Billy Joel - Q&A: Origins Of "The Downeaster Alexa"? (UPenn 2001)

Throughout the years, Billy Joel has become known for his willingness to hold Q&A sessions with fans in settings across the globe. Here Billy is asked about the story behind 'The Downeaster Alexa' off the 1989 album Storm Front at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.
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Billy Joel's official KZbin channel features music videos, live performances, interviews, TV appearances and more. Best known for his first hit song, 'Piano Man', in 1973, Billy has written and recorded thirty-three Top 40 hits in the United States. He is a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 150 million records worldwide. Billy Joel is the sixth-best-selling recording artist and the third-best-selling solo artist in the United States.

[@cards0486]

Billy writes about Vietnam, and you’d swear he was there. He writes about working in a steel mill, and you’d swear he was there. He writes about being a commercial fisherman, and you’d swear he was there. He takes our generation’s history and puts it all together in an amazing song. He never ceases to amaze me. Billy Joel is a genius.

[@anthonybaratta6152]

He sings a song about kissing ass and smoking grass... and you wanna run. Out and get some... lol he is incredible

[@xannondaalder1173]

Perfectly said! I couldn’t agree more

[@elizabethwitt2621]

He either writes from first hand knowledge or talks to people who have it....Goodnight Saigon, for example. Actual war veterans asked him to write that song and told Billy their stories. Billy put those stories to music.

[@tracymetherell8744]

He is a bard in the truest sense

[@resipsaloquitur13]

I know it's been said millions of times but... One of the greatest artists ever.

[@dandiegidio7729]

Billions.

[@missmoxie9188]

Keep repeating it because it’s still true

[@FreejackVesa]

You can never say it enough. In "and so it goes" the opening stanzas are: In every heart there is a room A sanctuary safe and strong To heal the wounds from lovers past Until a new one comes along I spoke to you in cautious tones You answered me with no pretense And still I feel I said too much My silence is my self defense And every time I've held a rose It seems I only felt the thorns And so it goes, and so it goes And so will you, soon, I suppose Damn Billy!

[@tracymetherell8744]

A bard in the truest sense of the word. Magnificent performance

[@ncooty]

"There ain't much future for a man who works the sea, but there ain't no island left for islanders like me." Great line.

[@kathyfox8288]

He has such a big voice. I love his big voice so much.

[@DereksGiantsAccount]

Such an amazing Storyteller as a songwriter it's unbelievable. His best songs all tell a story from the first person point of view

[@gilfish7220]

Long Island commercial lobsterman and clammer here. Awesome song about our heritage. Thank you

[@ericalapham997]

Oi if it ain’t marlin it’s gay

[@mulletcatcher666]

I’m a proud Aussie fisherman and this is happening here to me and many fishing families here in Australia , Thank you Billy on behalf ao all fishermen and women world wide

[@WakaWaka2468]

@@ericalapham997 what

[@scottgarner7290]

Respect from PA

[@dandiegidio7729]

It took me a bit to understand that you weren't just putting words together. Fish on.

[@JTRocks4Ever]

One of my top 5 Billy Joel songs, makes me cry. I live on Long Island and know the community he is singing about. When you live on an island its all about the water that surrounds you. I could never live where its landlocked.

[@gingerjackson7811]

Im in love with Billy Joel.

[@leeborracho5695]

You know what really makes this song great? The Drums! Liberty really drove it home on this one.

[@naomiparnell4332]

Billy i saw you in Mississippi once.....one of the highlights of my life!

[@elizabethwitt2621]

It's so great that he did all these masterclasses for college students/aspiring musicians. He's a legend with so much valuable creative and music business experience to ahare and educate. Not to mention all the life experiences. I just love that he's such a down to earth guy who just wants to pay it forward. A real mensch who cares about others

[@bandd53]

Love this version of this song

[@catverric165]

One of our finest hometown artists! NY!!

[@michaelloder5150]

what a great song!!! I

[@rosalinhares5488]

Very charmant. genius. wonderful song. performance. handsome great voice l lyrics. melodia

[@kevinkaralus9568]

my favorite Billy song

[@riccardoangeli802]

Rosa ... Billy un talento incredibile ... Per lui la musica un gioco facile

[@roseannecoccaro9321]

Billy is my favorite singer. Saw him in 1999 at msg. Blew the house down.

[@elizabethwitt2621]

Always does...especially at The Garden.

[@riccardoangeli802]

Billy Piano MAN il più brillante di tutto il panorama musicale ..... Talento eclettico

[@joe-vz6hx]

love his "Q&As" thanks so much for these - I could listen to him talk about music (and what not) all night

[@FreejackVesa]

The thing I love most about Billy Joel is that he's never really changed, he's always been "just a guy". Someone you could bbq with and talk about things like fishing. And he also happens to be a consummate poet and musician. His music reminds me of my parents (Downeaster Alexa for my father, Allentown for my mother) and it's so relatable. My grandparents fought the Second World War, we would go to the Jersey shore during the summers. I just feel like I could know the guy and his fame has never changed him, at least to me.

[@ronaldreagan256]

Just fabulous

[@fay-amieaspen6046]

Love The Downeaster Alexa, one of my favourites! 'There is no Island or a play on words no Ireland left for Islanders/ Irelanders like me!' It says it all in one succinct line! This song says it all in many ways ! I love this, and Goodnight Saigon, Vienna, Lullaby, Summer Highland Falls, She's Always A Woman, She's Got A Way, You're My Home. They really say it like it is and Shades Of Grey, love River Of Dreams too!

