From Billy's 1977 album " The Stranger", considered a racy track about his attempts to seduce a good Catholic Girl. Attempts to censor this song, only drove this song to great popularity. This song is so catchy, with great piano licks, hand clapping and Billy's raspy tones belting out another amazing song. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Jami. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
I used a line from this song for my high school Senior Yearbook quote: “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, ‘cause sinners are much more fun, you know that only the good die young”. This was after my original Simon and Garfunkel quote got tossed out - “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all”! 😂
I have a very vivid memory of my mom turning to me when this was on the radio when I was in HS and saying "this entire song is a line". and she was right, lol.
I don't think it is a lie so much as somewhat in jest and somewhat in frustration. Edit:lie -> line. My comment still works and lie was probably autocorrect striking again.
I always have subtitles on when I'm watching videos and the subtitles on this one are absolutely hilarious. Half the time, there was nothing at all when Billy was singing and the other half of the time was the script for a Norm Crosby routine or maybe a Weird Al Yankovich parody. For example, instead of "when you were counting on your rosary" we get this gem -- "a new accounting on the rosary". Or this. Instead of "only the good die young, only the good die young" we get "Only the Good Times. Only the goods I own." 🤣🤣🤣😆
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! You can always tell when the subtitles were done by a computer program (or someone whose first language wasn’t English) and no one bothered to check them afterward. Thanks for sharing. Now I have to go back and watch it again with the subtitles on.
(1) To this day. Billy saves this song for his encore at concerts because it is such a rockin' banger. (2) In high school, Billy had a crush on a classmate, Virginia Callahan. She inspired this song. (3) Take the time to really read the lyrics -- they are some of Billy's best. You will find one in particular used often by American high school students in yearbooks when they graduate with a departing quotes: "I rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun."
The first time I listened to Billy Joel was before he became a super star. I was at a friends house listening to his first album. I said then that he was a genius and that he was going to be real big time. I was right.
Apparently the Catholic church has forgiven him since he sang it during his concert at University of Notre Dame last June and the University welcomed him with open arms. Even gave him a ND football helmet. Guess CZcams finally released it, thanks Harri.
@Judith Hill Billy is an atheist and Jewish by heritage, but never really a practicing Jew. I was just saying that the Catholic church took offense to the song back in the day, but has apparently gotten over it. As a catholic teen in the 70s I thought it was great. Guess my rebelliousness was showing.
Yes, some cutting controversial lyrics and backlash from the Catholic Church in the day. He was warned by a church head not to play this song at an upcoming concern in his town. So Billy opened his show with the tune, and also closed his show with it.
I heard Billy Joel talking on late-night television, and he said Only the Good Die Young was on the banned music list! I did not know until he made that statement there was a banned music list!
Tutti gioielli i pezzi di Piano Man ... artista geniale poliedrico.... Per lui la musica un gioco facile .... Consiglio Leave a tender moment alone .. Live Billy Joel Tootsie Thielemans
Harri, I hope you know that the typed lyrics on this live video are all wrong! Please look up Billy's correct lyrics to this song, because they are fabulous.
Fantastic choice, Jami A, and great reaction, Harri! This is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs. I never knew about his high school crush Virginia Callahan, the inspiration for the song, until I started reading the comments. I thought he simply chose the name Virginia because it contained the word "virgin." :-)
I don't remember there being any backlash to this song back when. The sax solo gave it a fifties vibe suggesting it might be a warning tale from the past rather than something present day. Remember, this came out the same year Meat Loaf dropped "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" so ...
I was at a funeral where they played this song. The Baptist minister stood there with a deer in the headlights look. The mother chose the song due to the name, only the good die young, with no thought to the rest of the lyrics. The minister was not amused.
I was raised by extremely strict parents and I so relate to this song. I love the rebellious nature of his lyrics and to be honest.......he speaks the truth. One of my favorites of his vast catalog. Love me some Billy ......
I love the thoughts and words expressing them in this song. They are sooo cleverly and creatively constructed. Virginia was the name of the girl the song was written about, but that name also is sourced from the word, 'virgin.'
