen friends of mine who were pressured into taking a job to take care of the family, and then they never fulfill themselves - they're doing it because that's where you're supposed to go. Everybody's got something they love to do or they should be doing - a talent. I see people wasting their lives, not putting their talent to that purpose so they could have stuff: you get a Cadillac and then you're fine."

"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" became the subject of Broadway show, winning a Tony, and was also featured in the Wolf of Wall Street. The end of the song includes the bass player patching out his 1960s Corvette.

What do you think of these songs?

Great night @ Petco with Sting and Billy Joel. Check out more highlights from the Billy Joel and Sting concert here:    • Sting [The Police] + Billy Joel "Ever...  

Enjoy.

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