The Billy Joel Lyric That Bid Farewell to His Temporary Home

The title “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” doesn’t quite convey the nuance found in the lyrics of Billy Joel’s classic song. When you hear the title and envision Joel’s in-your-face attitude, you might expect the phrase “good riddance” to be the unspoken subtext.

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Joel was indeed writing about his own cross-country journey to return to his roots in New York. But “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” actually bids a wistful, if not quite fond, farewell to the West Coast.

“Hollywood” Heartache

As he battled to put his career on solid footing in the early 70s, Billy Joel made California his main residence for a few years. After all, LA and its surrounding areas stood at the heart of the singer-songwriter movement at the time.

But he started to lose his taste for the Southern California lifestyle by the middle of the decade. His decision to move back East to his home state coincided with a desire to wrest more control of his career, which he felt was too dependent on the whims of record companies and producers.

Turnstiles, which Joel self-produced and released in 1976, featured several songs that touched on this transformation in Joel’s life. “New York State Of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)” were love letters, in their own unique ways, to NYC. Meanwhile, “I’ve Loved These Days” referenced the decadence of the life he led in California.

For “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”, Joel sought to emulate Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound productions of the 60s. He borrowed the drumbeat straight from the Ronettes’ classic “Be My Baby”. And he even tried to sing with an exaggerated vibrato to mimic the style of Ronnie Spector, the group’s lead singer.

Because Turnstiles proved to be a commercial disappointment, “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” mostly faded into obscurity, especially when Joel started minting hits on his next few albums. But he’d return to it on the 1981 live album Songs From The Attic. He even released the in-concert version as a single, and it rolled into the Top 20.

Examining the Lyrics of “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”

“Say Goodbye To Hollywood” doesn’t give a direct blow-by-blow of Joel’s thought process in leaving the West Coast behind. Instead, the first two verses introduce a pair of characters who are trying to navigate California in their own ways. They represent the dreamers who come to the area hoping for success and redemption and give it their best shot.

First, there’s Bobby. We know that he’s putting on airs in the hopes that he can fake it to make it. His ride? “A hot new rent-a-car.” Then there’s Johnny, who’s “taking care of things for a while,” a job description just vague enough to sound illicit. Joel’s mention of “troubadours” in this verse is no accident, as he’s likely referencing the famous California music club that he himself played.

The narrator suggests that he has some connection to Johnny: “He won’t be my fast gun anymore,” Joel sings. But then these ancillary characters disappear from view in the middle eight and final verse as the reflections get more personal. “Moving on is a chance you take/Every time you try to stay together,” he sings.

In the final verse, he gets downright philosophical about it all. “So many faces in and out of my life,” he ponders. “Some will last, some will just be now and then/Life is a series of hellos and goodbye’s/I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again.”

In these moments, “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” suggests that the actual location from which one is departing is immaterial. What matters are the friends and lovers you leave behind at every former port of call.

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