I never listened to the words too much but then I did my McCarthyism project and thought I had heard something about it in this song. So I listened to the song and was crying by the end of it.
What an amazing song! I have never heard it before. Only found it now after looking at your profile after watching another of your videos. Russia always fascinated me. I'm a child of the Cold War, too and I always wanted to see for myself what the country was like. I even started learning the language once. Who knows, perhaps it isn't too late to go there.
Totally agree w/ comments here: Leningrad is GORGEOUS and so moving! It deserved MUCH more air time and accolades. One of the things that Billy Joel does best is put together lyrics and music and take you so deeply into the feelings of a certain situation. He makes you feel almost like you lived the experience. Leningrad is a perfect example of that, as are Goodnight Saigon and Allentown.
I love the part where he says "Until the Soviets turned their ships around." It's really a moving part of the song with such power and passion. Love you Joel!
Many thanks to all of our Russian / Soviet comrades that paid such a heavy price to defeat the NAZI'S in WWII . America brought the hardware , Mother Russia paid the price in blood .
In the Netherlands it got plenty of AirPlay. Still ends up high in all time charts. Billy played it live here 3 times. Loved it. Amazing song by an amazing artist!
It is sad that this song didn't get that much air play, but a song like "Up Town Girl" got tremendous airplay. Art's highest purpose is to raise consciousness, and though sappy love songs have their place, they should not displace music, like this piece, which truly raises awareness of issues that are bigger than some trivial romantic feelings for a girl.
Hey, good to hear real experience chime in! I'm just some idiot sap who plays wargames as soviets/germans, where Leningrad is just a strategic point, and shows nothing of the utter human misery that went on there getting through the incredibly hard days of the siege. I can't even begin to imagine the awful horror of seeing my kids/parents/spouse die in front of me while I just survive by eating dead rats from the sewer or some such thing...
I don't know if this is his best song but in every case it is his most serious song. I always have to think of my gandfather who was fighting in the second world war and then he was prisoner in russia. With much strenght and much more peace he came back and married my grandmother who waited at home for him for 10 years (and most of the years she didn't even know if he is still alive) But in this case love was stronger and this is why my mother was born and why I can write these words today
See the hilarious Billy Joel comedy short "PIANO MAN trailer", 2min.17sec., ratedTVPG, directed by Ryan London, written by Jared Larson, on YouTube's TaupeFrostPrductions channel!
If I may be so bold..... This song is the masterpiece among all of Billy Joel's numerous masterpieces. So perfect and meaningful. I just love this song. I really did cry when I first heard it. Totally swept away.
@nychro7 I felt exactly similar.. I was working on a construction site in Hull, England, at the time. The juke boxes used to show the favourites then. This was number one on so many, including the one in the rail station diner.
great song it was still current till the late 80's and in a way still very current billy is the best at telling stories in songs and i wish he never stops
this song has always amazed me. Billy Joel certainly knew how to tell an excellent tale in a song. It takes skill to put those two together, at least in my opinion.
I love the way the video was put together. It was very anti-New World Order, and also very current all at the same time. Yes, I realize the time to which the song refers to is 1940s Russia. But if you dig a little deeper into the lyrics, a lot of those same things are happening today. Not only literal, but political as well...
@Malachi1979 The song isn't about 1940s Russia. It's about the Cold War era that followed and how -- through all the international animosity, fear and paranoia -- an American man and Soviet man could, in the end, call each other "friend." . . . Billy met Viktor while on tour in the Soviet Union in 1987. That part of the song is quite literal. The politics are the backdrop, but the personal relationship is the real story here.
Song is a masterpiece. But believe me - much many loosen by Russian side as at by the German one. And where are over 6 millions of Polish country people counted? No war anymore - even what it makes - R.I.P. to everyone fighted & dead in that f... time. bwshs
pity that I am not so good English may be times I would listen to German war-it is about this song is sad and wonderful at the same time this video has earned 5 stars
I'm the same age as Billy Joel -- I also had to hide under my desk during air raid drills on Long Island in the fifties. My first trip abroad was also to Leningrad to see what kind of evil people lived there and found out that we had been duped! We owe Billy Joel a word of thanks for putting this all into a song, and thank you for reminding us of it!
Thanks - I have many Russian friends. That country (the USSR) fared terribly during invasion in WW2, losing more people in Leningrad alone, than the UK did in total throughout the war. Of course, every death is bad, wherever it happens.
The local station in Hyannis played this when it originally came out, quite frequently actually.
