Billy Joel - Prelude/Angry Young Man (Original Studio Recording)

[projectfreq91]

dat piano lick

[pemogirl]

Our high school show choir is doing the Evolution of Piano as tier theme thus year and they put this song in there. Their version was excellent, but had NOTHING on this-3

[Nightingale2814]

Billy Joel should play this for Occupy Wall Street

[whatsup89100]

literaly the story of my life

[bigtaker5]

all i can think about today in school......... need to get for my ipod

[serinbo]

@benhosler- I guess your really not that busy. I mean you had time to watch a video (from someone you hate), post a coment and reply to a coment. All while checking grammar and punctuation. If that is what you are concerned about, then you will not understand the message in his lyrics. To say he is garbage and cynical shows your lack of intelligance. Reading your response I know you're well spoken; but, the ability to speak does not make one intelligent. RELAX! you sound a bit high strung.

[TheRimDoctor]

@serinbo He's but a pretentious bastard, probably anti-semitist.

Leave him be, the trolls grow more hideous by the day.

[nudist1033]

I just had an image come into my head;

Imagine is a really good drum and bugle corps played a version of this song in one of their shows and the entire DRUM section (ALL drums but JUST drums) started laying down some really wicked drum roll skit between 0:40-1:00?

Not necessarily 4,000 beats of the sticks on the skins, but some really wicked jammin' roll type skit.

Kind of like the following below;

"Cadets 2000 Drum Feature" by cnelson1976

Not a song stealer, but a jammin countermelody

[ilyrae803]

our ending song to our marching band shooooow♥

[steveandb]

Mean keyboard solo at 3:33 makes my fiancee's panties wet!!!!!

[SatanTheCat]

Depressing Ska? Hahahaha. Is there such a thing?

Anyway, Billy Joel is an amazing artist and song writer. F minus? What grading scale are we using again? Do you live under a rock? A cave? In a basement?? Regardless, this is a great song. It's very skinhead (not bonehead) geared. It makes me smile at my youth...you know, because I'm old and crap.

[davincidecoder754]

the prelude is the best part!

[woodenmusic]

@benhosler Well, at least he went for it. Consequently, we all know who Billy Joel is. On the other hand, I've never heard of you, and as far as I know, you've never exhibited YOUR musical genius so we can all bask in its brilliant glow. It's really easy (and somewhat cowardly) to tear someone down if you don't have the talent or the guts to do it better. Most of those who do have more class than to slam a fellow artist. Or maybe you're just ticked 'cause he's singing about you.

[fatandorange]

@benhosler listen asswipe. no one can play the piano as well as he can. i'm fuckin 15 and i like him. you're probably the type of asswhole who listens to shitty metal or depressing ska while smoking weed and playing along with the three simple chords. you're probably pissed off because its too hard to learn. suck my ginger cock. billy is a legand

[liveforpizza]

@fatandorange dude that was the best comment of my life lol well done sir. i would not be surprised in the slightest if you were exactly right. that "benhosler" is a tool. billy on the other hand is indeed a legend

[fatandorange]

@liveforpizza haha. thanks man. billy rocks!

[fatandorange]

@benhosler ok... i just looked back at your comment and it pissed me off even more. are you an elton john fan? you jealous that bill doesnt suck cocks in his free time? he is fucking lyrical geneous, it all comes from the heart. he is the PIANO MAN. he pull anything off on the piano from rock to classical. and he has a beautiful voice. i wana hear you try and attempt this. write 20 hit albums if he doesnt cut it. if not then go fuck your self

[benhosler]

@fatandorange Apologies for not responding in a timely fashion; I have a busy life which tends to preclude sitting around and debating the merits of a shitty, cynical Billy Joel tune on Youtube. You're clearly not very bright, "fatandorange". Your atrocious spelling, grammar and punctuation (and bad taste) were my first clue; secondly, your knee-jerk homophobia is a sure sign of your own repressed homosexuality. I pity you, fatandorangeanddimwitted. BILLY JOEL IS FUCKING GARBAGE!

