Billy Joel just celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at Madison Square Garden, featuring video birthday wishes from Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Don Henley, Pink and others, plus a guest performance by Peter Frampton. Though Billy Joel’s parents were both Jewish, he was not raised Jewish, and was actually baptized in a Protestant church. Which of the following is a true story regarding Joel’s Jewish background?
Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden by slgckgc is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A. Joel began taking piano lessons when he was 8 years old. The first time he performed in public was at the bar mitzvah party of his best friend David Sheinberg, which took place at a popular Long Island party venue, Leonard’s of Great Neck. For the event, Joel learned to play Hava Nagilah, which he then performed as the guests danced the hora and David was lifted on a chair. It was after this event that Joel’s parents finally told him that they were actually Jewish.
B. Joel learned he was Jewish when he was young, and he mentioned it to a neighborhood boy who immediately punched him, knocking him to the ground. Joel later said that this incident was one of the influences on his lyrics in the song Prelude/Angry Young Man, including the lines “He’s always at home with his back to the wall/And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost/And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross/And he likes to be known as the angry young man.”
C. Joel learned he was Jewish when he was young, and he mentioned it to a girl who lived across the street. She responded that he would grow horns. For many months after, Joel checked his head to see if horns were starting to grow.
D. In 1988, Joel decided to celebrate a bar mitzvah, as it was his 39th birthday (3 times 13). As part of the ceremony he delivered a bar mitzvah speech about how his Jewish heritage influenced his life. He later incorporated that speech into his song Two Thousand Years from the River of Dreams album, including the lyrics: “In the beginning/There was the cold and the night/Prophets and angels gave us the fire and the light/Man was triumphant/Armed with the faith and the will/That even the darkest ages couldn’t kill.”
E. As a young adult, Joel reconnected with his Jewish roots and decided to have a bar mitzvah. At the party afterward, Joel played piano and entertained, singing a song he wrote for the occasion entitled, Scenes From a Kosher Restaurant, with lyrics including the following: “A bottle of red/Manischevitz/It tastes so good after you’ve had a shvitz/You can shove matzah balls down your belly/while dining at our kosher deli.” He later rewrote the song as Scenes from an Italian Restaurant and it became a huge hit.