Billy Joel Says This Hit Song Would Not Exist Without Linda Ronstadt

We love a good story behind the song!

And this one doesn’t disappoint!

Billy Joel recently gave an interview and talked about the early days of his career. It was 1977 and Joel was in the studio working on his album The Stranger. He had written the song “Just the Way You Are” for his first wife, Elizabeth, but wasn’t sure it was right for the album. “It’s a nice soft ballad, love song. I didn’t even want to put it on the album because I thought it was too mushy,” Joel said.

“And then we were in the studio,” Joel continued. “Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow were in the studio, and we played the song for them. I said, ‘I don’t like this song that much.’ Linda Ronstadt goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? That’s a hit record. You got to put that on the album. That’s a great song.’ ‘Really?’ She talked me into it. So I have to thank Linda Ronstadt for that song.”

In 1977, Ronstadt was one of the biggest musicians in America. Known for her song “You’re No Good,” she had multiple Top 10 hits, was selling out arenas, and became the first woman to have four albums in a row go platinum!

Ronstadt’s seal of approval meant the song made the album – and it became Joel’s first Top 10 Billboard pop hit, reaching No. 3!

Ronstadt just turned 80 this week. She’s won 10 Grammys, is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and she is a Kennedy Center honoree. She was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, which affects her vocal cords and is now unable to sing. She last performed in 2009.

Now back to the song “Just the Way You Are” – Ronstadt is not the only famous musician who loves the ballad. Paul McCartney wrote this in a newsletter in 1994: “I don’t really want to have written anyone else’s songs, but, as a fantasy question, I love ‘Stardust’, by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish. It’s a beautiful song. And I remember thinking that Billy Joel’s first hit, ‘Just The Way You Are’, was a nice song, I’d like to have written that one too.”

Two big thumbs up for “Just the Way You Are” from two big musicians!

So here it is – and a way-back Throwback from Linda Ronstadt!