[@Leercore]

There's no word play on 'island/Ireland'.

[@jasonjaeger4042]

Love this song

[@atroyz]

I like this version. It feels like a folk song without all that production and echo.

[@howtodoitdude1662]

I love his Plano playing style. It’s a mix between block chords and fly fingering. Very difficult to due while keeping time.

[@michaec1]

Wow. That is a true artist.

[@luvmenow33]

I think I was 10 or 11 when I saw Billy the first time at the Philadelphia Spectrum. My very first live concert. The main thing I remember was Billy talking about long Island between songs. Billy - "Yea we got our own little hockey team out there....." Audience- "BOOÒOOO" BILLY - " F*CK YOU!" ROTF I got stormfront in my stocking for Xmas. We opened our stocking presents Xmas eve & I remember my dad putting it on & blasting the volume as we jammed to THAT'S NOT HER STYLE. River of Dreams was the first CD I bought as well,as being the first I used my own $

[@vernonmatthews181]

This song takes me on a trip of my forefathers, people whom worked the seven seas, from a common ancestry, love the song! 🙂👍👌

[@gangpardos3833]

00:40 to 01:16 is should have been a song

[@ronaldreagan256]

The Mozart of our time

[@davidpulanco2715]

Are you also referring to Mozart's "Leck mich im Arsch"? XD

[@strongwilledwoman]

@@davidpulanco2715 Mozart worked blue sometimes. I'm not old enough to remember, but a lot of history or music majors will tell you the stories.

[@bpackardjr1]

Freaking amazing!

[@Votedjt2024]

My favorite song

[@JoannaCubana]

I LOVE THIS SONG! GREAT STORY.

[@ryanb.31funky]

Also, Alexa is his daughter's name

[@AlexanderStemkowski]

You don't say!

[@GoBlue_yanks42]

He’s got a boat named the Alexa too

[@spencerpayne5630]

he’s the goat

[@FrankSpeer66]

Billy has THE MAGIC!!

[@holladaycummings7884]

Anyone this talented CAN tell someone to kiss their ass although, there are, too, many people who have no merit(i.e., smarts, intellect, experience, etc.) who think they have the right to tell people off.

[@maremagnus]

*That's why he's the piano man, the only piano man ever*

[@gracielaelisabarrios7108]

Triste canción 😭🎹🎶

[@billwelter4101]

No mention that he actually owns the gorgeous fishing boat Alexa, maybe she came later. Great song!

[@MasonTorrey]

He really struggled with this one. I'm not saying he's shit, I'm just saying this song is a marathon to sing and play solo and this video is testiment to Billy's sheer talent.

[@egett]

very hard song to sing, he does it without mistake, he has great technique, strong controll of his voice.

[@cowetascore8476]

it's a violin/accordian arrangement and he's playing piano...

[@thezombiecreeper]

0:39 the writing in this song rivals that of Shakespeare

[@uehm]

Would love to see him in a Q&A session one day. Dude is funny as fuck.

[@okaneji]

❤️ 👍 ❤️

[@truckspottingofdelaware]

1:42

[@LakiMihailovic]

♥️

[@giuseppecataldo5840]

His daughter is named Alexa

[@GuyLakeman]

hampton is slang ... it rhymes with hampton wick ....

[@simonbackstrom5666]

what does he mean by "trolling atlantis"?

[@richmatonti9819]

Trawling is a fishing method

[@mattszylin7118]

Simon Bäckström Atlantis canyon. south of the vinyard

[@phleum1]

And I think it has a double meaning, playing on the "no island left" idea; seeking the mythical Atlantis, maybe a home for their people.

[@strangeworldsunlimited712]

Trawling is using a big net and dragging it behind your boat to catch fish. He's having to go so far out to sea, and trawl so deep in the waters there, that he's literally fishing around the sunken (mythical) island of Atlantis. "Trawling Atlantis"

[@ChrisSciortino]

TROLLING not TRAWLING is a fishing method where you let a lot of line out the back of the boat with a lure and drive the boat slowly over a reef and wait for the line to get tight, indicating a fish. You then proceed to reel in the fish

[@rafisuvo1190]

See? No thumbs down.

[@melissamariajackowski4783]

What's the Kurzweil model?

[@Clodhopping]

Melissa Jackowski From what I've read it, and that time it was a Kurzweil PC2X in a baby grand shell. His sound engineer offstage transposes some songs down a 1/2 or full step so that Billy can play them in the original piano key shapes but sing lower as his voice ages. On some KZbin videos you can see his stage telepromoter has notes like: "My Life 1/2 step down". His hands play in D, his voice sings in D flat.

[@SamMeeDee]

@@Clodhopping how in the unholy hell does he do that? Does he get the downtuned version piped back to via monitoring so it sounds in key wirh what he's singing? And also how would you react to hearing the wrong notes come our of your fingers?

[@stevewanton7047]

The piano seems so cheap and tiny.

[@EvilSt0ner]

This is far less powerful then his other versions. Needs the emotion in his voice.

[@thomastoal2892]

Shut up

[@ronaldreagan5205]

The modern day mozart

[@rosalinhares5488]

Very charmant. genius. wonderful song. performance. handsome great voice l lyrics. melodia

[@riccardoangeli802]

Per Piano Man niente e' impossibile la musica e' un gioco facile 🎹👏

[@ronaldreagan5205]

The mozart of our time