Re: Billy Joel -- Jewish Music?

[Martin Grossman <tgg...>]

Well, I do remember reading something about him studying with a rabbi on Long
Island a few years back.

Marty Grossman

Elicit Kahn wrote:

> >
> >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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