71: I Don't Know Why It Is

71. "She's Got a Way" by Billy Joel {#23; 11/81} [iTunes? Yes] {Video: She's Got a Way. (Not one of Billy's better hair days.)}

"Songs In the Attic" was a very interesting album. I'm not sure if it was a lazy album, a courageous album, or a little bit of both. I've never seen any other artist try to pull off what Billy Joel did with "Songs In the Attic." Whatever he was trying to do, for me at least, it worked.

At the time "Songs In the Attic" was released, Billy Joel was coming off one of the most successful three album runs that any artist has ever had, both commercially and artistically. "The Stranger," "52nd Street," and "Glass Houses" were all incredibly popular, and Billy Joel was flying about as high as any rock star could.

So, for his next album he decided to re-release a bunch of songs from his earlier, less successful albums.  In a way, it seems lazy. Why put out a new album when my hordes of fans will pay good money for a bunch of rehashed old songs?

I don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without her.

Or, was it actually a bold move? Billy believed in these songs. He knew they were good, but they hadn't reached the audience he would have liked them to. Couple that with the fact that some of those original recordings didn't showcase the songs to Billy's liking because of the use of session players instead of his own band, and he thought new, live recordings of the songs would sound better.

When "Songs In the Attic" was released, I was unfamiliar with any of the songs on it. I bought the album, listened to it, and loved it. I immediately went back and bought copies of his pre-"Stranger" albums "Piano Man," "Streetlife Serenade," and "Turnstiles." (I would have bought "Cold Spring Harbor, too, but it wasn't available at the time.)

So, the "Songs In the Attic" idea certainly worked on me! I wonder how much the sales of those earlier albums were bumped up by "Songs In the Attic?" I'd bet it put a fair bit of money in the pockets of Billy Joel or whoever was mismanaging his money for him at the time.

"She's Got a Way" is a simple, beautiful love song. Just a man, his piano, and some words. It's a great song.

COMING UP NEXT: Are you out of your Vulcan mind?