[MrDouchebag40]

@benhosler May your account be deleted shit face.

[hunter6763]

@MrDouchebag40

I hope his account is deleted

[hunter6763]

@benhosler

fuck you

[TylerRobinson7]

@benhosler obvious troll is obvious

[oObadphishOo]

@benhosler someone has daddy issues and needs some extra attention

[Andy1Emcee]

I really think Turnstiles is just as good as The Stranger.

[michio2013]

My folks sent me this link when I started ranting about the SAT.......I AM NOT AN ANGRY YOUNG MAN!

[enriqueperez17]

This song relates to me.

I DO love to be called an angry young man.

[eskiewolf76]

4 people don't understand good music.

[BobDylansPet]

maaaaan, all those comments below...tl;dr. just listen to the music.

[duckamongstmen13]

four people will go their graves as angry old men

[McCrack]

Whoa, look at all these pointless points of view written below me!!

[DeserterTownsend]

@McCrack

Hey, man, I was just trying to calm down Captain Assburgers over there.

[Italiansrockoutloud]

Billy Joel never got the recognition that he deserved for his older songs

[JohnPetrucciness]

@Italiansrockoutloud AGREED. Billy is such an amazing musician...which makes me wonder, why do people seem to take a liking more to Elton John than Billy? I think Elton's great, but in my honest opinion, he's got NOTHING against Joel!

[benman136]

Wow. Unreal

[SpyroSkaterX]

Donald Trump For President

[death9719]

4 people are young and think they'll always care about stuff

[RookofIvory]

Terrible song.

[death9719]

@RookofIvory you don't get it doesn't matter in a few years you'll get it

[death9719]

@RookofIvory to your email i was six when i realized i converted to cinizism at ate and have been nihilistic since my 10th birthday and i am 14

[socalguy2186]

@RookofIvory Wrong. You're a terrible person.

[RookofIvory]

@socalguy2186 Fair enough. So are you. And this is a very terrible song with a very terrible message. I actually deleted all the Billy Joel songs I liked after hearing this status quo ball licking piece of shit song.

[arw6728]

@RookofIvory I am rather sorry for you the you did not pick up on the subtle message of the song.

[RookofIvory]

@arw6728 There is no subtle message you pretentious moron. It cannot be taken any way but literally, and that is how everyone who listens to the song takes it. The only reason you could possibly invent some kind of contrived figurative secret meaning is because you, too, are horrified by lyrics that say to not have passion and be a good drone who has given up. If that is the case, then maybe there's hope for you yet. Christians invent rationalizations for why their Bible isn't full of shit, too.

[arw6728]

@RookofIvory You are the precise type of person that the song is written about. It does not advocate being a drone, lacking an opinion etc. It instead claims that this type of person is so caught up in what they believe to be right they cannot consider that they could be wrong, never stopping to reevaluate where they stand never learning. And quite frankly the fact that you through Christianity is hilarious as it has nothing to due with your argument.

[RookofIvory]

@arw6728 Yes obviously I'm the type of person the song is about, that's why I take issue with it. It's about just what I said it is about. If you actually listened to the lyrics you'd see that. But life is too short to hear that song even once, let alone repeatedly, just to glean insight into the cowardly meaning of those lyrics. It's about not believing in anything, and 'just surviving.' That's right, bitch, put your head down. I'll surely be proud to go to the grave as an angry old man.

[DeserterTownsend]

@RookofIvory Christ, you aspie. You're right; the song is meant to be taken literally. It's about a young man who focuses too much on life, and as a result experiences constant failures, but he just keeps on going and never learns from his mistakes. So what if you match this description?  A lot of songs are written to describe a certain type of individual. No need to have a rectal prolapse over it. Just enjoy it for the artistic quality rather than putting such a large focus on the meaning.

[Tolstoy111]

@RookofIvory Joel was never a hippie at all. This song expressed the post 60s 'I don't give a shit anymore' attitude.