This song got a lot of rotation on the radio and was my introduction to Billy Joel. I understood the lyrics, mostly, except why the Good die young. But I liked the groove, so I bought my first album based on songs I'd heard, The Stranger, and not long after I started collecting all of Billy Joel's albums (three at the time). I've never stopped loving his music, though he had many phases I liked more and less. River of Dreams speaks to my soul.
Awesome reaction. I can't wait to see which one of my last 3 you like most. I think one of them might make you tear up a little. I left my last 3 on another song reaction and you left a heart on it. Anyone that read it should know which one I think will make you tear up.
Next to My Life that is my divorce song, Only the Good Die Young is my Billy Joel favorite. Yes, it caused some controversy; but, that made it that much more appealing all around. After all, isn’t that proof Billy Joel was correct?!
Yeah, it was the perfect controversy, the whole point of rock ‘n roll and it’s history in the culture. He knew exactly what he was saying which gave it that edge channeling not only Beatles but Ray Charles and the likes. When it came out, us baby boomers said, “ Damn right, good tune! “. Struck at some generational chords. Noticed that performance was in England….do you think he felt more or less ‘less’ intimidated away from USA with that tune ? He killed it! Thanks keep it up!
Harry this is based on a girl Billy knew. Virginia was her real name. He just wanted to get laid! 😂 there was definitely backlash and it made the song more popular 😊
You cannot blame parents for trying to keep their children "innocent" as long as possible but they often have to deal with the repercussions later for keeping them in the dark which many say is also damaging.
Someone else commented on that and I just rewatched it with the subtitles on. Obviously done by a computer program or someone whose first language wasn’t English. 🤣
Fun fact: Billy conceived this track as having a reggae beat (if one digs deep enough, one can find demos and outtakes where this was tried). After a few run-throughs, his drummer (Liberty DeVitto) threw his drumsticks across the studio toward Billy, yelling "I f**king HATE reggae!" It became the shuffle beat we now know.
@@debbiemickelson5448 I learned late the other way around. Nothing but debauchery in my teens and twenties. I made bad decisions. In the long run we all end up in the same place anyway, so I thought to myself why tiptoe through life just to arrive safely at death? It still confounds my mind. Don't let the past remind us of what we are not now.
He may or may not have gotten the girl, he said that when it comes down to fate he wants to be the one. Sounds like he will wait and be there when she discovers herself.
He didn't "survive" this; it was a big hit for him, laugh. I encountered it in high school and yeah there are a couple statements in there but mostly all the guys liked it and all the girls liked it. We all knew it was mostly about flirting. That's what it's about. It's a shame to get sidetracked by the other stuff. And one thing I don't like about this video is although it's cool to get to see him that young, they don't show the band at all. And I always hate that. He had a killer band at this point in time he had an amazing band. Sometime go listen to the studio cut of this and don't watch anything visual, just close your eyes and I know you can do it because you're a musician, and you will hear how much that bass player is just going off and everybody and it's so well crafted and his vocals are incredible. This video is mostly annoying to me I have to say. But I do love the song and I always will. In fact I love everything off that album, The Stranger. it's probably my favorite album of his. He had some of them come out after this that I think sold a lot more copies but this was still a big hit. And we all loved it.
Totally agree with you, the studio version is what I fell in love with. Also agree, 'The Stranger' is such a great album, and I still love every song on it. Cheers
One my fav Billy Joel songs!!! ❤️. Love the lyrics. Opposed to "Angry Young Man," he later totally sold out & became an old, boring, conservative. Such a shame!!
"This is a song that will probably offend everyone." My favorite kind of song. :-)
Billy is a treasure. He’s been performing for 50 years and is still going strong and selling out arenas. His catalogue is amazing
I went to Catholic school and I felt like such a little rebel listening to this back then 😄
Good stuff, Harri! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Hands down my favorite song of his…this song is fabulous in every way
From Billy's 1977 album " The Stranger", considered a racy track about his attempts to seduce a good Catholic Girl.
Attempts to censor this song, only drove this song to great popularity.
This song is so catchy, with great piano licks, hand clapping and Billy's raspy tones belting out another amazing song.
Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Jami. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
I used a line from this song for my high school Senior Yearbook quote: “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, ‘cause sinners are much more fun, you know that only the good die young”. This was after my original Simon and Garfunkel quote got tossed out - “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all”! 😂
Hi. Ahhh kept both quotes. They're both awesome.😎
I believe that Kodachrome was a Paul Simon song, not Simon and Garfunkel.
I have a very vivid memory of my mom turning to me when this was on the radio when I was in HS and saying "this entire song is a line". and she was right, lol.
I don't think it is a lie so much as somewhat in jest and somewhat in frustration.
Edit:lie -> line. My comment still works and lie was probably autocorrect striking again.
@@billallen1307 not lie, a line. A pickup line.
I always have subtitles on when I'm watching videos and the subtitles on this one are absolutely hilarious. Half the time, there was nothing at all when Billy was singing and the other half of the time was the script for a Norm Crosby routine or maybe a Weird Al Yankovich parody. For example, instead of "when you were counting on your rosary" we get this gem -- "a new accounting on the rosary". Or this. Instead of "only the good die young, only the good die young" we get "Only the Good Times. Only the goods I own." 🤣🤣🤣😆
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! You can always tell when the subtitles were done by a computer program (or someone whose first language wasn’t English) and no one bothered to check them afterward. Thanks for sharing. Now I have to go back and watch it again with the subtitles on.
Thanks Harri. Another great Billy Joel song is Captain Jack.
Billy is one of the mainstays of my teen song list. The Stranger album was one of the first three albums I bought, 40 yours ago.
Yeah, I've done everything I could think of to get Harri to listen to the actual tune 'The Stranger', but so far immstilll waiting,lol.
Be interested to know the other two albums that rounded out your purchase, if you feel like sharin'.
@@bkm2797 He did it 9 months ago.
@@robtaylor5550 Paradise Theater by Styx and One More from the Road by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
cshubs, somehow I must have missed out, but thanks for letting me know. Cheers
I've loved his music since the '70's. Seeing him in concert in 3 days time (in New Zealand). Can't wait!
I love that you use live music! He is 100 percent better live than in the studio. His band at the time was 🔥
Good one Harry keep em coming. Nobody keeps it as real as you.
I love your insights and appreciation for Billy’s genius lyrics! Thanks Jami and Harri. 🌺✌️
Got to check out Billy Joel Allentown music video
If you haven't heard just the way you are by Billy Joel you need to check it out it's one of my favorites. Stay cool Harri✌️
(1) To this day. Billy saves this song for his encore at concerts because it is such a rockin' banger.
(2) In high school, Billy had a crush on a classmate, Virginia Callahan. She inspired this song.
(3) Take the time to really read the lyrics -- they are some of Billy's best. You will find one in particular used often by American high school students in yearbooks when they graduate with a departing quotes: "I rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun."
Go to Heaven for the climate and Hell for the company.
My departing yearbook quote in 1981 was “Do what’s good for you or you’re not good for anybody” from James - ❤️ Billy Joel
@@sallyhallada Perfect!
Billy Joel is so talented. Hope you give a listen to one of his early videos-The Longest Time-he sings acapella with his crowd. It's a blast!
The first time I listened to Billy Joel was before he became a super star. I was at a friends house listening to his first album. I said then that he was a genius and that he was going to be real big time. I was right.
A great take on it thanks.
My favorite Billy Joel song, thank you
Apparently the Catholic church has forgiven him since he sang it during his concert at University of Notre Dame last June and the University welcomed him with open arms. Even gave him a ND football helmet. Guess CZcams finally released it, thanks Harri.
@Judith Hill Billy is an atheist and Jewish by heritage, but never really a practicing Jew. I was just saying that the Catholic church took offense to the song back in the day, but has apparently gotten over it. As a catholic teen in the 70s I thought it was great. Guess my rebelliousness was showing.
@Judith Hill Agnostics are a cop-out and fence-sitters, pick a side and then come down on it. 🙃
Always a pleasure to hear this song , love your channel keep up the great work :)
Yes, some cutting controversial lyrics and backlash from the Catholic Church in the day. He was warned by a church head not to play this song at an upcoming concern in his town. So Billy opened his show with the tune, and also closed his show with it.
