Written and Recorded by Billy Joel
There are few artists who divide music listeners more than Billy Joel. I’m not sure why so many people despise this guy. In my opinion, he’s one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, he’s a skilled musician, and he has the uncanny ability to absorb contemporary music trends and express them through his unique filter. His songs are often musically explorative, and his lyrics are rarely matched within the world of mainstream pop music. But hey, I grew up on Long Island in the 80s, and every Joel release was like a new national anthem for us. The details of his fallout with his band are foggy, and I hate to think that Billy had anything to do with the untimely death of one of my favorite bassists, Doug Stegmeyer. But maybe I’m getting too deep into the artist – we’re here to celebrate bridges! Joel has written some of my favorites, and maybe none better than “Just The Way You Are.”
“Just The Way You Are” is a song about a couple, after years of partnership, evaluating the state of their relationship. And what appears to be sentiments of unconditional love, later reveal more. The protagonist asks that his partner not change who she is: you don’t need to update your appearance, you don’t need to worry about impressing me with “clever conversation,” and I understand that we’re not going to get along every day:
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are.
He’s 100% devoted to her. He’s not going anywhere, and he wants everything to continue as it has been. But like the one-sided nature of songs (other than duets), neither the listener nor the song’s protagonist knows how she feels. And here’s when we get to the bridge.
I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
But what will it take 'til you believe in me
The way that I believe in you?
He’s pleading with her, expressing his love for her and how important it is to stay together and continue this relationship. Prior to the bridge, the message seems selflessly supportive. You don’t have to be anyone but yourself. But there’s more happening here. It’s not that she doesn’t need to change; it’s that he doesn’t want her to change. He wants – he needs! – her to be exactly who she was when they first met. He’s horrified to feel that she might have outgrown this relationship. To believe in him means believing in his vision of what he thinks this relationship should be.
You might say, “Come on, Matt, stop ruining love songs for us!” Hey, what can I say? I, too, used to think this was a song of pure, unconditional love, but this is not a song of loving someone for who they are, and it’s about loving someone for who they were. She didn’t go changing to please him, she changed to please herself, and often, seeing a change in someone else shines a light on one’s own inability to change. Self-improvement is the toughest thing we can do, and this protagonist has admitted that he “never wants to work that hard.”
“Just The Way You Are” is a song nuanced as much as love itself, and once again, it’s the bridge that offers us the truth behind the messy miscommunication of a couple in trouble. Billy Joel has gifted us with many great bridges – hey, he even has an album called “The Bridge,” but, off hand, I don’t know how many of the songs have bridges or if I would write about any of them. I’ll probably return to more of the 70s and 80s material for the next BJ entry. But until then, even if only one person reads this, I love you, that's forever, and this I promise from the heart.
-MJK
There are few artists who divide music listeners more than Billy Joel. I’m not sure why so many people despise this guy. In my opinion, he’s one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, he’s a skilled musician, and he has the uncanny ability to absorb contemporary music trends and express them through his unique filter. His songs are often musically explorative, and his lyrics are rarely matched within the world of mainstream pop music. But hey, I grew up on Long Island in the 80s, and every Joel release was like a new national anthem for us. The details of his fallout with his band are foggy, and I hate to think that Billy had anything to do with the untimely death of one of my favorite bassists, Doug Stegmeyer. But maybe I’m getting too deep into the artist – we’re here to celebrate bridges! Joel has written some of my favorites, and maybe none better than “Just The Way You Are.”
“Just The Way You Are” is a song about a couple, after years of partnership, evaluating the state of their relationship. And what appears to be sentiments of unconditional love, later reveal more. The protagonist asks that his partner not change who she is: you don’t need to update your appearance, you don’t need to worry about impressing me with “clever conversation,” and I understand that we’re not going to get along every day:
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are.
He’s 100% devoted to her. He’s not going anywhere, and he wants everything to continue as it has been. But like the one-sided nature of songs (other than duets), neither the listener nor the song’s protagonist knows how she feels. And here’s when we get to the bridge.
I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
But what will it take 'til you believe in me
The way that I believe in you?
He’s pleading with her, expressing his love for her and how important it is to stay together and continue this relationship. Prior to the bridge, the message seems selflessly supportive. You don’t have to be anyone but yourself. But there’s more happening here. It’s not that she doesn’t need to change; it’s that he doesn’t want her to change. He wants – he needs! – her to be exactly who she was when they first met. He’s horrified to feel that she might have outgrown this relationship. To believe in him means believing in his vision of what he thinks this relationship should be.
You might say, “Come on, Matt, stop ruining love songs for us!” Hey, what can I say? I, too, used to think this was a song of pure, unconditional love, but this is not a song of loving someone for who they are, and it’s about loving someone for who they were. She didn’t go changing to please him, she changed to please herself, and often, seeing a change in someone else shines a light on one’s own inability to change. Self-improvement is the toughest thing we can do, and this protagonist has admitted that he “never wants to work that hard.”
“Just The Way You Are” is a song nuanced as much as love itself, and once again, it’s the bridge that offers us the truth behind the messy miscommunication of a couple in trouble. Billy Joel has gifted us with many great bridges – hey, he even has an album called “The Bridge,” but, off hand, I don’t know how many of the songs have bridges or if I would write about any of them. I’ll probably return to more of the 70s and 80s material for the next BJ entry. But until then, even if only one person reads this, I love you, that's forever, and this I promise from the heart.
-MJK
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