Billy Joel, Me, and Revia

Sirius XM fired up the Billy Joel channel again.

I'm digging it. Are you? Very singable stuff.

He gives a little history about some of his songs before they play them. I love that shit. I want to know what he was thinking, what inspired the song, how hard or easy it was to write.

His daughter - Alexa Ray -  had her own hour on the channel to present her father's songs and talk about them. She talked about New York State of Mind. One of my favorites.

Joel had relocated to the west coast to supercharge his career, but he wasn't happy out there. He's a New York boy at heart. So he hopped on a bus and headed home. He wrote New York State of Mind on the fucking bus. Could you do that? 

"Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood, hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood, but I'm taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line, I'm in a New York state of mind."

And now to The Memory.

I've talked about this before and I probably will again because it left a mark on me. 

The very first time I heard New York State of Mind was when Billy Joel appeared on the Mike Douglas Show on August 9, 1976 - so I was 22 years old. My mother was a big Mike Douglas fan - she watched the show a lot. "Dishes go unwashed and shirts remain unironed when Mike Douglas comes on" - a quote from TV Guide. The majority of the show's audience was made up of housewives.

I believe it aired at 4:00. I remember getting home from somewhere (probably college - because I attended Northeastern University I was always either working or going to school), I remember sitting down to watch the show with my mother.

I don't know if that was something I did regularly, but it could have been - Mike Douglas had some pretty cool guests - Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Turtles, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, John and Yoko.

Billy Joel came on, sat behind a piano, and sang the song. I was blown away. Instantaneously. I loved it.

The thing I think about a lot, is me and my mother listening to Billy Joel together. That is an odd circumstance. I don't know if she liked the song - she could of - it wasn't any of that nasty rock 'n roll, and Joel was a pretty presentable guy. But I just don't know.

I want to believe it was a special moment for the two of us, a warm and intimate moment - the kind that only music can inspire. I want to believe that she liked the song and - more importantly - that she enjoyed listening to it with me.

My emotional memories of that moment are blocked. Which frees me up to remember it any way I want to.

I choose to believe that for a few minutes on August 9, 1976, me and my mother shared a close and personal and meaningful moment.

Case closed.