Naushop1 1 month ago
I never listened to the words too much but then I did my McCarthyism project and thought I had heard something about it in this song. So I listened to the song and was crying by the end of it.
victimofaguillotine 1 month ago in playlist Sad
What an amazing song! I have never heard it before. Only found it now after looking at your profile after watching another of your videos. Russia always fascinated me. I'm a child of the Cold War, too and I always wanted to see for myself what the country was like. I even started learning the language once. Who knows, perhaps it isn't too late to go there.
forestchild23 3 months ago
Totally agree w/ comments here: Leningrad is GORGEOUS and so moving! It deserved MUCH more air time and accolades. One of the things that Billy Joel does best is put together lyrics and music and take you so deeply into the feelings of a certain situation. He makes you feel almost like you lived the experience. Leningrad is a perfect example of that, as are Goodnight Saigon and Allentown.
cindamarie 3 months ago
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Bless you ancestors who came before me.
WishesSailorMoon 5 months ago
I love the part where he says "Until the Soviets turned their ships around." It's really a moving part of the song with such power and passion. Love you Joel!
redhook4 5 months ago
Heard this song played today on BBC Radio 2! Such touching lyrics
flametaledfox 5 months ago
Many thanks to all of our Russian / Soviet comrades that paid such a heavy price to defeat the NAZI'S in WWII . America brought the hardware , Mother Russia paid the price in blood .
MAHARDWAY 6 months ago 6
this man is a true genius
mickob45 7 months ago
Long Live the Soviet Union!! We shall rise again!!
rodrigo111rodrigo 8 months ago
Long Live the Soviet Union!! We shall rise again!!
rodrigo111rodrigo 8 months ago
@rodrigo111rodrigo haha i think so too but it will be a slow rise since they are bascily a shitty third world country now
jfabproductions 4 months ago
stalin biggest mass murderer too ever liv e look it up
MegaBloodbath666 9 months ago
to clivegoodwill 1: I couldn't agree more. I get goosebumps and tears with this song. Amazing !!!
aga3736 9 months ago
it is a wonderful melody and pictures. i love leningrad.
MsGilice 10 months ago
Yes it's great ............
SuperSillylovesongs 10 months ago
Not as good as piano man
pelosiisawitch24 11 months ago
In the Netherlands it got plenty of AirPlay. Still ends up high in all time charts. Billy played it live here 3 times. Loved it. Amazing song by an amazing artist!
DutchReaganite 11 months ago
It is sad that this song didn't get that much air play, but a song like "Up Town Girl" got tremendous airplay. Art's highest purpose is to raise consciousness, and though sappy love songs have their place, they should not displace music, like this piece, which truly raises awareness of issues that are bigger than some trivial romantic feelings for a girl.
alphacause 11 months ago
@alphacause its all about perspective.. ask the rommantic girl and her admirer which song speaks for their awareness
brandigirl313 7 months ago
One of Billy Joel's best, albeit lesser known songs. Thanks for posting this gem.
joshuabrooks21 1 year ago
One of Billy Joel's best, albeit lesser known songs. Thanks for posting thi s gem.
joshuabrooks21 1 year ago
I lived in Leningrad right around the same time... this song always makes me tear up.
Zhenobia 1 year ago 11
@Zhenobia Thank you for your comment.. Zhenobia.. Very moving..
Derwentcub 1 year ago
@Zhenobia
Hey, good to hear real experience chime in! I'm just some idiot sap who plays wargames as soviets/germans, where Leningrad is just a strategic point, and shows nothing of the utter human misery that went on there getting through the incredibly hard days of the siege. I can't even begin to imagine the awful horror of seeing my kids/parents/spouse die in front of me while I just survive by eating dead rats from the sewer or some such thing...
geiramk 7 months ago in playlist 80s Stuff (more or less... Give or take a decade or so...)
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@Zhenobia I can only hope that you have found peace.
cheaterfan2009 4 months ago
Does anyone know what peace of classical music inspired the theme from the beginning and the theme that's played at the end?
0B0Eriec 1 year ago
@0B0Eriec I was thinking before that it was Air on the G string by Bach. It's beautiful.
VictoriAnna9 10 months ago
Incredible song, who can't like this. Oh yeah, one person that sucks stinky donkey dicks.
davseb222 1 year ago
I don't know if this is his best song but in every case it is his most serious song. I always have to think of my gandfather who was fighting in the second world war and then he was prisoner in russia. With much strenght and much more peace he came back and married my grandmother who waited at home for him for 10 years (and most of the years she didn't even know if he is still alive) But in this case love was stronger and this is why my mother was born and why I can write these words today
pyctus 1 year ago
Comment removed
pyctus 1 year ago
Leningrad ( St. Petersberg) Wellcome)) I am from Moscow)
gramikhail 1 year ago
Your soooo right this song is amazing and they didnt play it enough what a shame LOVE THIS SONG =D
MusicGeek778 1 year ago
See the hilarious Billy Joel comedy short "PIANO MAN trailer", 2min.17sec., ratedTVPG, directed by Ryan London, written by Jared Larson, on YouTube's TaupeFrostPrductions channel!
