"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel [Recast]

Strong Songs

A bottle of red... a bottle of white... whatever kind of mood you're in, we're talking Billy Joel tonight!

Pull up a table and join Kirk for a long look into one of Joel's most enduring songs, the seven-and-a-half minute, five course musical meal that is "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." The centerpiece on Joel's breakthrough 1977 album The Stranger, Italian Restaurant has got it all: schmaltzy sax, hard rock rhythms, love, heartbreak, and a pair of harmonized clarinets.

Written by: Billy Joel
Produced by: Phil Ramone

Album: The Stranger (1977)

Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify

FEATURED/DISCUSSED:

• "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "Just The Way You Are," "Vienna," "Only The Good Die Young," and "She's Always a Woman to Me" by Billy Joel from The Stranger, 1977
• Joel discussing Phil Ramone in The Complete Albums Collection documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm5-oQNENnM
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Freddie Mercury and Queen from A Night at the Opera, 1975
• “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” by Ben Folds from Whatever and Ever Amen, 1997
• “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, 1964
• “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp from American Fool, 1982
• “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen from Born to Run, 1975

OUTRO SOLOIST: Steve Pardo

This episode's outro soloist is the one and only Steve Pardo. Steve is a Nashville, TN based producer, composer, and saxophonist. You can find out more at his website: https://www.stevepardo.com/

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RECAST RECOMMENDATION: Thomas Mapfuno & the Blacks Unlimited, "Toi Toi"

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