Part one of the new two-part Billy Joel documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, premiered Friday, July 18, on HBO Max. The film features new interviews with the Piano Man, including segments where he discusses the writing of some of his famous and enduring songs.
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Coinciding with the premiere, Joel posted a clip from the documentary on his social media pages featuring him sharing his recollection of composing “New York State of Mind,” a song that has gone on to become a modern-day standard.
Joel wrote “New York State of Mind” in 1975, not long after he moved back to his home state after living in Los Angles for four years. At the time, Billy and his first wife, Elizabeth, were living in a rented house in Highland Falls, a village on the Hudson River in upstate New York. While riding a Greyhound bus to his new home, and he started coming up with the tune’s lyrics.
The clip begins with Joel reciting some of the lyrics that came to him on the bus.
“Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood,” Billy says. “I’m in a New York state of mind.”
He then shares, “The minute I got back to this rented house, and I saw my wife, I said, ‘Do we have a piano?’ [She said,] ‘Yeah, it’s upstairs.’” [And I said,] ‘Let me just go up to the piano.’ Ran up to the piano and wrote the song probably within about an hour. It just came out.”
Rapper Nas on the Impact “New York State of Mind” Had on Him
The clip also features a brief interview clip with acclaimed rapper Nas, who discusses his appreciation of “New York State of Mind.”
“‘New York State of Mind,’ that one stood out,” he says. “It was a phrase that I heard my dad say all the time with his friends, and I thought it was the most sophisticated, brilliant phrase.”
Nas’ father, incidentally, is veteran jazz musician Olu Dara.
More About “New York State of Mind”
“New York State of Mind” appeared on Joel’s fourth studio album, Turnstiles, which was released in May 1976. As popular as the song is, Billy never released it as a solo single.
Musically, “New York State of Mind” was inspired by Ray Charles, while the lyrics, of course, celebrate Joel’s love for New York City.
In 2001, Joel recorded a duet version of the song with Tony Bennett that appeared on the legendary crooner’s album Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues. In 2002, the performance was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.
Billy also recorded a duet rendition of “New York State of Mind” with Barbra Streisand that was featured on her 2014 album Partners. Streisand previously recorded a solo version of the tune for her 1977 studio effort, Superman.
In 2021, Joel’s original version of “New York State of Mind” was certified platinum by the RIAA for equivalent sales of 1 million in the U.S.
More About Billy Joel: And So It Goes
Part two of Billy Joel: And So It Goes debuts on Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Both parts run two hours and 24 minutes.
An official synopsis for And So It Goes explains that the film presents “an expansive portrait of the life and music of Billy Joel, exploring the love, loss, and personal struggles that fuel his songwriting.” The movie features “never-before-seen performances, home movies, and personal photographs, along with extensive, in-depth one-on-one interviews.”
The film is crafted around in-depth exclusive conversations with the Piano Man. The documentary also features appearances by various other famous artists, and some of Joel’s family members, friends, and band members.
The family members include current wife Alexis, daughter Alexa Ray, and ex-wives Elizabeth Weber, Christie Brinkley, and Katie Lee. Among the famous musicians featured in the documentary are Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, John Mellencamp, Garth Brooks, and the aforementioned Nas.
(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
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