"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel
Strong Songs
The Final Walk Up on Saxophone
"Rock and roll saxophone in particular is so human because you're actually putting a lot of your own voice into the instrument I mentioned before when he played that clarinet riff that matched the voice leading of the band that he would do it again and he does it really," she said. "It's one of the grandest musical homecomings I've ever heard."
A bottle of red... a bottle of white... whatever kind of mood you're in, we're talking Billy Joel tonight!
Pull up a table and join Kirk for a long look into one of Joel's most enduring songs, the seven-and-a-half minute, five course musical meal that is "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." The centerpiece on Joel's breakthrough 1977 album The Stranger, Italian Restaurant has got it all: schmaltzy sax, hard rock rhythms, love, heartbreak, and a pair of harmonized clarinets.
Written by: Billy Joel
Produced by: Phil Ramone
Album: The Stranger (1977)
Listen/Buy via Album.Link
ALSO REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:
- "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "Just The Way You Are," "Vienna," "Only The Good Die Young," and "She's Always a Woman to Me" by Billy Joel from The Stranger, 1977
- Joel discussing Phil Ramone in The Complete Albums Collection documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm5-oQNENnM
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Freddie Mercury and Queen from A Night at the Opera, 1975
- “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” by Ben Folds from Whatever and Ever Amen, 1997
- “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, 1964
- “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp from American Fool, 1982
- “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen from Born to Run, 1975
OUTRO SOLOIST: Steve Pardo
This episode's outro soloist is the one and only Steve Pardo. Steve is a Nashville, TN based producer, composer, and saxophonist. You can find out more at his website: https://www.stevepardo.com/
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