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The Last Word: Billy Joel on Self-Doubt, Trump and Finally Becoming Cool
Rolling Stone ^

Posted on 05/09/2018 4:39:05 PM PDT by dead

Critics used to give you a hard time. But it seems like in the past few years you've become cool.
Look, man, Trump is president, so all kinds of weird shit can happen.

What do you make of that?
I'm still flabbergasted. I try to stay out of politics. I am a private citizen and I have a right to believe in my own political point of view, but I try not to get up on a soapbox and tell people how to think. I've been to shows where people start haranguing the audience about what's going on politically and I'm thinking, "You know, this isn't why I came here." As a matter of fact, one of the biggest cheers of the night comes when we do "Piano Man" and I sing, "They know that it's me that they're coming to see to forget about life for a while," and the audience lets out this huge "ahhhh" and I say, "OK, yeah, don't forget that." We're more like court jesters than court philosophers.

(Excerpt) Read more at rollingstone.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: music
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Don't bother clicking the link and giving Rolling Stone the hits. Billy Joel mentions Trump in a casual aside, and then refuses to alienate either half of his audience. Well done, Billy!
1 posted on 05/09/2018 4:39:05 PM PDT by dead
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To: dead

“””We’re more like court jesters than court philosophers.

“””

To bad all of entertainment can’t understand this. They were all traveling vagabonds a few centuries ago.


2 posted on 05/09/2018 4:43:58 PM PDT by Pollard (If you don't understand what I typed, you haven't read the classics.)
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To: dead

Not bad for a cat who couldn’t sing his way outta paper bag


3 posted on 05/09/2018 4:45:22 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Hey brainwashed students . . . where's your "outrage" @FBI? @BrowardSheriff? DO SOMETHING!!)
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To: dead

As far as I know, there were only two actors who could speak their mind about politics, and politicians, and still remain successful in their profession...Will Rogers and Bob Hope. And unfortunately, Will Rogers didn’t live long enough. I’d love to know what these two men would make of what’s going on in Washington today.


4 posted on 05/09/2018 4:47:47 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: dead

Exactly, you are an entertainer... folks don’t come to be preached at or to, they come to hear you play.


5 posted on 05/09/2018 4:49:23 PM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: dead

All kinds of “weird shit” is happening all right! Probably not the kind he had in mind, though.


6 posted on 05/09/2018 4:49:42 PM PDT by Genoa (Luke 12:2)
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To: A_Former_Democrat

Maybe so, but everyone can sing his songs and never worry about those hard notes or pesky key changes. LOL


7 posted on 05/09/2018 4:51:08 PM PDT by antidisestablishment ( Xenophobia is the only sane response to multiculturalismÂ’s irrational cultural exuberance)
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To: dead

“Billy Joel mentions Trump in a casual aside, and then refuses to alienate either half of his audience. Well done, Billy! “

He’s come a long way since one of his earlier evaluations of Trump :

http://www.newsweek.com/billy-joel-trolls-trump-wears-star-davd-latest-msg-concert-nyc-653533

I’m a fan of the guy’s music, but I won’t be wasting any time or money at one of his concerts ever again. I know I won’t make any kind of impact on his ticket sales, but that ‘gold star’ comment was frigging ridiculous.


8 posted on 05/09/2018 4:51:29 PM PDT by edh
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To: A_Former_Democrat

“Not bad for a cat who couldn’t sing his way outta paper bag”

FWIW, he’s not a fan of his voice either :-).


9 posted on 05/09/2018 4:52:15 PM PDT by edh
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To: dead
We're more like court jesters than court philosophers.

I never really liked him, but the world would be a much better place if everyone had a bit of self-awareness and humility like this.

10 posted on 05/09/2018 4:53:18 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's.")
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To: Pollard

Add in National sports athletes, too. Michael Jordan doesn’t comment on politics as he has said ‘Republicans buy shoes, too’. So, he’s a Dem, and maybe is only straddling the middle to make money, but he obviously would like to get along. Billy Joel is taking the high road. (No pun intended)


11 posted on 05/09/2018 4:54:02 PM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: dead

We’re more like court jesters than court philosophers.
*************************************

More of them need to have this epiphany.


12 posted on 05/09/2018 4:54:06 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: dead

Be nice if he patched things up with Liberty DeVitto. One of the best drummers out there.


13 posted on 05/09/2018 4:55:54 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dead
Billy Joel slept with Elle MacPherson! Blast him!
ping
14 posted on 05/09/2018 4:57:30 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: minnesota_bound

He did? He married a super model once, but not sure it was Elle.

Women were hotter in the 90’s. Way hotter.


15 posted on 05/09/2018 5:00:15 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: dead

He had to be a big shot.


16 posted on 05/09/2018 5:00:59 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: RinaseaofDs

Christie Brinkley


17 posted on 05/09/2018 5:05:36 PM PDT by Man from Oz
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To: dead
Look, man, Trump is president, so all kinds of weird shit can happen.

It is like 8 years under Obama was a mirage like Obama's life.

All of the Trump fear and phobia and nobody comes out with ANY substance or merit. Things overall are pretty damn stable foreign and domestic or being worked on. When was the last time we could say that?

18 posted on 05/09/2018 5:05:37 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: dead
Don't bother clicking the link and giving Rolling Stone the hits. Billy Joel mentions Trump in a casual aside, and then refuses to alienate either half of his audience. Well done, Billy!

Good for Billy, not falling into the trap. And what he said isn't off-base:

"Look, man, Trump is president, so all kinds of weird shit can happen."

Billy ain't wrong here. Just 4 years ago, Trump was a punch-line with bad hair. He was a D-list Reality TV personality. He was not much different from a Kardashian, overall. Had you asked me about his politics 4 years ago, I would presume the famous and wealthy New York celeb would be screamingly Liberal, and I would be highly unlikely to vote for him.

(As it turns out, he may have single-handedly saved us from a very real and very terrible collapse by turning out to be one of the two best Limited Government Conservatives to hold the office in the last 70 years. Whodathunk THAT? It's just as unlikely as a Kardashian getting elected President... and President Trump did both, thank the Almighty.)

19 posted on 05/09/2018 5:07:29 PM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: dead

Whenever I hear jim fo Angry Young Man I think of Springsteen. Politics aside, and that’s hard to do, the difference vetween Joel and Springsteen is that Springsteen rarely if ever wrote a song that was joyful. Joel has his dark side but for every Allentown there’s Uptown Girl, The Longest Time and Goodnight My Angel


20 posted on 05/09/2018 5:11:01 PM PDT by xkaydet65
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