This follows the usual format of these concerts. First, some guest stars performed cover versions of songs by the honoree. Then there was an award presentation, and a speech by the honoree. Finally, the honoree performed a couple of songs to end the concert. There were a couple of twists this time, however. One is that the person to give a speech leading to Joel's speech was none other than Sonia Sotomayor, one of the justices of the U.S. supreme court. That's pretty unusual behavior for a supreme court justice, but I guess she must be a really big Billy Joel fan. The other twist is that Joel played five of his own songs, instead of the usual two or three.
It's unfortunate that the emcee for the concert was Kevin Spacey, due to his sex scandals that pretty much destroyed his career. But those scandals weren't reported on until 2017, three years after this concert. Another disappointment is that Paul McCartney didn't actually perform a song. Instead, he just sent a video message praising Joel. I noticed he would do the exact same thing for the Gershwin Prize concert for Elton John and Bernie Taupin in 2024.
Sadly, this may be the last of these Gershwin concerts I post until I can find more of them. I have most of the concert honoring Burt Bacharach, but I'm missing a couple of songs, so I'm still waiting on posting that. Otherwise, if anyone has any of the others, please let me know so I can share them. That especially goes for the two (Carole King and Smokey Robinson) that seem to only be available to people who pay for a PBS pass that's only available in you live in Wisconsin.
This album is an hour and three minutes long.
01 talk (Kevin Spacey)
02 The Longest Time (Boyz II Men)
03 Lullaby [Goodnight, My Angel] (LeAnn Rimes)
04 It's Still Rock and Roll to Me (Gavin DeGraw)
05 talk (emcee)
06 She's Always a Woman (Josh Groban with Sharon Isbin)
07 talk (Michael Feinstein)
08 She's Got a Way (Natalie Maines)
09 talk (John Mellencamp)
10 Allentown (John Mellencamp)
11 talk (Paul McCartney)
12 talk (emcee)
13 New York State of Mind (Tony Bennett)
14 talk (Sonia Sotomayor)
15 talk (Billy Joel)
16 Movin' Out [Anthony's Song] (Billy Joel)
17 Vienna (Billy Joel)
18 talk (Billy Joel)
19 Miami 2017 [I've Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway] (Billy Joel)
20 You May Be Right (Billy Joel)
21 talk (Kevin Spacey)
22 Piano Man (Billy Joel & Everyone [Edit])
https://pixeldrain.com/u/zGtLvUp6
alternate:
https://bestfile.io/en/cQJZPngXIkAhzJX/file
The cover photo is from this exact concert. I'm not sure who the two men behind him are. If anyone knows, let me know so I can add that information.
I find it absolutely hilarious that John Mellencamp is doing "Allentown" here, for a specific reason.
ReplyDeleteWay back in 1982, Billy Joel did a wonderful MTV special called "Night School", where he took questions from music students, and played some music in the course of answering. In one segment, he was asked about his songwriting process, and he explained that he wrote the music before he wrote the lyrics, but he had to have a title first. He explains this by saying that he came up with the title "Allentown" and wrote the music in the mid-70s, but he shelved the song because he didn't have anything to say with the lyrics. He said that years later, there were troubles in the steel industry in that area, so he wrote the song about that. If he hadn't waited, he said, it would have been a really boring song. To illustrate, he sat down at the piano and played the song, with these lyrics:
Oh, we're living here in Allentown,
And we're living here in Allentown,
And we're dying here in Allentown,
And then they put us,
Under the ground.
A few years later, Mellencamp released a song that went:
I was born in a small town,
And I live in a small town,
Gonna die in a small town,
Oh, that's probably where they'll bury me.
And I always found it funny that his finished song was so close to Joel's example of what NOT to do!
I disagree, if you're saying "Small Town" is an example of how not to write a song. Tons of people would love to write a song as "bad" as that, and it has something to say. As the saying goes, there are many different ways to skin a cat.
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