Billy Joel Loves You Just the Way You Are

By Naomi Serviss / North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Love him or leave him, Billy Joel, the self-effacing mega-hitmaker from Hicksville, Long Island, has long infiltrated impressionable psyches with pulse-quickening lyrics and ear-worm melodies.

Including mine.

Critics piled on early, proclaiming catchy tunes and lyrics trite, derivative, sentimental and schlocky.

What do they know?

After viewing HBO’s newly released documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, they will eat their words.

This two-part homage to raw talent polished and served hot, is a mesmerizing inside-and-out dissection of Joel’s roller-coaster life. So far.

Documented are his traumatic childhood with an unbalanced mother, three failed marriages, bouts of suicidal depression, alcoholism, tabloid scandals and unrequited love.

Unrequited love from his long-distance father, Howard Joel.

The documentary highlights fan-favorite performances, including the autobiographical and seminal “Piano Man.” Joel, 76, wearied of his trademark hit after the umpteenth time laying it out for adoring concertgoers.

Since then, his reconciliation with and appreciation for the heart-tugging ode comes full circle.

After a 10-year-long gig and performing 104 shows at Madison Square Garden, Joel has left the building.

A contributing factor in choosing a definitive exit was a recent diagnosis with the brain disorder hydrocephalus, once deemed “water on the brain.” The condition has left him feeling unsteady and off-kilter.

Like being on a boat, he’s revealed in interviews.

The first half of the film, by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, premiered in June at the Tribeca Festival. It deep dives into Joel’s early career days and first marriage to Elizabeth Weber.

The second half dishes on his travails with second and third marriages to supermodel Christie Brinkley and celebrity chef Katie Lee Biegel.

Alcohol was another bedfellow. Being coerced into rehab didn’t succeed.

Joel acknowledged that until an alcoholic wants to quit, no outside pressure can wean imbibers off the juice.

He returned to performing live after participating in “12-12-12,” a benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy relief.

He was re-hooked.

Joel’s relationship to his Jewish identity is highlighted after he discovered that his paternal grandfather, Karl Joel, had owned a textile factory in Nuremberg.

Nazis hijacked it during the Holocaust.

It became the manufacturing site of the striped uniforms worn by concentration camp prisoners.

Joel has worn a yellow star on his lapel during concerts in homage.

Considering that he hasn’t released a pop-driven album since the 1993 release of “River of Dreams,” his popularity continues to astound and fortify early fans’ devotion.

Its hauntingly beautiful cover tune is an all-time favorite, with meandering melody, infectious beat, do-wop rhythm and dreamy percussive persuasion.

Joel’s fourth marriage to former Morgan Stanley executive Alexis Roderick and fathering their two young girls has stabilized a rocky life.

He’s content and grateful for his iconic pop music foothold, despite the unexpected medical calamity.

Viewers who considered Joel a lightweight tunesmith may change their tune after watching.

Full disclosure: as a fellow former Long Islander, my kinship for Joel’s formidable talent is biased.

I knew his mother, Rosalind, Roz among friends.

When my husband Lew was hired by Newsday in 1983, we moved from Orlando, Florida, to a sight-unseen derelict roach-infested apartment carved out of a decrepit house in Huntington Station, N,Y.

Emily was six months old. I was recovering from back surgery, and we were connectionless.

I found a women’s support group housed in a historic church on Huntington’s Main Street. An eclectic crew welcomed newcomers and long timers. There I met organizers Anne and Andie, who befriended me.

Strict rules protected our privacy, including no outside discussion of tales, gripes, grievances or sorrows.

What happened in group stayed in group.

Meetings opened with Anne asking, “What’s new and good?”

That icebreaker induced both laughter and tears.

A petite, raven-haired participant with strikingly dark eyes introduced herself.

“I’m Roz Joel. Billy Joel’s mother.”

We became friends. When I first picked her up at home for an outing, she showcased photos of Billy and Christie throughout.

The Uptown Girl’s natural beauty illuminated tables and bookcases.

“That’s nothing. Look at her mother,” Roz said, pointing to a photo of Christie and her look-alike gorgeous mom.

Roz, a complicated woman with volatile mood swings, figures heavily throughout the film.

Joel unguardedly shares painful recollections with compassionate warmth. The unvarnished documentary unfolds with passionate, revealing memories.

Humor threads throughout the nearly five-hour film, lightening the mood when dark anecdotes threaten bleakness overload.

He’s evolved into a sober, grateful and appreciative mensch. Lucky stars have kept him alive.

After viewing the musical icon’s compelling history, you’ll be grateful they have.

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Naomi Serviss has written for the The Insider, the New York Times, Newsday, the New York Post, the Boston Herald, the Providence Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Broadway World, Stage Magazine, Temple University's alumni publication. and numerous travel/spa magazines. including Spa Asia. She and her husband Lew, who were Manhattan residents for 15 years, recently moved to Rhode Island, her birth state. Janis Joplin, their pandemic rescue pup, approves.