09
B I L L Y J O E L
Really?Still?
“Yeah, it’s cool,” he says, grinning.
“
[
Sometimes, I forget
]
what was in a re-
cording, because I don’t listen to my own
recordings anymore. The only time I hear
them iswhen theycomeon the radio.Then,
it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we played guitar on that;
we playedbass on that.’ I like remembering
what the sessionwas like.”
And he enjoys the tours with Sir Elton,
with whom he was often compared in the
1970s. They push each other, Joel says,
challenging each other to dig deep during
the three-plus hours they spend both apart
and together onstage. Joel says he’d like to
do an albumwith Sir Elton, thoughhe has
told the “Rocket Man” there could be no
outsidewriters. “Because then, what would
be thepoint?” heasks.
He even likes road life. Joel counts some
of the guys in his crew among his oldest
friends, and they spend idle days riding
motorcycles together on whichever open
stretches of road they’re staying near. Be-
tween sets, hekicksbacknot inhis relative-
ly sparse dressing room— in which hang
a few dark suits and shirts, the opposite of
Sir Elton’s garish Las Vegas–fried spread
— but in the temporary operations office
set up beneath the arena, withmembers of
his 40-strong crew. He and the guys light
up smokes and shoot the breeze about old
bikes (Joel’s passion and, of late, his second
profession) and vintage cars.
Ultimately, the real reason he enjoys be-
ing on tour is sentimental. “I kind of enjoy
revisiting what I have done,” he says. And,
evenbetter,headdswithasmile, “Theaudi-
ence is liking it.”
Sure, sometimesJoel thinksabouthitting
the road fora small theater tour— justWil-
liamMartinJoel of Levittown,NewYork; a
piano; anda fewhundredpeople forwhom
all the songs because, as he puts it, “if it’s a
well-written song, it doesn’t go away.” And
heaven knows he’s got enoughwell-written
songs to fill the rest of this storywith their
titles alone.
“It’s always very gratifying to hear your
stuff on the radio,”he says. “Idon’t gohome
andplaymyownalbums, but if it comes on
the radio, it goes right up to 10. I love that.”
now to have people hear what I’m doing. I
kind of like not having that going on right
now. … It’s hard for people to understand,
I guess. ‘Don’t youwant people to listen to
your stuff?’No.”
Don’t get him wrong: It’s not that Joel
hates his part-time gig of touring with Sir
Elton or playing those old songs that you
know every single word of. He’s proud of
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