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Pentecost2005
Guest
Actually, it’s not telling, it’s asking (that’s what question marks are for). Maybe she DID say a prayer for him. Maybe she prayed for him every night. How would HE know? Why does he have to know?
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Eden
Guest
Can someone please explain to me the visual “the stain-glass curtain you’re hiding behind, never lets in the sun”? I have never been able to picture what in the world a “stain-glass curtain” not letting in the sun would look like. This song irritates me on many levels the obvious has already been stated- but the gratuitous “Catholic” phrases like “stained glass” and “rosary” get under my skin. When he says, “you never counted on me, when you were counting on your rosary” - I really think he does not recognize that the “counting” is prayer. Does he think it’s an abacas or something? Billly Joel wrote the song “I Love You Just the Way You Are” for his first wife- the one before Christy Brinkley. I guess he loved her “just the way she was” until he found someone better? 
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surfinpure
Guest
Sound to me like he’s telling her she’s cut off from the world, sheltered, stunted. Like she lives in her little hidey-hole and he’s trying to show her what real living is…
I guess I get that impression because it’s exactly what guys told me when I was trying so hard to be a chaste teenager. The nerve!
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Eden
Guest
surf(name removed by moderator)ure:
Ha! Thanks Surf(name removed by moderator)ure. I do understand the metaphor but I mean the literal picture. If I were to hold up “a stain glass curtain” that “never lets in the sun” - what in the world would it look like? It has just always bothered me that Billy Joel confuses all kinds of Catholic “things”- stained glass windows and maybe, confessional curtains? to ridicule the girls “sheltered” existence. Stain glass curtain! I laugh about that inane line every time I hear it.
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Mayweather
Guest
i am not the type to be offended by songs, but i find this one extremely offensive. not really because it’s anti-catholic, but because of this line:
“I run with a dangerous crowd, we ain’t too pretty, we ain’t too proud”
Dear Billy Joel,
If any catholic girl “comes out” for you, it’s because:
1)you have a lot of money
2)she has bad taste in music
3)she is an extreme dork who probably also fantasizes about Billy Crystal.
some words that do not describe you:
rebellious, working class, dangerous, rough, cool, rocker
some words (phrases) that do:
very very safe, very very white, purveyor of tunes for dorks, dork, uncool, performer of music that certainly is not “rock n roll”
“I run with a dangerous crowd, we ain’t too pretty, we ain’t too proud”
Dear Billy Joel,
Code:
You wrote "uptown girl" and "we didn't start the fire." There is nothing remotely "dangerous" or cool about your crowd. Your music has always been melodic music for preps and people who drive station wagons, not rebellious rock music. Scarface might have been accused of running with a dangerous crowd. Tupac also may have faced this accusation. Marvin Gaye ran with a far more dangerous crowd than you. You play shows with elton john.1)you have a lot of money
2)she has bad taste in music
3)she is an extreme dork who probably also fantasizes about Billy Crystal.
some words that do not describe you:
rebellious, working class, dangerous, rough, cool, rocker
some words (phrases) that do:
very very safe, very very white, purveyor of tunes for dorks, dork, uncool, performer of music that certainly is not “rock n roll”
L
Lost_Found
Guest
You’re right Eden and Surfin.
And here’s another line I laugh about every time I hear it:
“You got a nice white dress and a party on your confirmation”.
It’s like “Cinderella and the seven dwarves”; don’t you get the feeling he confused “confirmation” with (first) “communion”?
That’s why I had to laugh when some Protestants tried to assert Joel was raised Catholic. He just hasn’t been there.
To belittle Catholicism is to manipulate the truth and to reveal one’s ignorance.
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surfinpure
Guest
sheepish grin Sorry, I should have taken your words literally! You’re right, it’s a ridiculous metaphor. Sounds like he was tryig to mix “stained glass window” with “iron curtain,” or something like that, and it just didn’t work.
Lost&Found is right. He doesn’t think his lyrics through very well, and he doesn’t know much at all about being Catholic, whether or not he was “raised” that way.
Mayweather, you crack me up. Marvin Gaye! HA!
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Eden
Guest
I was curious as to Billy Joel’s intentions from his own mouth and I found this quote about the song:
"Only the Good Die Young," another US hit from the package, was a controversial cut. Joel attributed its success to the publicity it received from being banned on what could be called Catholic stations, such as the radio at Seton Hall University. “The point of the song wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust,” the artist explained. “Jewish guilt is in the guts. Catholic guilt is all Gothic, and a lot of people obviously were interested in hearing about this.” In St. Louis, where Joel received a threat of assassination if he performed the song, he played it twice."
So there you have it. It wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as - get this! - pro-lust! What a puerile statement. He sure is an intellectual heavyweight. Now aren’t we all glad to know that the song wasn’t entirely anti-Catholic? It is also pro-lust. What a relief! (That is so hilarious- I think it made my day.) :whacky:
"Only the Good Die Young," another US hit from the package, was a controversial cut. Joel attributed its success to the publicity it received from being banned on what could be called Catholic stations, such as the radio at Seton Hall University. “The point of the song wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust,” the artist explained. “Jewish guilt is in the guts. Catholic guilt is all Gothic, and a lot of people obviously were interested in hearing about this.” In St. Louis, where Joel received a threat of assassination if he performed the song, he played it twice."
So there you have it. It wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as - get this! - pro-lust! What a puerile statement. He sure is an intellectual heavyweight. Now aren’t we all glad to know that the song wasn’t entirely anti-Catholic? It is also pro-lust. What a relief! (That is so hilarious- I think it made my day.) :whacky:
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surfinpure
Guest
Eden,
Great job finding that quote! Can you post the link, so I can check out the site? I’d love to also find some of his own words about other songs he’s written.
Great job finding that quote! Can you post the link, so I can check out the site? I’d love to also find some of his own words about other songs he’s written.
T
trailblazer
Guest
As “good Catholics” how could any of you argue for any song or speach or movie that encourages immorality, especially in youth. The listeners of songs like this one are the ones responsibly for free sex, abortions,… It is sick! It is awful!
Bob
Bob
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surfinpure
Guest
Most of us don’t approve of the song, Bob.
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wabrams
Guest
Free speach. Last time I checked, the commies hadn’t taken over yet.
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fix
Guest
Free speech is not license. We should encourage just speech, true speech, edifying speech, not the dribble from Joel.Free speach. Last time I checked, the commies hadn’t taken over yet.
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wabrams
Guest
And who is to determine this?
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Steph700
Guest
lol, I think that’s going a little too far
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fix
Guest
We could start be educating our children as to right and wrong. Something Billy Joel seemed to have not learned.
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wabrams
Guest
I can agree with you on that. But on post 115 I mentioned that and in post 117 you said that wasn’t enough.
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wabrams
Guest
Wow, I hadn’t ever been compared to an abortionist.
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WhatMeWorry
Guest
Well, he “predicted” his own show-biz demise in The Entertainer: Even the best in the business end up here–sooner or later.
I am the Entertainer
The idol of my age
I make all kinds of money
When I go on the stage
Oh, you’ve seen me in the papers
I’ve been in the magazines
But if I go cold, I won’t get sold
I’ll get put in the back, in the discount rack
Like another can of beans.
I saw him in concert back in '79–one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.
F
fix
Guest
Perhaps a bit overstated, but these types of songs help poorly form conciences. They do have an affect and this entire “free love” concept is celebrated again and again in much of pop music.
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