Mamma Loved Billy Joel

 

Big-Joe-Radio

 

Mamma Loved Billy Joel

 

It’s 4 in the morning and I feel like doing something special for someone. Maybe buy some flowers for someone. I could spare some change for someone going through a hard time. Perhaps I could just be there for someone who needs to speak their mind and not feel judged. Well I want to honor my mamma with some writing. Mamma is not here anymore but her memory is brought to me when certain music is played. Sometimes I have to hide myself as I go find a place to hide and nearly hyper-ventilate when I shed the tears as I consider the life she lived.

 

Today I heard a song from the man, Billy Joel. He definitely falls into the category of music that she grew up with. I think they were around the same age, so I’m sure my mamma was listening to the piano man when she was a young adult. Mom loved music. Music was always playing in our house when I was growing up. While I was trying to make my independence as a young man, it was still hard to not enjoy the music that she played.

 

If it ain’t Motley Crue, NWA, Public Enemy, or the beastie boys, I would have simply told my friends that it’s not my music. The truth is I think the music of mom’s day had more depth and meaning about life. She listened to a genre of music that that were played by people who knew full well what struggle was all about. My mother’s artistic tastes would have us kids going to oldie but goodies concerts.

 

So when Billy-Joel’s, “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me”, played on the radio, I had to make sure I had my composure. I knew it would cause a reaction. That is especially when I decided to look the man up and listen to other tunes of his. This blog is a result of that. Before tonight the only thing I knew about the man was that he played piano and sang about some uptown girl who played hard to get.

 

So what’s so great about Billy Joel? Well he only had 33 top 40 hits during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. 6 time Grammy award winner, with an additional 23 nominations. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. The list goes on. The list goes on and on.

 

Here’s what most impresses me about Billy Joel. Billy Joel came from a poor immigrant family. His mother pushed Billy Joel to learn the piano. He eventually immersed himself into the art so much that Billy used to get bullied as a teenager. In fact Billy took up boxing aas a way to learn how to defend himself. Well eventually it wasn’t about just defending himself; Billy was making his way through the Golden Gloves boxing circuit. He had 23 fights until he finally stopped because of a broken nose in his 24^th fight. So I guess you can agree that Billy was and artist, lover, and a fighter.

 

Billy loved his mamma. In fact after his parents divorced, he loved her so much that Billy took to playing the nightclub scenes as a pianist to make ends meet for his single mother. His grades suffered just a little bit because of it, but because of his truancy, his high school would not allow him to graduate. Here’s the dilemma; Billy was getting really good in the music scene. He could try to make his way to Columbia records, or Columbia University. Of course he chose Columbia Records.

 

Well that’s as far as I want to get into the life of Billy Joel. I did realize he was a wonderful man for doing the things he did to take care of the family. Billy Joel never graduated high school, yet Syracuse University gave him an honorary doctorate degree for the influences he made in other people’s life, and his contributions to society.

 

Just a brief history about me and Mamma; She pushed me to always work hard. There was no other choice. She had me working at a young age to earn my own school clothes. She didn’t exactly always have her life straight, but she always had an issue if I was doing any stupid teenage stuff. Sometimes parents have to be hypocrites. No one is perfect, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want the best for our kids. When I dropped out of high school as a teenager, my mom told me to go and get myself back into school. I too dropped out so I could help with the finances around the house. Once I got closer to 18 I think she knew I had to go back, and she pushed me to, and I did go back and graduate high school so that I could join the Air Force.

 

I wish mom had a better life. I wish she found a rich man who would have loved her and taken care of her. I wish that instead of her dealing with bad kids, she could have dealt with maybe trips around the world. Mamma will always be my uptown girl!