Me, too. I'm a big fan of his. Saw him in concert in Philly a few years ago and he was great.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at August 1, 2024 8:49 PM MDT
My very favorite part of the song, for sure, is the two-seconds moment (2:07 to 2:08 mark in the music video you posted) where Joel incorporates two seconds from the Bernard Herrmann music score from Hitchcock's movie "Psycho." I love it!
:)
That's the only part in the song I listen for every time, ha. :)
Polish composer Henryk Gorecki's "Symphony No. 3, Opus 36," also known as 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,' written for soprano and string orchestra, came to my mind.
The following is from a Wikipedia essay about the symphony:
A solo soprano sings Polish texts in each of the three movements. The first is a 15th-century Polish lament of Mary, mother of Jesus; the second a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell during World War II; and the third a Silesian folk song of a mother searching for her son killed by the Germans in the Silesian uprisings[August 1919 to July 1921]. The first and third movements are written from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child, and the second movement from that of a child separated from a parent. The dominant themes of the symphony are motherhood, despair and suffering.
Thinking I might enjoy the symphony, a very good friend sent me a CD recording decades ago. Without knowing any of the above-details about the symphony, I listened, non-stop, for the entire 53 minutes.
The symphony brought me to literal, wet tears -- just the music. And when I later read the details, I was further moved.
Here is that particular CD/performance . (And the symphony begins at a very, very quiet volume in the lower strings. So soft it's hard to hear. But it gradually gets louder.
I encourage anyone to listen for the entire 53 minutes. I know that's a long time commitment but the symphony works best that way to me, hearing it in total length.
(Me essay is now complete, ha.)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at August 19, 2026 8:19 AM MDT
Benedict Arnold 