June 18, 2024 • 4 mins
Today’s The Story Behind The Song is Billy Joel’s Movin' Out (Anthony's Song). Billy talks with Howard Stern about recording the song plus where those car sound effects heard on the song came from.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let Me tell You a Story Now on Time Clearly
releases The Story behind the song.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Moving Out, also known as Anthony's Song by Billy Joel,
is from his nineteen seventy seven album The Stranger.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's the opening track.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Billboard described Moving Out as an upbeat narrative that is
sort of a commentary on upward mobility. Cash Box said
that growling cellos and a pulsating rhythm section set the
mood for Joel's threatening indictment of middle class values, and
that it has one of the best choruses he's written,
combined with unusual echo effects. It is typically Joel, with
(00:38):
New York City references and an unusual piano dominated structure.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So what's the story behind the song?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Real? And like you said, the Stranger album, which we
both were talking about, had such a wonderful album.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I have to admit it is my favorite.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And Billy, after Turnstiles the previous album, was in a
bit of strife with his career because it wasn't selling
that well and he needed a hit, and this in
a way didn't sell as many copies. But this album
was Billy's rumors really if the fluid that kind of thing,
and this kicked him off on that incredible run lace
with fifty seconds straight glasshouses and not on the curtain,
the classic Billy Joel era. But this song started out
(01:10):
almost as well. It was almost like a little bit
of peril for Billy as well. Here explains with radio
manhnwick Stune what happened.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I wrote a different melody and different chords originally, and
so I always wrote the music first, Okay, right, So
the music was.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
It sounded too much like Neil Sedaka.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Yeah, laughter in the Rain.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I've come into the studio. The band is there,
and they and here he goes after.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He works in the grosser rista.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
And they're looking at me like I got ten heads.
They said, that's laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka.
Oh crap. And I wrote all the lyrics. I wrote
all lyrics based on that original mel What did.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That sound like? Another word?
Speaker 5 (02:00):
If you were singing the lyrics to the Neil Sadaka thing,
what would that sound like?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Didn't he work?
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Send the grosser stop say in this penny say some
day Mama Leone left a note on the Dollney move
out to the country.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I don't think I went and do well.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
I feel Laughter in the Ring.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
So you're sitting in the studio, the band says to you, billy,
you've unconsciously, subconsciously taken the wrong song and this and that.
Do you sit there in the studio and say, wait,
they weren't that nice about it. They said, what do
you shithead? That's laughter in the Ring by Neil Sadd.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No, they don't talk to you like that. They do.
They do well, they're all Long Island guys.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
But when they said it in all seriousness, do you
panic and say, oh, I've done something wrong here?
Speaker 6 (02:46):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (02:46):
And then where do you go back home and say,
I like these lyrics and now I'm going to rewrite it?
Or are you sitting in the studio and you go
right then and there? Okay, how's this?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I said, give me, give me a little time. I'm
going to rewrite the melody.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Niel Sadaka would not have been happy.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
That is fantastic, Long Island guys.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We talked to each other. It's a term of endearment.
But how is that that he had? You know, he's
trying to write songs like My Sweet Lord and George
Harrison didn't realize at the time it was someone else's
tune when you write in the melody.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But it's an easy, easy miss you would be an
easy mistake to make. It's like when I wrote Gone
with the Wind. When you describe that, it's like this
sounds for men. It sounds before you know. They're talking
about the unusual echo effects and sound effects. And there was,
of course the famous Chevy sound effects.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
It was the car near the end, yeahs was.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
That That was just someone in the band, was one
of those Long Island guys.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It was one of those guys calling in his head.
It was his bass player.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
That was Doug steg Meyer's corvette.
Speaker 8 (03:52):
He actually we wanted some kind of the sound of
a car peeling out and Stegma the time had a corvette,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It was like a sixty zero corvette.
Speaker 8 (04:03):
And he took his little tape machine in the car
with him and hung the microphone over the rear end
of the car. And that was burning rubber doing, you know,
screeching away from his house.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that's where that sound came from. It's thugs that
doing that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
So we're going to be listening closely for the car
at the end now, and that was the bass players car.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
He's Corvette screeching out of his own drive.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, there you go, the story behind the song. So
great songs. As we mentioned the Stranger album She's Always
a Woman, The Stranger itself titled track the story behind
the song that's the love for Today. That's awesome. And
he moved well and truly away because it didn't sound
like Neil Sadhaka.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
But it certainly did when he first started.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I didn't I didn't know what song that was, Howard
Doney straight away.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
He didn't meet Neil sa Dhaka, but I knew, I
knew was.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yes, yeah, very familiar.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
But he made it into his own, and he didn't.
