We Asked People Who Got a Billy Joel Tattoo: Why?

Billy Joel has not released a record of new pop songs since 1993’s River of Dreams, an album that sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and is still on regular rotation at your dermatologist’s office. But based on the number of enduring hits the Bronx-born, Long Island-raised singer-songwriter is responsible for—including “Piano Man,” “You May Be Right,” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”—he still has a stadium-filling kind of popularity.

There are Billy Joel-focused fan sites, Facebook groups, podcasts, and subreddits, where the regular crowd shuffles in to post vintage promo videos and Billy Joel-related memes (they exist), while debating whether to name their fantasy football team “The Pylon Curtain” or “It’s Still 4th and Goal to Me.”

In one recent post in the “Billy Joel: Completely Retold” Facebook group, a Long Island man shared a pic of his new tattoo, which featured the Glass Houses cover art. As it was shared across the platform, a couple of other people added their own photos of their own Glass Houses tattoos. The Grammy-winning record has been called one of Joel’s “harder-rocking” releases, BUT STILL. We wanted to know what about that particular album made it tattoo-worthy, so we reached out to three of those ink-havers to ask them why.

When did you first develop your interest in Billy Joel’s music?

Ashley Connick, attorney, London/Dubai: I was introduced to his music by my dad, and that was something that we bonded over when I was a kid. I’ve always been kind of out of my era when it comes to music so, you know, I was listening to this stuff and I’d memorized the words to “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” when I was in my mid-teens. I’ve just grown up with it, and with him.

Joe Frumusa, college communications specialist, Scotia, New York: I’m originally from Smithtown, Long Island, which is probably 25, 30 miles from Hicksville, where Billy grew up. My mom was a big fan—there’s actually a story that she was supposed to go see him on December 31, 1989 at Nassau Coliseum, but her water broke and she had to go to the hospital with me instead. It was really the music that was playing in my household growing up. I wouldn’t say it was the “soundtrack to my life,” or anything like that, but I do relate to him as a Long Islander. He’s one of us, you know?

Troy Wright, engineer/musician, Boise, Idaho: It started when I was a kid. My cousin, who was younger than me, had the Piano Man record, the one that has “[The Ballad of] Billy the Kid” on it, so we listened to Billy Joel all the time. When Glass Houses came out, we just loved all the songs on it, so it’s really just a throwback from my childhood. I’ve got like three or four copies on vinyl, and I think the entire album is really great.

What made his music resonate with you so much?

Connick:  I find that he has a song for every mood, a lyric for every situation, and his music and his words have provided me with a lot of wisdom over the years. As you go through life, different songs take on different meanings, and experiences that you didn’t have at 16 suddenly make more sense. Listening to his music can be like going back and reading a novel or rewatching a film, in that every time you go back, you spot new things, or you’ve changed in the meantime and therefore your reaction to it is different.

Frumusa: I’ve learned a lot more about him from listening to the Sirius XM [Billy Joel] channel, and I like that he’s the kind of guy who didn’t really care what people thought of him or the type of music he was making. I mean, he put together essentially a jazz-fusion album with 52nd Street, then he completely turned the tables with Glass Houses. Two years later, he did an adult-contemporary album, Nylon Curtain, and then he does a 60s album? He always kept people on their toes.

Wright: My mom mostly listened to 60s and 70s rock, but she wasn’t going too deep—it wasn’t Led Zeppelin as much as it was Kenny Rogers. When Glass Houses came out, it sounded like dangerous rock ’n’ roll to me, and that was just part of my burgeoning little rebellious attitude. Some of the stuff was way over my head then: I didn’t know what a Beau Brummel was, and didn’t understand the reference until I was probably in my 30s. That just made it feel like being included in the adults’ conversations, trying to pretend like you understood the references, and that you’re just as cool as they are.

What made you decide to get a Billy Joel record cover tattooed on your body?

Connick: Once I realized that I liked tattoos, I looked around for the right image to have, and what I wanted to represent Billy Joel’s wisdom, and the amount of times that I’ve leaned on his words over the years. In early 2017, I decided that the Glass Houses cover was the image I wanted. I had the first half of it done in May of that year, and it was finished in October.

Frumusa: I knew I had to get something Billy Joel related, and I was kind of thinking about a couple of versions of that record cover, with the broken window and the glass cracks, but that didn’t really work with one [tattoo] artist. I started talking to an artist named Hannah Butterfield earlier this year, and she was like “Why don’t you just do the actual album cover?” And she recommended making the house kind of abstract. She sent me a design a couple of days before my appointment, and I was blown away, like “Oh my god, this is perfect.”

Do you have any other non-Glass Houses tattoos?

