On February 1st, Billy Joel released a song for the first time in 17 years. “Turn The Lights Back On” takes up this theme in the title – and also offers some lyrical evidence that the singer is very aware of how long he has disappeared from the musical scene for a long time. He now explains why that was the case in a conversation with his producer Freddy Wexler.
Between love and reflection
“Have I waited too long… to turn the light back on,” goes one line in his piece. In addition to self-reflection, the track is also a love letter to his loyal fans who have waited so long for new releases. The 74-year-old still seems very thoughtful.
“Turn The Lights Back On” video:
“It wasn’t fun anymore”
In the current episode of “Audacy Check-In” Joel goes into detail about why it took him so long to be able to release new music again. Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Freddy Wexler was also there. “It was fun. Music is fun. Rock ‘n’ roll was fun. It was just about having fun – and I kind of lost that and turned the lights off because it wasn’t fun anymore,” Billy Joel explains to Wexler.
There were probably several people who wanted to drag the “Piano Man” back into the studio in order to spark new enthusiasm in him, but he always resisted. The reason for this was, among other things, his ambition: “I diligently avoided it because songwriting had become painful. I have this high bar. I told myself, ‘If I don’t reach this bar, I’ll beat myself, I’ll beat myself up and I’ll hate myself.’ So I stopped because I was tired of feeling like that.”
Wexler triggered old feelings in him
Two years ago, Wexler slowly managed to get Billy Joel interested in music again. Seeing the 37-year-old at work triggered long-lost feelings: “The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that’s what connects me to music .” Joel’s creativity was awakened again. He concluded: “That particular lyric in that song, I had these thoughts, I could have written those lyrics verbatim. I’ve chewed on these words, I’ve thought about these words, and I’ve said these words before. It all kind of came together – and who am I to argue against it?”
His song “Turn The Lights Back On” has been available on all common streaming platforms since February 1st. The “Audacy Check In” episode is not officially available in the EU, but can be here listen.