Re: Billy Joel -- Jewish Music?

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

>
>The music ... [includes] Billy Joel's Lullabye -- the lullaby song
>being, perhaps, the most penetrating and moving musical expression of
>any culture.
>
>
>Do list members hear this piece as "music inspired by the Jewish
>soul"?



No, certainly not. I don't believe it's an accurate choice for what the 
recording is trying to accomplish. We're back to the Burt "Rabbi of 
Bacharach" syndrome.

I believe Billy Joel's father was a concert pianist who left the family 
when Billy was younger. Both of his parents are--I think--of Jewish 
descent.  That he was a high school dropout who could write such exquisite 
lyrics might imply some sort of Jewish genetic strain, but, hell, it might 
also imply several other genetic strains--Irish to name one.

Billy Joel is an enormously talented, hard-working, successful musician. 
But I have never heard him mention in any interview anything about Judaism 
or Jewish music. So, it really seems a stretch to identify him as such.

Eliott Kahn


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