TaupeFrostPrductions 1 year ago
Years of Cold War are perfectly captured in this great song!
Beale64 1 year ago
If I may be so bold..... This song is the masterpiece among all of Billy Joel's numerous masterpieces. So perfect and meaningful. I just love this song. I really did cry when I first heard it. Totally swept away.
nychro7 1 year ago
@nychro7 Let's campaign for a re-release! This song never dates..
Derwentcub 1 year ago
@nychro7 I felt exactly similar.. I was working on a construction site in Hull, England, at the time. The juke boxes used to show the favourites then. This was number one on so many, including the one in the rail station diner.
Hugs,
Cub..
Derwentcub 1 year ago
You're right about that: it didn't get enough airplay, and it's one of his best.
bookkeeper57 1 year ago
@bookkeeper57 So true - it needs to be re-released - as an anthem for peace. This music never dates.
I cut myself (shaving) when I first heard it on the radio. It blew my mind away..
Derwentcub 1 year ago
great song it was still current till the late 80's and in a way still very current billy is the best at telling stories in songs and i wish he never stops
armycadet1234 1 year ago
this song has always amazed me. Billy Joel certainly knew how to tell an excellent tale in a song. It takes skill to put those two together, at least in my opinion.
howlcall 2 years ago 7
@howlcall Thanks for your comment.. Indeed! Billy is a genius. Check out his home site on here..
Derwentcub 1 year ago
I love the way the video was put together. It was very anti-New World Order, and also very current all at the same time. Yes, I realize the time to which the song refers to is 1940s Russia. But if you dig a little deeper into the lyrics, a lot of those same things are happening today. Not only literal, but political as well...
Malachi1979 2 years ago 2
@Malachi1979 Excellent and sagacious comment - thank you Malachi, and blessings..
Cub.
Derwentcub 2 years ago
true ;) nice catch.
howlcall 2 years ago
@Malachi1979 The song isn't about 1940s Russia. It's about the Cold War era that followed and how -- through all the international animosity, fear and paranoia -- an American man and Soviet man could, in the end, call each other "friend." . . . Billy met Viktor while on tour in the Soviet Union in 1987. That part of the song is quite literal. The politics are the backdrop, but the personal relationship is the real story here.
duhg 1 year ago 2
Wonderful melody.
finsfan13 2 years ago
@finsfan13 I agree - it tears the heart out.. Fabuous stuff!
Derwentcub 1 year ago
Such a telented man
zippyzappyz 2 years ago 2
makes you really think twice about the
1940's
zippyzappyz 2 years ago 2
@zippyzappyz Indeed it does, my friend..
Derwentcub 2 years ago
Song is a masterpiece. But believe me - much many loosen by Russian side as at by the German one. And where are over 6 millions of Polish country people counted? No war anymore - even what it makes - R.I.P. to everyone fighted & dead in that f... time. bwshs
veerappan21 2 years ago
MAYBE THE BEST SONG EVER WRITTEN
clivegoodwill 2 years ago 15
Indeed - one of the finest ever..
Derwentcub 2 years ago
pity that I am not so good English may be times I would listen to German war-it is about this song is sad and wonderful at the same time this video has earned 5 stars
Big0Pearl 2 years ago 2
Danke sehr viel mein Freund!
Tony.
Derwentcub 2 years ago
5 stars, but it is because of this amazing song song, not the vid
Phueps 2 years ago
Thanks Phueps for the rating and the honest response, which I appreciate.
Derwentcub 2 years ago
I'm the same age as Billy Joel -- I also had to hide under my desk during air raid drills on Long Island in the fifties. My first trip abroad was also to Leningrad to see what kind of evil people lived there and found out that we had been duped! We owe Billy Joel a word of thanks for putting this all into a song, and thank you for reminding us of it!
verybrazen 2 years ago
Thanks - I have many Russian friends. That country (the USSR) fared terribly during invasion in WW2, losing more people in Leningrad alone, than the UK did in total throughout the war. Of course, every death is bad, wherever it happens.
Derwentcub 2 years ago
masterpiece. thanks for posting
TrejosEd 2 years ago
Thank you so much TrejosEd - very much appreciated.
Tony.
Derwentcub 2 years ago
wonderful !
gipskull 2 years ago
Thank you gipskull - very much appreciated!
Derwentcub 2 years ago
i could play this all morning along with this video a true mix of magical powers,,,,,,,,,,,
mrdee11091 2 years ago 2
Thanks mrdee - lovely comment..
Tony..
Derwentcub 2 years ago
I'd forgotten this song, thanks. Great one!
Em0866 2 years ago
Thank you Em - always appreciated..
Tony.
Derwentcub 2 years ago