Joining host Jayn today is "The Piano Man," Billy Joel for a special Audacy Check In on the release day of his first new single in 17 years, "Turn The Lights Back On."

Billy Joel joins us today, along with his friend and co-writer on "Turn The Lights Back On," Freddy Wexler, after delivering a classic Billy Joel-style single featuring his signature sound, while ushering in the next chapter of his story.

“Freddy's the guy who got this whole ball rolling,” Joel tells us. Adding that, following their meeting only two years ago, “It was pure serendipity. My doctor called, my family doctor said, ‘This kid wants to meet you.' So I said, ‘Yeah, OK, sure.’”

“I didn't expect much to come from it," Billy says. "We got to talking about music and we hit it off... It was very random. The more we talked, the more we got interested in what the other guy was talking about -- and he knew what he was talking about.”

“Other people have tried to talk me into going back in and doing new material, and making the recordings, and I've always resisted it. I studiously avoided it because songwriting had become painful,” Joel reveals. “I have this high bar. I said to myself, ‘If I don't reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punched myself and I hate myself.’ So, I stopped doing it because I got tired of feeling like that.”

It was only a shared understanding between them of “how lonely it is when you do it on your own,” Billy says, that got him to open up again. “This guy, he understood what it was like the, the whole songwriting process... he understood the whole point of why I got into music in the first place... It was fun. Music is fun, Rock N’ Roll was fun. It was all about having fun -- and I kind of lost that and I turned the lights off because it wasn't fun anymore.”

“When I met Billy, I was actually kind of questioning my own career despite I was sort of in a great place,” says Wexler, who has worked in the past with the likes of Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, Wyclef Jean, P!nk, Celine Dion, and many more. “I had a bunch of big hits and songs, and I was just like, ‘I don't know, maybe I should be doing something else with my life.’”

“It was a pretty special thing for me, because I became a songwriter because of Billy Joel,” Freddy says. “Billy's bar might be Beethoven -- my bar is Billy Joel, both of which are unattainable bars. So, he's gonna constantly be upset that he doesn't feel like he's hitting Beethoven's level and I'm constantly upset that I feel like one in 1000 songs I write, maybe two lines sound as good as Billy Joel.”

One key insight, Joel believes pushed them both through any boundaries that may have been erected. “He asked me a key question,” Billy admits. “[Freddy] says, ‘Let me ask you something.... Are you ever thinking of somebody else singing what you're singing?’ I said, ‘always.’ I'm always thinking of somebody else singing what I wrote, every recording I've ever done, I'm thinking, ‘Is somebody else singing it,’ because that's how you write. You think outside the box, you're outside of yourself. You're not limited by who you are or what you think you are or what you see in the mirror. It could be anybody.”

On the contrary, Freddy says he had been under the impression of, “‘Oh, Billy Joel wouldn't do that. He knows exactly who he is.’”

“No,” Joel says humbly. “That was the connection. I said, ‘this guy gets it.’”

Once he heard what Wexler brought him, “The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that's how I relate to music,” Joel explains. “This particular lyric in this song, I've had these thoughts, I could have written these lyrics verbatim,” he adds. “I've chewed on these words and I've thought of these words, and I've said these words before. It was all kind of falling into place -- and who am I to fight that?” he asks.

Listen to Jayn's full Audacy Check In with Billy Joel above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on Audacy.com/live.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Jayn

Joining host Jayn today is "The Piano Man," Billy Joel for a special Audacy Check In on the release day of his first new single in 17 years, "Turn The Lights Back On."
Billy Joel joins us today, along with his friend and co-writer on "Turn The Lights Back On," Freddy Wexler, after delivering a classic Billy Joel-style single featuring his signature sound, while ushering in the next chapter of his story.
“Freddy's the guy who got this whole ball rolling,” Joel tells us. Adding that, following their meeting only two years ago, “It was pure serendipity. My doctor called, my family doctor said, ‘This kid wants to meet you.' So I said, ‘Yeah, OK, sure.’”
“I didn't expect much to come from it," Billy says. "We got to talking about music and we hit it off... It was very random. The more we talked, the more we got interested in what the other guy was talking about -- and he knew what he was talking about.”
“Other people have tried to talk me into going back in and doing new material, and making the recordings, and I've always resisted it. I studiously avoided it because songwriting had become painful,” Joel reveals. “I have this high bar. I said to myself, ‘If I don't reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punched myself and I hate myself.’ So, I stopped doing it because I got tired of feeling like that.”
It was only a shared understanding between them of “how lonely it is when you do it on your own,” Billy says, that got him to open up again. “This guy, he understood what it was like the, the whole songwriting process... he understood the whole point of why I got into music in the first place... It was fun. Music is fun, Rock N’ Roll was fun. It was all about having fun -- and I kind of lost that and I turned the lights off because it wasn't fun anymore.”
“When I met Billy, I was actually kind of questioning my own career despite I was sort of in a great place,” says Wexler, who has worked in the past with the likes of Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, Wyclef Jean, P!nk, Celine Dion, and many more. “I had a bunch of big hits and songs, and I was just like, ‘I don't know, maybe I should be doing something else with my life.’”
“It was a pretty special thing for me, because I became a songwriter because of Billy Joel,” Freddy says. “Billy's bar might be Beethoven -- my bar is Billy Joel, both of which are unattainable bars. So, he's gonna constantly be upset that he doesn't feel like he's hitting Beethoven's level and I'm constantly upset that I feel like one in 1000 songs I write, maybe two lines sound as good as Billy Joel.”
One key insight, Joel believes pushed them both through any boundaries that may have been erected. “He asked me a key question,” Billy admits. “[Freddy] says, ‘Let me ask you something.... Are you ever thinking of somebody else singing what you're singing?’ I said, ‘always.’ I'm always thinking of somebody else singing what I wrote, every recording I've ever done, I'm thinking, ‘Is somebody else singing it,’ because that's how you write. You think outside the box, you're outside of yourself. You're not limited by who you are or what you think you are or what you see in the mirror. It could be anybody.”
On the contrary, Freddy says he had been under the impression of, “‘Oh, Billy Joel wouldn't do that. He knows exactly who he is.’”
“No,” Joel says humbly. “That was the connection. I said, ‘this guy gets it.’”
Once he heard what Wexler brought him, “The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that's how I relate to music,” Joel explains. “This particular lyric in this song, I've had these thoughts, I could have written these lyrics verbatim,” he adds. “I've chewed on these words and I've thought of these words, and I've said these words before. It was all kind of falling into place -- and who am I to fight that?” he asks.
Listen to Jayn's full Audacy Check In with Billy Joel above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on <a href="https://www.audacy.com/live">Audacy.com/live</a>.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Jayn

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Advertisement