r/BillyJoel

I write '80s and '90s pop-rock songs in character as a fictional band called Parsons/Archer and their lead singer, Danielle "Danny" D'Abruzzo. Yes, they're AI generated, but I really do write the music in addition to the lyrics -- AI sings and plays the instruments and adds all the professional-sounding production. Trust me, you don't want to hear me performing this stuff.

Often I try to write a song in the style of an artist I admire. The songs usually end up having a lot of me in them as well, but they're heavily influenced by that artist. Even though I've loved Billy Joel since I was a little kid, I've never really tried to do a Billy song because I didn't think his music was compatible enough with my typical style. (I did do one song that's thematically inspired by "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," but not musically.) Recently, though, I just thought the hell with it, I need Billy representation in the Parsons/Archer catalog, stylistic consistency be damned.

This song took me TWO MONTHS to write, a record for me. I came up with the idea while shoveling snow in February. After I decided I had to write a Billy Joel song, my next thought was, "What if the song is ABOUT Billy Joel?" And from there, it was, "What if the song is about Danny getting friendzoned by Billy Joel because he only wants to date supermodels?" I took off my gloves, pulled out my phone and recorded myself singing an early version of the chorus right there, and I spent a lot of time working it out in places such as the shower in the following couple of months.

I threw a few lyrical Easter eggs in there that I'm sure fans will be able to find pretty easily. Bonus points if you can identify the specific Billy song I was most musically inspired by here. I tried to vary enough that it didn't seem like a ripoff, but the DNA is still very much there. Hint: It's a deep cut but a big favorite among hardcore fans.

Oh, and one apology: That guitar solo in the middle is supposed to be a grand Billy Joel piano solo. And so it goes with AI-generated music -- sometimes the piano solo turns into a guitar solo, but otherwise the version you generated is perfect and you kinda like the guitar solo anyway so you don't want to dump it. I still feel like it would have sounded more authentic as a piano solo, though. Try to imagine it that way!