Beautiful. As if the catholic church has any right to discuss what's moral. What with the child loving priests and all.
I still can’t believe my Mom let me listen to this as a child in our Catholic household. Still my absolute favorite Billy Joel song.
A concert in his town at what venue?
I think it was THIS concert for the Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC TV.
One of my favorites by him! I love his stuff!
You nailed it, Harri!
I heard Billy Joel talking on late-night television, and he said Only the Good Die Young was on the banned music list! I did not know until he made that statement there was a banned music list!
Tutti gioielli i pezzi di Piano Man ... artista geniale poliedrico.... Per lui la musica un gioco facile .... Consiglio Leave a tender moment alone .. Live Billy Joel Tootsie Thielemans
Harri,
I hope you know that the typed lyrics on this live video are all wrong! Please look up Billy's correct lyrics to this song, because they are fabulous.
Fantastic choice, Jami A, and great reaction, Harri! This is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs. I never knew about his high school crush Virginia Callahan, the inspiration for the song, until I started reading the comments. I thought he simply chose the name Virginia because it contained the word "virgin." :-)
It may have had a double meaning.
Love Billy Joel! Please react to New York State of Mind from this same show. Brilliant!!! 💖😎
I don't remember there being any backlash to this song back when. The sax solo gave it a fifties vibe suggesting it might be a warning tale from the past rather than something present day. Remember, this came out the same year Meat Loaf dropped "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" so ...
I was at a funeral where they played this song. The Baptist minister stood there with a deer in the headlights look. The mother chose the song due to the name, only the good die young, with no thought to the rest of the lyrics. The minister was not amused.
That is hilarious. 😂
I was raised by extremely strict parents and I so relate to this song. I love the rebellious nature of his lyrics and to be honest.......he speaks the truth. One of my favorites of his vast catalog. Love me some Billy ......
Yeah finally!!
I love the thoughts and words expressing them in this song. They are sooo cleverly and creatively constructed. Virginia was the name of the girl the song was written about, but that name also is sourced from the word, 'virgin.'
I have never listened to the words of this songs. Great reaction Harri
Really? The words and the thoughts in this song are sooo cleverly and creatively constructed.
I never have.
This was the song that made me a Billy Joel. Of course, my Catholic mother blew a gasket. LOL.
😂love this
Seems like you are the first reactor to take this one on. Cool.
Wow! Where did you find this gem?! one of my favorite Billy Joel tunes, and the BEST live version i've ever seen. thank you Harry
This song got a lot of rotation on the radio and was my introduction to Billy Joel. I understood the lyrics, mostly, except why the Good die young. But I liked the groove, so I bought my first album based on songs I'd heard, The Stranger, and not long after I started collecting all of Billy Joel's albums (three at the time). I've never stopped loving his music, though he had many phases I liked more and less. River of Dreams speaks to my soul.
Awesome reaction. I can't wait to see which one of my last 3 you like most. I think one of them might make you tear up a little. I left my last 3 on another song reaction and you left a heart on it. Anyone that read it should know which one I think will make you tear up.
Great video. Please react to New York State of Mind from that same Concert. The best live Video of that song imo.
Next to My Life that is my divorce song, Only the Good Die Young is my Billy Joel favorite. Yes, it caused some controversy; but, that made it that much more appealing all around. After all, isn’t that proof Billy Joel was correct?!
Yeah, it was the perfect controversy, the whole point of rock ‘n roll and it’s history in the culture. He knew exactly what he was saying which gave it that edge channeling not only Beatles but Ray Charles and the likes. When it came out, us baby boomers said, “ Damn right, good tune! “. Struck at some generational chords. Noticed that performance was in England….do you think he felt more or less ‘less’ intimidated away from USA with that tune ? He killed it! Thanks keep it up!
I think it was as simple as he wanted this girl, and he couldn't have her.
Harri check out New York State of Mind. Hues of Crooners and jazz in Billy ' s inimitable style.
Harry this is based on a girl Billy knew. Virginia was her real name. He just wanted to get laid! 😂 there was definitely backlash and it made the song more popular 😊
You cannot blame parents for trying to keep their children "innocent" as long as possible but they often have to deal with the repercussions later for keeping them in the dark which many say is also damaging.
