New Billy Joel Documentary Offers In-Depth Look At The Man Behind The Music

As one of the most successful recording artists of all time, Billy Joel has a long list of much-loved hit songs dating back to the 1970s.

And much of his music, as we learn in a new HBO documentary, is even more deeply personal than many of us ever imagined.

With every song, from his signature “Piano Man” to “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” to “Uptown Girl,” and so many more, Joel drew inspiration from his own life experiences and the people closest to him. And yet, despite their intensely personal nature, “his” songs have always felt like “our” songs.

“Billy writes songs that are for every man,” says Steve Cohen, a longtime friend who is also one of the Executive Producers of Billy Joel: And So It Goes. “They’re like our human experiences and he talks the way normal people talk. He doesn’t do a lot of metaphor, he doesn’t do a lot of poetry, he writes in the form of the Great American Songbook. When you see this film, you’ll see how all of that stuff comes from his specific life experiences. So, you’ll not only identify with the songs as you imagine them but take a piece of those real experiences as you reflect on your own life.”

Cohen has been part of Joel’s inner circle since 1974 when he began working with the singer/songwriter as a lighting director. Cohen went on to form his own company and has worked with a multitude of other artists in different capacities since then, but has remained close friends, and continued working with Joel, as well.

When the “Piano Man,” decided after decades of carefully protecting his privacy to approve a film that would take an in-depth look at his life, he called on Cohen to build a team of people he could trust to tell his story. The team would be headed up by directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin.

Cohen, who is interviewed in the documentary, along with Joel’s family members, friends, band members, ex-wives, his oldest daughter, people instrumental in his career, and fellow music legends like Paul McCartney, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and others, helped convince Joel to appear on camera – something Joel originally didn’t want to do.

“He said I don’t want to sit down and do interviews. I don’t want to talk about this shit, I’ve talked about it forever,” Cohen recalls. “But Susan (one of the directors) was adamant. She said I can’t make a film in a third person’s voice. I need Billy to talk about this stuff from today.”

Joel relented and ended up going on camera a number of times. He is extremely candid about the painful and tragic experiences of his life, the joys and the highlights, and how all of it ended up finding its way into his songs.

“Everything I’ve ever done and everything I’ve lived through, has somehow found its way into my music,” he says.

Joel shares the trauma of his father abandoning him at a very young age and not seeing him again until he was an adult. He discusses attempting suicide twice with the first time leaving him comatose for days. He opens up about his relationships with his ex-wives including his more publicized marriage to supermodel Christie Brinkley, but also his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, who many had no idea was instrumental in his early success.

In the early days, Weber (who also appears in the documentary) pushed past the protests of record company naysayers to insist on the release of “Just the Way You Are” as a single from Joel’s album The Stranger. She was right. It would become Joel’s first big hit and change everything.

She also served as the inspiration for many of his songs.

“There’s a lot of autobiographical stuff in my music,” Joel says. “They say write what you know, so I wrote what I knew. A lot of the songs were based on Elizabeth.”

She inspired a handfull of Joel’s early hits and also got a mention in “Piano Man,” a song he wrote about real people back when they worked together at a small bar. As Joel describes crafting the song, he notes he’s referring to Weber when he sings “the waitress is practicing politics.”

“Bill can take a kernel of something that happens,” Weber says, “and create a story that is universal.”

There are other revelations, too, about both Joel’s songs and his life.

“You’ll learn how his father who left him at a very young age was also a classically trained pianist,” says Cohen. “He was the one who gave Billy his love for classical music. You’ll also discover Billy’s back story of a European family that survived the holocaust.”

Beautifully written, structured, and edited, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, spans five hours, divided over two nights. Part I premieres Friday, July 18^th at 8pm (in all time zones), with Part II to air the following Friday (July 25^th).

It not only features insight from so many of the people who have known, loved, and worked with Joel through the years, it is full of rare archival footage and home videos.

It’s an incredible deep dive into the man behind the music. Longtime fans of Billy Joel will get a better understanding of why they’ve loved his songs all along, while those just discovering his music for the first time, will appreciate why it still resonates with all of us – so many years later.

(Joel was recently diagnosed with a brain condition called Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. He is currently seeking treatment and Cohen said he’s spending time with his family and doing well.)