Billy Joel explained in a recent interview with Rick Beato why he has mostly refrained from penning original songs for the past four decades.
According to the Piano Man, he wasn’t feeling the same motivation following 1993’s River of Dreams and wanted to dedicate time to being a husband and a father. Joel also said that the last thing he wanted to do was “dilute” his legacy.
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“When I got to the end of writing River of Dreams, I felt like I was done. I [was] thinking about what am I going to do next?” Joel recalled. “Wait a minute. I’ve got to sit down and write a whole new album’s worth of songs. I didn’t want to do it.”
Because he was married and had a child, Joel “didn’t want to lock myself in a cave and devote myself like a monk to writing anymore. I had done it 12 times, and I thought, you know what, The Beatles had 12 albums, and that was just enough for me.”
“I decided I wasn’t going to do it anymore because I’ve heard artists who keep putting out records, and they really… dilute their legacy,” Joel elaborated further. “It’s maybe they’re not as good as they used to be or they’re not as motivated as they were, but it ends up trailing off. I didn’t want to go like that.”
Following a classical piano album that Joel needed to “get out of my system,” he was 100% sure of the decision. “I didn’t want just to keep beating a dead horse and being played because I was Billy Joel. I wanted it to be good. And I recognized that I didn’t have the same motivation I used to have. So I said, ‘Stop. Don’t kill it.'”
Joel hasn’t entirely sworn off songwriting. In 2024, he returned with the soaring “Turn the Lights Back On,” marking his first new single in 17 years.
Last spring, Joel canceled a planned tour after being diagnosed with the brain disorder Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH). His life and career were also the subject of a two-part HBO Max documentary.
Joel would later clarify that the diagnosis sounded “a lot worse than what I’m feeling,” though his “balance sucks.” Offering hope, Joel took the stage this past January, marking the first time since his diagnosis, joining Billy Joel cover band Turnstiles on stage for a two-song set.
More recently, Joel blasted the planned biopic Billy & Me, which a representative confirmed was “not authorized or supported” by the musician.
