Brett Callwood
Brooklyn-based alt-pop singer-songwriter and producer Sabrina Song recounts the long-lasting impact of the Long Island native’s masterpiece.
Sabrina Song: I almost didn’t pick Billy Joel because it felt nearly cliché as someone from Long Island, but The Stranger is one of my favorite albums. Not just because I’ve heard each track since before I could walk, but rather the opposite — I grew to love the album only after getting older and moving away.
There’s something incomparable to hearing a once-in-a-generation artist describe the exact place you’re from with perfect execution. Songs like “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” developed into all-time favorites, partly because they make me nostalgic for things I would never think to miss. He writes and sings with a matter-of-factness and humor across the record that I love and find deeply moving.
Billy Joel’s 1977 hit album (Columbia)
I’ve always had a soft spot for piano ballads — I grew up singing songs like “Vienna” and “New York State of Mind” at restaurants and school talent shows. But I think my favorite Billy Joel songs now are the ones you sing loudly and obnoxiously while driving around visiting home (aka “Moving Out”).
The Stranger is woven into the fabric of my life — “Vienna” sung at graduations, “Just The Way You Are” slow-danced to at weddings. The album is simultaneously universal while painting intimate slice-of-life portraits of people who sound like my grandparents.
I finally saw him live for the first time in January at the 98th show of his Madison Square Garden run, and I surprised myself with how emotional I became. I’m sure I’ll only love it more as I get older. ❖
Sabring Song’s album You Could Stay in One Spot and I’d Love You the Same is out now.