[Andy1Emcee]

@Tolstoy111 Exactly. Billy Joel was the best and never into that crap. That's why he hated L. A. This song is about the attitude that was becoming evident at the forefront of the 1970's.

[DRoephIe]

great artist

[WishesSailorMoon]

Great song!

[realslimvulcan]

If you aren't particularly fond of the prelude part, you can click 1:45 to take you straight to the "Angry Young Man" part.

[sjofu]

The depth and breadth of this man's work is amazing,sad that he never receives the true accolades that he is due,one of the true, great American Artists!

[nurb101]

The tune has aged too poorly. I like the point of the song, but not the music itself. I could stand some updating, but I have no clue who'd be able to do it

[jjsinger37]

@nurb101 Updating? Seriously? No way.

[brainsareus]

this is my fucking theme song......

[ieatpilli]

I only heard this song yesterday...I didn't know music can be so good (I'm 22 yrs old btw).

[Dainrock]

Great Song...



[rangerfreak616]

billy joel not only has an amazing voice, hes an even better performer and musician... people today on shows like american idol focus on their voice and voice only... they dont write their own music and no creativity and real genius is shown... a voice is only the beginning, and like billy himself said "I'm a pianist before a vocalist"

[McFudge93]

one of my first musical obsessions 

[HillyAdler]

been trying to perfect this song since i was 9. best rock piano opening ever written. hands down.

[butchermachine]

Billy's songwriting is ridiculous.  The guy is nothing short of genius. This song still mesmerizes me after all these years.

[butchermachine]

I can still hardly wrap my head around his songwriting. This guy is the definition on genius!

[vannilla53]

2 aliens disliked this!?

[SaturnTrack]

@vannilla53 No, 2 Angry Young Men.

[comicsggk]

Despite the message of the song I'd still like to die as an angry old man, if that is the result of living life as an angry young man.

[McFudge93]

BILLY JOEL IS A MASTER OF MUSIC!!!

[Db60Dc19]

I have seen him 2 times. AWESOME concert and amazing piano player. Thanks for the post

[stang455]

Billy scks

[prettyuglymax]

@stang455 YOUR MOMS NAME IS BILLY!

[SaturnTrack]

@stang455 You know something, you suck.

[NimirRaCyndal]

@stang455 Dude, you would not know real music, or a real piano player if it bit you on the ass! So just stfu!

[IIDXBoss]

Heard him on Stern today, amazing interview, amazing talent.

[usafang2]

You know it's weird I like most of this guys songs and in a way he's one of my favorite musicians yet I still feel that AC/DC Aerosmith and Green Day are my top three :/ he's definately in my top 5 though

[ovywan08]

i prefer angry young booey....

[SaturnTrack]

Turnstiles was without a doubt, the best album of 1976.

[BeatBurst]

Rock Band 3's piano boss >:D

[SunKing968]

How the hell did we get from this to Snoop Doggy Dogg? Oh God!

[SinglowsweetSunny]

My friend can play this song up to speed. It's fucken ridiculous.

[Ehkwiss]

This song is just amazing. Like... seriously amazing. Whenever I listen to Turnstiles in my car I keep replaying this track. Every time I hear it, I end up going, "...Okay, one more time..."

Just saw him in concert this month and he still has the mind blowing piano skills and the familiar, loved voice. Totally nice guy too! A wonderful, humble performer.

Billy, you DID start the fire and we totally love you for it!

[Danmg192]

Love it playing it for me FMP hope it goes well love billy joel music!

[urkoolUncle]

AWESOME Piano skills !!!

[sparklesparklesarah]

I marched/played this song in school! It was spectacularamazingful!!! :D

[1205600]

That would be amazing!

[TheLovelyCara]

everyone says that they don't like billy joel, then they hear his music, recognize almost all of it, and recall thah they do in fact LOVE HIM.

He is renowned worldwide and respected as probably the best piano player ever...

Everyone knows that he is the man, even if they don't want to admit it.

