Just the Way You Are is a memorable love song that won Billy Joel his first Grammy. This is one of Billy Joel’s Most Memorable songs and is not one that he is too fond of apparently.
Just the Way You Are – Inspired by His First Wife
Joel wrote this song about his first wife, Elizabeth. A pure expression of unconditional love, he gave it to her as a birthday present. Sadly, after nine years of marriage, Joel and Elizabeth divorced in 1982. Joel’s next two marriages didn’t work out either: he was married to Christie Brinkley from 1985-1994, and to Katie Lee from 2004-2010.”Every time I wrote a song for a person I was in a relationship with, it didn’t last,” Joel said. “It was kind of like the curse. Here’s your song – we might as well say goodbye now.”
Billy Joel: Some People Missed the Point of the Song
According to Joel, some listeners missed the point and thought the song was misogynistic because he was telling a woman she wasn’t “allowed” to change.”No, no, no. Don’t go changing to try and please me,” he told SiriusXM in 2016. “People forget these things. If they don’t like what I do, they’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, he hates women. Look at this. Don’t change, stay the way you are, the same old someone that he knew. Wow, he really doesn’t like her.’Don’t change for me. You wanna change for yourself, fine. But you don’t have to change for me because I’m happy exactly the way you are. That’s why I love you in the first place.”
Billy Joel didn’t Think Much of the Song
After Joel recorded this, he didn’t think much of it, considering it a “gloppy ballad” that would only get played at weddings. He credits his producer, Phil Ramone, with convincing him that it was a great song. Ramone brought Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow into the recording studio to hear the song, and of course they loved it, which was good enough for Billy. On Australian TV in 2006, Joel confirmed: “We almost didn’t put it on an album. We were sitting around listening to it going naaah, that’s a chick song.”
The Song Has Interesting Rythms
Joel’s longtime drummer Liberty DeVitto considers his work on this track his greatest contribution to a Billy Joel song. In his Songfacts interview, DeVitto said: “Me and [producer] Phil Ramone came up with that kind of crazy rhythm that started out as a samba beat, like a bossa nova with a brush and a stick.”But DeVitto was one of the most vocal opponents of the song in its original form. Joel recalled in Ramone’s book Making Records: “We originally played ‘Just The Way You Are’ as a cha-cha: ‘Don’t go changing (cha-cha-cha) – just to please me (cha-cha-cha).…’
Well, Liberty DeVitto got so pissed that he threw his drum sticks at me. ‘I’m no goddamned sissy drummer,’ he said. “When Ramone agreed the cha-cha rhythm wasn’t working and suggested a pattern with a more sensuous feel, DeVitto finally got on board.
The drummer recalled in Making Records:”Phil suggested trying a South American Byonne rhythm, and tapped out the pattern to show me what he meant. We tried it again, and this time I began dropping the bass drum out in certain places, and playing the tom-tom on the ‘and’ of four. The slight rest, and a little extra pressure on each kick of the bass drum pedal gave it extra emphasis. Using brushes on the snare gave it a very sexy sound.”
Barry White’s cover version hit #12 in the UK in 1978. The song was also covered by Frank Sinatra and Isaac Hayes, whose version is in 6/8 time with a long introductory rap. Joel was particularly amused by the Sinatra cover. “When we have a soundcheck we always send up my own material and we do ‘Just The Way You Are’ with this cheesy Las Vegas swing and make a whole joke of the thing and Sinatra did it exactly the same way,” he told Q in 1987. “I screamed when I heard it! You sure this isn’t me singing this, Frankie, or is it a joke or whaaat?”
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