The Songwriting Flaw Only Bob Dylan Could Get Away With, According to Billy Joel

Bob Dylan and Billy Joel gifted the 20th century with some of the most sentimentally and intellectually profound songs of the generation. Despite this similarity, the two couldn’t be further apart when it comes to actual music. Billy Joel is a musical savant, a wizard on the keys, and as a result, has created some of the most memorable melodies of all time. Whereas Bob Dylan, more or less, views the music as secondary to his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry. Matter of fact, Joel believes Dylan to be the only musician who has the right to write music in such a way.

Again, there are a few similarities between Dylan and Joel’s music. Regarding their lyrics, there are a few, as both musicians are storytellers and wordsmiths. However, the two go about writing songs in a completely different fashion. Matter of fact, Joel attested to this fact in an interview with Playboy in 1982.

Billy Joel’s Musical Method

Thanks to his incredibly catchy and complex musical arrangements, it comes as no surprise that Joel puts most of his energy into his music. “Words are just as important as music…but the first thing you hear with any song is the music,” Joel told Playboy.

Joel added, “If my words don’t emotionally match the music” and “That’s because they are made to fit in afterwards.” Joel has a strict belief about lyrics being secondary, and he holds himself and every other artist accountable for his taste. In other words, if the lyrics and the music are tonally in juxtaposition, then it doesn’t make for a great song according to Joel. Although, Joel has an exception to this rule, an exception that could seemingly only be made for The Bard himself, Bob Dylan.

The Untouchable Bob Dylan

Ever since he graced the public with his music, Bob Dylan has been signing out of key, playing too fast or too slow, and essentially, paying far more attention to his lyrics and not his music. Ultimately, that’s what makes Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan. Billy Joel knows this, as he stated, “Dylan was the only one who could get away with not having the music as complete as the lyrics.”

For Joel, this is a large and sweeping statement, as the man is a musical perfectionist with exceptional pitch and an ability to craft impeccable melodies. That being so, Joel completely understands and possibly even envies the how and why behind Bob Dylan’s somewhat subordinate view on the importance of music in songwriting.

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