“Allentown” by Billy Joel (1982)

Dad’s Song of the Day #263, May 17, 2026

Under normal circumstances, it might’ve been quite a long while before I ever got to a Billy Joel song.

But there’s a cultural brouhaha underway at the New York Times that compels me to make even the most insignificant display of respect for Billy as a songwriter.

The Times recently created a list of the “30 Greatest Living American Songwriters,” which has caused quite a stir. It boils down to the list being much more modern and much more diverse than these lists usually are.

To this white boomer, it’s left out some pretty obvious names (like Tom Waits, which, in my books, is disqualifying to the whole endeavour) while including a heavy handful of people I’ve never heard of.

That’s all fine with me: These lists are obviously subjective, and 30 is a small number…and maybe it’s on me to dig into these newer songwriters. I had forgotten the whole thing about 30 seconds after I’d seen it.

But then there was a podcast, “Canonball”, which featured some of the list-makers talking about their selection process…and, boy, what a bunch of pretentious jerks!

Here’s a clip where one of them responds—in the smuggest, most dismissive way—to an email questioning the omission of Billy Joel:

“Billy Joel is a very good example of a person who writes 1 or 1.5 kinds of songs really well, that also people before him wrote really well, and people after him wrote really well…”

Like, seriously? One or 1.5 kinds of songs?!?!

So here I am, making a totally unpredictable stand in defence of Billy Joel…not because I personally believe he’s one of the 30 greatest songwriters (I don’t), but because I just hate these smug, insufferable dickwads. I’m happy to join the pile-on.

Here’s “Allentown”—which speaks to the dissolution of the industrial Midwest—and looks at a place (Pennsylvania) and time (1982) when factory jobs were disappearing due to technological advancements…and young people feared for their futures in a changing economy.

For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all

Sound familiar? It’s almost like Billy Joel had written a song with a universal theme that can resonate through generations.

Not sure, though, if The Times would include “Allentown” in the 1 song or 1.5 songs that he’s capable of writing.

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This series is for my two 19-year-olds, who moved off to school with the misguided belief they’d escaped their dad’s relentless nostalgia and monopolization of the car stereo. I’m very happy for anyone else to come along for the ride.

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