Only the Good Die Young explained

Only the Good Die Young
Cover:OnlyTheGoodDieYoung.jpg
Caption:A-side label of U.S. vinyl single
Type:single
Artist:Billy Joel
Album:The Stranger
B-Side:Get It Right the First Time
Released:May 1978
Recorded:1977
Length:3:55
Label:Columbia
Producer:Phil Ramone
Prev Title:Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Prev Year:1978
Next Title:She's Always a Woman
Next Year:1978

"Only the Good Die Young" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album The Stranger, released in 1978 as its third of four singles.

Background

"Only the Good Die Young" was controversial for its time, with the lyrics written from the perspective of a young man determined to have sex with a Catholic girl.[1] The song was inspired by a high school love interest of Joel's, Virginia Callahan. The boy/narrator believes that the girl is refusing him because she comes from a religious Catholic family and that she believes premarital sex is sinful. He sings,

You Catholic girls start much too late,but sooner or later it comes down to fate.I might as well be the one.

Attempts to censor the song only made it more popular, after religious groups considered it anti-Catholic,[2] and pressured radio stations to remove it from their playlists.[3] "When I wrote 'Only the Good Die Young', the point of the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust," Joel told Performing Songwriter magazine. "The minute they banned it, the album started shooting up the charts." In a 2008 interview, Joel also pointed out one part of the lyrics that virtually all the song's critics missed – the boy in the song failed to get anywhere with the girl, and she kept her chastity.[4] The song begins with a piano introduction.

In 2023, Joel said of the song "It's occurred to me recently that I'm trying to talk some poor innocent woman into losing her virginity because of my lust. It's kind of a selfish song – like, who cares what happens to you? What about what I want?... But on the other hand, it was of its time. This was written in the mid-'70s, and I was trying to seduce girls. Why bullshit about it?"[5]

Reception

Billboard described "Only the Good Die Young" as one of Joel's "strongest and catchiest" songs.[6] Cash Box said that "Billy grabs the fun with a rollicking, handclapping beat, raspy sax solo and racy piano licks."[7]

Demo version

A demo, included in the box set My Lives, is a slower, reggae version of the song. Joel reprised the song's motif in this version with a church organ. Joel has stated publicly that he changed the reggae beat to a shuffle beat at the request of his long time drummer, Liberty DeVitto, who hated reggae music.[8]

Track listing

7" single (1978)

  1. "Only the Good Die Young" – (3:55)
  2. "Get It Right the First Time" – (3:32)

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1978)Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[9] 18
U.S. Billboard Hot 10024
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[10] 25

Year-end charts

Notes and References

  1. Book: Sagert, Kelly Boyer . The 1970s . limited . 2007 . Greenwood Press . New York . 978-0-313-33919-6 . 177.
  2. http://performingsongwriter.com/only-good-die-young/ The Story Behind Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young"
  3. Book: Dean, Maury . Rock N' Roll Gold Rush . Maury Dean . 2003 . Algora . 0-87586-207-1 . limited . 242 .
  4. Interview with Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2008
  5. Web site: Billy Joel Reflects on Two of His Songs by Today's 'Woke Standards'. Banas, Erica. March 10, 2023. March 14, 2023. WMMR.
  6. News: Billboard. 2020-07-10. Top Single Picks. 92. May 20, 1978.
  7. News: CashBox Singles Reviews. May 20, 1978. 24. Cash Box. 2022-01-01.
  8. Billy Joel tells how "Only The Good Die Young" came to sound the way it does crediting Liberty Devitto

  9. Web site: Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada . Bac-lac.gc.ca . 17 July 2013 . 2016-10-13.
  10. Web site: CASH BOX Top 100 Singles Week ending JULY 15, 1978 . 2015-12-27 .
  11. Web site: Item: 114 - Library and Archives Canada . Bac-lac.gc.ca . 17 July 2013 . 2016-10-13.