Only the Good Die Young
"Only the Good Die Young" | ||||
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Single by Billy Joel | ||||
from the album The Stranger | ||||
B-side | "Get It Right the First Time" | |||
Released | 1977 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | 1977 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 3:55 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Writer(s) | Billy Joel | |||
Producer(s) | Phil Ramone | |||
Billy Joel singles chronology | ||||
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"Only the Good Die Young" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 pop rock album, The Stranger. The song was controversial for its time, with the lyrics written from the perspective of a young man determined to deflower a Catholic girl who is a virgin.[1]
Song information
The song was inspired by a high school crush of Billy Joel's, Virginia Callahan. The boy/narrator believes that the girl is refusing him because she comes from a religious Catholic family and that she believes sex before marriage is sinful.[2] He sings,
You Catholic girls start much too late,
but sooner or later it comes down to fate.
I might as well be the one.
The song became a prototypic example of the Streisand effect when religious groups considered it anti-Catholic,[3] and pressured radio stations to remove it from their play lists.[2] "When I wrote 'Only the Good Die Young', the point of the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust," Joel told Performing Songwriter magazine. "The minute they banned it, the album started shooting up the charts." In a 2008 interview, Joel also pointed out one part of the lyrics that virtually all the critics missed – the man in the song failed to get anywhere with the girl, and she kept her chastity.[4]
Demo version
A demo, included in the box set My Lives, features a slower, reggae version of the song. Joel reprised the song's motif in this version with a church organ. Joel has stated publicly that he changed the reggae beat to a shuffle beat at the request of his longtime drummer, Liberty DeVitto, who hated reggae music.[5]
Track listing
7" single (1977)
- "Only the Good Die Young" – (3:54)
- "Get It Right the First Time" – (3:32)
Chart positions
Chart (1977) | Peak position |
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Canadian Singles Chart[6] | 18 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] | 24 |
References
- ↑ Sagert, Kelly Boyer (2007). The 1970s. New York: Greenwood Press. p. 177. ISBN 0-313-33919-8.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 242. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
- ↑ The Story Behind Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young". PerformerSongwriter.com archive. Retrieved April 24, 2013
- ↑ Interview with Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2008
- ↑ Video on YouTube: Billy Joel tells how "Only The Good Die Young" came to sound the way it does crediting Liberty Devitto
- ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.4602a&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=o44utr2skf3ci9l36vl9mglvm5