Billy Joel

I look in the mirror and think, ‘I don’t look like a rock star.’ I talked about this with Bono and we looked at each other and decided we look like a pair of bricklayers.

Billy Joel

I tell the audience every night, ‘I hope you didn’t pay more than face value on that ticket, because we ain’t worth more than that, and you ain’t gonna get any more than that.’

Billy Joel

I’m a cosmopolitan sophisticate of culture and intelligence. The culmination of technology and civilized experience.

Billy Joel

I’m a piano player. I never thought of myself as a singer, at all. I was always trying to sound like somebody else. I don’t like my own voice, I like Ray Charles, Robert Plant, I like Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, people that have an edge in their voice.

Billy Joel

I’m a statistic in a system that a civil servant dominates.

Billy Joel

I’m not sure about life after this; god knows I’m not a spiritual man.

Billy Joel

I’m probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 – to meet women.

Billy Joel

I’m writing for the sake of writing music. Whether it gets heard or not isn’t an issue for me. It keeps my own juices going and my mind active.

Billy Joel

I’m writing new music all the time. I’m just not writing pop stuff. It’s not my goal.

Billy Joel

I’ve always said about 50% of what happens at a concert has to do with the audience. If you play for a dead audience you’re gonna stink. If we play for a great crowd we’re much better. You want ’em to make noise. It’s kinda like sex, if they don’t make noise, you ain’t doin’ it right.

Billy Joel