The lyrics, taken by themselves, are beautiful poetry, and need no interpretation as their meaning is crystal clear. The beginning of the song feels like a 6/8 waltz, but then the time signature patterns start breaking up and being grouped into twos, threes, and fours, depending on how much extra breathing room a given vocal line needs. The chorus is in two halves, the second half (1:13) pivoting to a surprise minor i chord which gives the structure so much strength and sense of journey.Įspecially in the verse, you get the sense that the accompaniment is following the vocal. The song opens with a very simple chord sequence that lays the foundation of the entire song:Īfter the first verse is played and sung so simply, the piano begins an arpeggiated pattern (0:29 in the YouTube video above) that serves to propel the song forward, and once we’ve heard two verses (which stay very simple harmonically), we hit the first chorus (0:56), which forms a beautiful contrast as it cycles through several chord worlds before taking us back neatly to the simple verse. Billy has said that this song was somewhat influenced by Gordon Lightfoot.
In today’s Songblog, I’ll look at one of his relatively early ballads, “ She’s Always A Woman,” taken from the 1977 album The Stranger, which won multiple Grammy awards and which many consider to be among the best pop albums of all time.īilly’s primary instrument is the piano, and this song is a very simple piano-vocal ballad. Billy’s genius lies in his innate ability to assimilate a wide variety of influences, and turn them around into new original songs that pay homage to the past but are their own unique and valuable creations that bear the stamp of his unique personality. If I had the time, I could write dozens of Songblogs that traverse his almost four decades making records, and each one would be completely unique. If you’ve seen him in concert, you’ve seen his ability to morph like a chameleon between musical styles, absorbing legends like Ray Charles (“ Baby Grand“), Joe Cocker, 50’s doo-wop (the entire An Innocent Man album), Franki Valli and the Four Seasons (“ Uptown Girl“), The Rolling Stones (“ You May Be Right“), The Beatles (in countless instances), Beethoven (“ This Night“), the Russian Romantic tradition (“ Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” and others, especially the Storm Front album), and more. As a musician, pianist, melodist, and lyricist, he has constantly brought an impeccable originality and mastery at creating three- to four-minute masterpieces.
I’m a firm believer that Billy Joel is one of the finest craftsmen in the history of pop songwriting.
0 kommentar(er)
