Billy Joel -- Honesty

 

Well, with all of the folks that I've brought onto the Reminiscings of Youth series over the past several months, I just had to once again bring on the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel, after introducing him onto the pages of this blog with "Rosalinda's Eyes" back in December 2020. He and his songs were regular parts of my radio-listening regimen as a kid and of course there are so many of them that I can feature as a ROY article.

However, I think for the Japanese, and perhaps especially for the karaoke fans in Japan, Joel's "Honesty" has been the most popular song for some reason. Maybe it's the gut-wrenching message that the brutal truth is more necessary than comforting words to prop up a relationship, and in a country where heartrending melodramas have thrived for decades, "Honesty" has just been the perfect Joel tonic. In any case, many was a time that this May 1979 single was performed in front of me at karaoke joints, and I've even given it a try. 

The one other Joel song that got a lot of karaoke time was "My Life", and both it and "Honesty" were tracks on his October 1978 album "52nd Street". I always enjoyed telling the students that "My Life" was used as the theme song for "Bosom Buddies", the sitcom featuring a very young Tom Hanks (but that'll be a different article). 

In any case, I've loved "Honesty" for those melancholy piano chords that start it off and then those strings that back up Billy when the refrain comes in. The arrangement is just so lush and although my interpretation may be wrong, the song might be reflecting a relationship in crisis but there's hope at the end that after taking in some of that bitter medicine that the romance or friendship will come out stronger. The US Billboard Hot 100 had "Honesty" peaking at No. 24 while it reached its highest point at No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart for the same company. Meanwhile in Canada where it also got plenty of airplay, the single got as high as No. 16.

So, according to "Showa Pops", which singles were coming out in May 1979? And once again, there is some discrepancy between J-Wiki and that site about release dates for two of the songs here.

Twist -- Moero Ii Onna （燃えろいい女）

Yoshitaka Minami -- Monroe Walk（モンロー・ウォーク）

Haruko Kuwana -- Soshite Denwa no Bell wa（そして電話のベルは）