ROCK FOREVER BILLY.

[VoraciousLime]

I just saw him last night live in concert! He's 60 and it's still true!

WE LOVE YOU BILLY!!!

[mikeaurand]

@TheLovelyCara I would argue that Elton is the best

[PoffyTheCucumber]

@mikeaurand - You would be arguing wrong, my child!

[karmakid732]

great song

[ShatteredBomb]

gotta say i like the live version more

[joemanses]

There are a lot of songs I've heard over the years that I love, but never knew who sang them. It's kind of ironic I just found out who Billy Joel was and that he sang like 50% of those songs.

[Aervane]

That's how Billy is ... you won't believe how many times I've been talking to people about him and they told me they hated Billy. As soon as I handed them a CD, without fail they said, "Oh ... I didn't know he sang *that* song...."

[eroticdriving]

Sadly, people I talk to know nothing he does! He's only the artist that made me actually start listening to music. And those people who don't know just assume they won't like him. It's depressing.

[Aervane]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. No one I know loves him like I do, so I try to take a little comfort in the fact that there ARE people out there who do.... It gives me a little faith in the human race.

[eroticdriving]

I was so surpirsed when the other day, while showing a friend how I can (mostly, although that day I butchered it as I hadn't played it in about a week and didn't have my sheet music out) play the intro to "Vienna", another girl stopped and told me that it's one of her favourite songs. I was so shocked I didn't really say anything, just gave her a look. It did give me some hope to know that artists like Billy will live on!

[Aervane]

That's awesome. Can you play anything else he did? ...can you do the whole Vienna? Because then I'd kind of have to be insanely impressed.

[eroticdriving]

I can sing all of Vienna, I'm working on the piano. I haven't taken any piano lessons, so I'm learning by Youtube tutorials and my ear (which, admittedly, isn't great but it's good enough). So far I can't play anything else, though I plan to learn as many of his songs as I can someday. I know the opening notes to My Life... and a few of the keys for this song (but I can't play it like he does; my fingers are too slow and inaccurate still).

[Aervane]

I'm jealous. I'm learning stuff from Pianojohn too, but it's difficult because I don't actually have a sense of rhythm....

[thequeenrat1]

@Aervane he's a genius, one of the true geat rock singers ever

[WCarroll91]

@Aervane The fact that Billy Joel fan-hood is the standard for your faith in the human race makes me lose faith in the human race.

[Aervane]

@WCarroll91 That's because you don't have decent standards for faith in the human race.

[WCarroll91]

@Aervane Because my standard isn't fan-hood of Billy Joel then it's not decent?

[Aervane]

@WCarroll91 Precisely. Glad we had this chat.

[rouncer74]

@Aervane totally agree....I believe that Billy Joel is the greatest song writer the world has ever known. his piano skills are that of a virtuoso, his vocals are a lot better than he thinks they are...

I have all of his albums and still listen to them with monotonous regularity...I have trouble listeng to other musicians after hearing him perform....except for maybe DIRE STRAITS or NEIL DIAMOND..

[socalguy2186]

@rouncer74 Neil Diamond is a moron.

[trcampbell74]

@eroticdriving

I know exactly what you mean.

[Sabored]

@eroticdriving @aervane

Everyone knows him out here on long island, he also grew up here

[MrMusician522]

@Sabored i used to live in long island (Baldwin) and my dad idolized him :P billy's also the one getting me into music

[burningsociety]

@eroticdriving They should start listening or die :D

[felixq78]

@eroticdriving Yeah it's a shame. This album was his Sgt Peppers. 

[SayRibeiro]

@eroticdriving It's unfortunate that most of his really great stuff is never played so people only know his work for the radio friendly stuff. Don't be so hard on those who don't know his music so well. ;)

[Tolstoy111]

@eroticdriving He's still very popular. Sells out arenas.