You didn't want to throw those lyrics out because they's
so damn good
Let Me tell You a Story Now on Time Clearly
releases The Story behind the song.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Moving Out, also known as Anthony's Song by Billy Joel,
is from his nineteen seventy seven album The Stranger.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's the opening track.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Billboard described Moving Out as an upbeat narrative that is
sort of a commentary on upward mobility. Cash Box said
that growling cellos and a pulsating rhythm section set the
mood for Joel's threatening indictment of middle class values, and
that it has one of the best choruses he's written,
combined with unusual echo effects. It is typically Joel, with
(00:38):
New York City references and an unusual piano dominated structure.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So what's the story behind the song?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Real? And like you said, the Stranger album, which we
both were talking about, had such a wonderful album.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I have to admit it is my favorite.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And Billy, after Turnstiles the previous album, was in a
bit of strife with his career because it wasn't selling
that well and he needed a hit, and this in
a way didn't sell as many copies. But this album
was Billy's rumors really if the fluid that kind of thing,
and this kicked him off on that incredible run lace
with fifty seconds straight glasshouses and not on the curtain,
the classic Billy Joel era. But this song started out
(01:10):
almost as well. It was almost like a little bit
of peril for Billy as well. Here explains with radio
manhnwick Stune what happened.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I wrote a different melody and different chords originally, and
so I always wrote the music first, Okay, right, So
the music was.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
It sounded too much like Neil Sedaka.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Yeah, laughter in the Rain.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I've come into the studio. The band is there,
and they and here he goes after.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He works in the grosser rista.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
And they're looking at me like I got ten heads.
They said, that's laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka.
Oh crap. And I wrote all the lyrics. I wrote
all lyrics based on that original mel What did.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That sound like? Another word?
Speaker 5 (02:00):
If you were singing the lyrics to the Neil Sadaka thing,
what would that sound like?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Didn't he work?
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Send the grosser stop say in this penny say some
day Mama Leone left a note on the Dollney move
out to the country.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I don't think I went and do well.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
I feel Laughter in the Ring.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
So you're sitting in the studio, the band says to you, billy,
you've unconsciously, subconsciously taken the wrong song and this and that.
Do you sit there in the studio and say, wait,
they weren't that nice about it. They said, what do
you shithead? That's laughter in the Ring by Neil Sadd.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No, they don't talk to you like that. They do.
They do well, they're all Long Island guys.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
But when they said it in all seriousness, do you
panic and say, oh, I've done something wrong here?
Speaker 6 (02:46):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (02:46):
And then where do you go back home and say,
I like these lyrics and now I'm going to rewrite it?
Or are you sitting in the studio and you go
right then and there? Okay, how's this?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I said, give me, give me a little time. I'm
going to rewrite the melody.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Niel Sadaka would not have been happy.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
That is fantastic, Long Island guys.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We talked to each other. It's a term of endearment.
But how is that that he had? You know, he's
trying to write songs like My Sweet Lord and George
Harrison didn't realize at the time it was someone else's
tune when you write in the melody.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But it's an easy, easy miss you would be an
easy mistake to make. It's like when I wrote Gone
with the Wind. When you describe that, it's like this
sounds for men. It sounds before you know. They're talking
about the unusual echo effects and sound effects. And there was,
of course the famous Chevy sound effects.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
It was the car near the end, yeahs was.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
That That was just someone in the band, was one
of those Long Island guys.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It was one of those guys calling in his head.
It was his bass player.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
That was Doug steg Meyer's corvette.
Speaker 8 (03:52):
He actually we wanted some kind of the sound of
a car peeling out and Stegma the time had a corvette,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It was like a sixty zero corvette.
Speaker 8 (04:03):
And he took his little tape machine in the car
with him and hung the microphone over the rear end
of the car. And that was burning rubber doing, you know,
screeching away from his house.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that's where that sound came from. It's thugs that
doing that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
So we're going to be listening closely for the car
at the end now, and that was the bass players car.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
He's Corvette screeching out of his own drive.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, there you go, the story behind the song. So
great songs. As we mentioned the Stranger album She's Always
a Woman, The Stranger itself titled track the story behind
the song that's the love for Today. That's awesome. And
he moved well and truly away because it didn't sound
like Neil Sadhaka.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
But it certainly did when he first started.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I didn't I didn't know what song that was, Howard
Doney straight away.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
He didn't meet Neil sa Dhaka, but I knew, I
knew was.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yes, yeah, very familiar.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
But he made it into his own, and he didn't.
You didn't want to throw those lyrics out because they's
so damn good
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