Harry, what's up with those captions? In this and the last couple of reactions you did, the captions are gibberish! Help 🥴🥴🥴
I love this song so much. It reminds me of a girl on whom I had a crush - my first serious crush - back in the '80s. She was a Catholic girl, you see.
hey still trying for his song River of dreams
🤣The CC on that video was all over the place.
Someone else commented on that and I just rewatched it with the subtitles on. Obviously done by a computer program or someone whose first language wasn’t English. 🤣
Matter of Trust
Fun fact: Billy conceived this track as having a reggae beat (if one digs deep enough, one can find demos and outtakes where this was tried). After a few run-throughs, his drummer (Liberty DeVitto) threw his drumsticks across the studio toward Billy, yelling "I f**king HATE reggae!" It became the shuffle beat we now know.
Believe me I know exactly what he was saying, Catholic school girls are extremely sheltered even to be completely naive about life
I'm not going there except for that starting late isn't a bad move, naive as it may be.
@@TrianglesAndCircles True, but if I was beter informed I might have made better decisions
@@debbiemickelson5448 I learned late the other way around. Nothing but debauchery in my teens and twenties. I made bad decisions. In the long run we all end up in the same place anyway, so I thought to myself why tiptoe through life just to arrive safely at death? It still confounds my mind. Don't let the past remind us of what we are not now.
The girl’s name is Virginia a riff on virgin.
This came out in 77 and was banned from airplay so it sure was controversial, lol
He may or may not have gotten the girl, he said that when it comes down to fate he wants to be the one. Sounds like he will wait and be there when she discovers herself.
Do yourself a favor and check out the New York State of Mind from this same show.
He did that one a while ago
@@RobRager ...Whaddyaknow, he did!! Thanks!
the caption printed incorrect words
Where are these "translation" captions from? The lyrics are completely wrong! Um, where did you find this vid?
I’m praying for you Harri.
I'm praying for you, Mark.
@@rorystorm4284 thank you I need it. An you as well.
He didn't "survive" this; it was a big hit for him, laugh. I encountered it in high school and yeah there are a couple statements in there but mostly all the guys liked it and all the girls liked it. We all knew it was mostly about flirting. That's what it's about. It's a shame to get sidetracked by the other stuff. And one thing I don't like about this video is although it's cool to get to see him that young, they don't show the band at all. And I always hate that. He had a killer band at this point in time he had an amazing band. Sometime go listen to the studio cut of this and don't watch anything visual, just close your eyes and I know you can do it because you're a musician, and you will hear how much that bass player is just going off and everybody and it's so well crafted and his vocals are incredible. This video is mostly annoying to me I have to say. But I do love the song and I always will. In fact I love everything off that album, The Stranger. it's probably my favorite album of his. He had some of them come out after this that I think sold a lot more copies but this was still a big hit. And we all loved it.
Totally agree with you, the studio version is what I fell in love with. Also agree, 'The Stranger' is such a great album, and I still love every song on it. Cheers
One my fav Billy Joel songs!!! ❤️. Love the lyrics. Opposed to "Angry Young Man," he later totally sold out & became an old, boring, conservative. Such a shame!!
The subtitles for the song are ridiculous
if you're not offending somebody, you're not creating art
Turn of the auto captions. It's wrong & distracting. Blocks the screen 😒
A statement on religious hypocrisy? He was trying to get laid… 😂🤣😂 We all were!
You showed NO expression. Were you even plugged in?
Stop pausing the songs right in the middle of a verse or a line that’s been song. So annoying. Wait for a musical break or something
I like Billy Joel but I don't like this song or the lyrics, disrespectful.
After buying the cautionary tales for too long, this song is one of my all-time Billy Joel faves!
A sense of humor is required
@@annehayes-grillo6600 Here's something funny do you think he'd be writing a song like that with negative lyrics about Islam? Doubtful.
@@gailanderson7217 I doubt if he would write a song like that with negative lyrics about Islam. I like Joel but I don't like hypocrisy.
@@bogritz6884 If he was familiar with the community and knew what was over the line and what wasn't, yes, he would.