[hixxImxxStripes]

Brilllliant! I love Billy Joel! He is an amazing musician!!! His songs have the best and most meaningful lyrics, and he plays the piano sooo well. I absolutely love the piano playing at the beginning and end of this song! The lyrics are genius too. "I had my pointless point of view"...brilliant. hehee....<3 Billy Joel

[BrucePetty]

my fingers are faster than my piano...but my piano's older than my fingers (and the rest of me)

[PoffyTheCucumber]

@BrucePetty - Yes, unfortunately, even when you've worked up to speed on this song (which is work in itself), the mechanics of your actual instrument must come into play, so to speak. In this case, a carpenter CAN blame his tools. If you're piano is out of condition, the action won't be sustainable on the intro to Prelude. I've played this on many pianos, and sometimes the raggedy tool itself breaks your performance.

[renotsecniv]

Oh I just love the piano at the beginning. And then the lyrics and melody come in. This is such a good song. Billy Joel is brilliant.

[jm05pv]

opening song to his concerts, awesome.

[quadrelatera]

yea it is! =)

[GHgirl620]

this song is the best :D

[corkenoob]

The piano part isn't complicated, it's just very hard for people with weak arms (like me). It's still bloody awesome though.

[MabusZero]

This song is so true.

[creel61]

SO satisfied right now...heard this in a bar tonight, took me forever to figure out what song it was on the interweb. thank u!

[mission2marsden]

How can he play that fast? O_O

[reddycomit]

I'm 16 and been playing for 5-6 years and its fairly easy for someone like me. (the piano part of course)

I mean no offense to Billy of course, its a great song, but its fairly simple. (which is good most of the time)

What he's doing is he's using two fingers to hit the C. Every now and then he has to take it off to move and hit the "other" notes.

[cjtheconservative]

Been playin 12 years...it's straightforward. Use thumbs to hit middle C. The 3 and 5 fingers on the right hand are used to play the other notes (except when he drops down to the b natural, which you just play with your right thumb)

[KrummyBear]

Yeah it's easy to get your fingers that fast... However it is mostly dependent on the action of your piano... For example, unless it's billys... don't try this on a steinway.

[PoffyTheCucumber]

@cjtheconservative - I actually use the RH thumb and the LH 3rd finger, so that your LH angle is less invasive to the RH, which is going in and outof the formation to hit the top notes. The low B is hit with my RH thumb. I start the whole pattern with the RH thumb.

[BlueJeansProductions]

A song doesn't have to be difficult in order to be awesome.

[PianoManTyler]

@mission2marsden he alternates between his left and right hand.

[PianoManTyler]

@mission2marsden he alternates between left and right hand

[QueryMeThis]

@mission2marsden - Two hands. And being reasonably relaxed while doing it.

[inuzukagurl]

@mission2marsden Cuz he's the Piano God. :3

[drummerboy7516]

@mission2marsden two hingers one key

[bjlaugle0713]

@mission2marsden you can actually use your whole left hand to play that note by alternating fingers rapidly prom pinky to ring to middle to pointeror repeat. an alternative way as well is by using both thumbs.

[Kaoimhin19]

@mission2marsden He can cuz he's Billy Fucking Joel!!! lol

[NimirRaCyndal]

@mission2marsden He is awesome like that :P

[Blueyays]

@mission2marsden Synth, baby, synth.

[SXSic]

@mission2marsden because he's just that awesome :3

[MigeulP]

@mission2marsden They don't call him "The Piano Man" for nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came out with a comic where he moonlighted as a superhero with piano-based powers. Actually, that might be kinda cool, in an "Oh my God, this is so stupid and I'm loving every second of it" way.

[MrKtray]

@mission2marsden cocaines one hell of a drug

[perseus365]

@mission2marsden with his toes lol

[jenskies12]

@perseus365 ahaha XD XD

[ricardoolois]

thx i really wanted to here the studio version

[BigShotTony]

Thank you! I needed this one bad!

[zephyerlives]

this is one of my top fav's by him! it's so awesome! His concert versions are so awesome to watch to see his hands move on the piano.