Connick: For my first tattoo, I got “Don’t forget your second wind” on my arm, so I already had some Billy Joel lyrics.

Frumusa: I got my first tattoo last year. I’m a major Batman fan and have been since I was a kid, so it’s related to that.

Wright: I’ve gotten a lot of tattoos of other types of rock, punk and metal bands, and I don’t like it to be so literal, like their actual logos or anything. My left arm is more classic rock and metal, like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, KISS, Steely Dan, Motorhead, AC/DC, Queen, the Rolling Stones and Rush. My right arm is Crass, Misfits, the Descendants, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Corrosion of Conformity, Articles of Faith. I have a Clash tattoo, another KISS tattoo, and a Bad Brains tattoo on one of my legs, and on the other leg it’s…Billy Joel.

So why Glass Houses?

Connick: Glass Houses was my first favorite Billy Joel album. That’s probably shifted to become Turnstiles, which is a reflection on me and how I’ve changed as I’ve gotten older, but I still really have a soft spot for Glass Houses. I also think that, of all his album covers, that’s the one that probably lends itself best to being tattooed. I did think about doing a section of the River of Dreams cover, and Piano Man might’ve been alright, although that’s really stark and it’s just his face. This [Glass Houses] is a Billy Joel album cover, but it’s just a cool piece of art and an interesting kind of social comment as well.

Frumusa: Glass Houses has always been my favorite album. The first thing you hear on that album is the glass shattering at the beginning of “You May Be Right” and you’re just like, “Oh, this is something completely different.” For the rest of the 80s he did something different for every single album, so in my eyes, it’s kind of a turning point in his career. He may not think that, but…

Wright: I’m very close with my cousin Anita, and Billy Joel’s always been a bonding thing for us. I love her like a sister, so it was almost like a family tribute thing too. Glass Houses is the album we both like the most, so it’s kind of like, “Hey, I love you, and I also love Billy Joel.”

What’s your favorite track on that record?

Connick: I’ve always loved “You May Be Right,” as a piece of music, as a chorus, and just all the way through. It’s talking about, “Look, nobody’s perfect, nobody’s sensible or straight-laced or whatever all the time, and I may be that particular version of daft that you want or you need.” I really like that as a message of self-acceptance. Musically, I’ve always loved “All for Leyna.”  And “Sleeping with the Television On” has one of my favorite Billy Joel lyrics of all time: “I really wish I was less of a thinking man / And more a fool who’s not afraid of rejection.” There’s plenty on there that I absolutely adore. 

Frumusa: “All For Leyna.” I grew up playing violin and was part of an orchestra, so sometimes I’m just listening for the intricacies of production and kind of how a song is put together. I think that song is, like, the second time on the album when you hear a piano, and it’s halfway through the first side if you’re listening to it [on vinyl], and it kind of includes all of the right elements of Billy Joel: some synthesizer, the piano, and then Liberty DeVitto’s drums on that song are just insane. That’s my favorite of all of his songs, but a very, very close second is “Until the Night” from 52nd Street. That is a straight-up masterpiece. 

Wright: “All for Leyna,” for sure. I think just the desperation [resonates with me], but also I’m primarily a drummer, and it was the first time that I ever tried to really learn how to play [with a song]. Even though it’s in 4/4 time, it’s got this difficult skipping rhythm, and it took me a long time to get my mind around that as a young percussionist. It used to kick my ass all the time, plus it’s just a ballsy rad song.

Are there any Billy Joel songs that you don’t love?

Connick: Until recently, I never had that much love for “Uptown Girl.” I always thought it was one of those ones that was a bit too obvious, the kind that everyone who’s not a Billy Joel fan knows. But the more I listened to it, the more I began to appreciate it.

Wright: River of Dreams is kind of tough for me to get through. “Uptown Girl” isn’t really a great tune, but I do think “The Longest Time” is a fucking cool song, and it’s done really well. It’s the perfect homage to a time period that really influenced him.

What has the response to your tattoo been like?

Connick: I don’t currently live with enough people who recognize it for exactly what it is. But going to Billy Joel concerts is a joy, when people recognize what’s on my arm. I do like that, but it doesn’t happen as often in general life as I’d like it to.

Frumusa: Every now and then, I get someone who stops me and knows exactly what it is. Sometimes people are like “Why is this guy standing there with a rock in his hand?” I have to explain it, but I’d rather have that over something super-obvious.

Wright: Some of the guys I grew up with give me shit about it. And there’s a local record store here where I do some performing and some busking events, and one of the guys who organizes that just absolutely loathes Billy Joel. So I always make sure that I play a Billy Joel tune for him at least once, and make sure he’s around to hear it.