Billy Joel Sings NY State of Mind Acc. by College Frosh

[Joe P]

Pretty cool:

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04TYk4j0zQ&feature=player_detailpage

[Marzzz]

As a native New Yorker, this is the greatest song evah! Very cool rendition.

[Outkaster]

New York City Serenade is better even though I like the Billy Joel song.

[JeffLearman]

Good one :-)

[Allister]

Ok, so who do i write to get something like this at my university ?

[Adan]

Bit too much showboating at the end, as if the whole thing were more about him than BJ. Just my opinion . . .

[Bobadohshe]

Sick. Cool of Joel to take that risk, super ballsy of the kid to do it, and though he was understandably a little nervous, he carried it off in a big way.

[PinkFloydDudi]

That is absolutely awesome. This is why I love guys like Billy Joel. You think if Britney Spears were up there she would be able to just start singing without all her backup fills and autotune? Ha.

 

Well done all around and props to Billy..."Sure". HA!

[B3bluesman59]

Billy Joel: "What key do you do it in?"

 

Answer: "What key do you want it in?"

 

This kid has got a future in the music biz for sure.

[PinkFloydDudi]

Billy Joel: "What key do you do it in?"

 

Answer: "What key do you want it in?"

 

This kid has got a future in the music biz for sure.

Haha, I wondered what he said there.

Music biz? In the music biz the guys able to play that song in any key are a dime a dozen.

[mate stubb]

I thought I heard Billy tell him to play it in C, but it was in Bb.

[AnotherScott]

Yup. The original key is C, but in later years, he did it live in Bb. So he must have thought better of it, and when he spoke to the player off mic, he must have said, "you know what, let's do it in Bb."

[Bobadohshe]

I thought I heard Billy tell him to play it in C, but it was in Bb.

 

I noticed that too.

 

Another thing I thought of was Billy might have had the board transposed already down a whole step. Very common for great singers to play on digitals that are transposed when they need to sing things in lower keys (Burton Cummings comes to mind). So he had to think about it and told the kid to 'play it in C' so that it would sound in Bb. OR like someone said he told the kid off mic to play it in Bb afterall.

[Bobadohshe]

...And that board is digital right? It sure as hell sounds like it.

[Mike Martin]

He typically has a Kurzweil PC2 dropped into the shell.

[AnotherScott]

I think you're right about the transpose button. When the player goes down to the low tonic, you can't see his hands well enough to know exactly what he's hitting, but it looks like he's hitting a white key rather than a black one.

[Griffinator]

Bit too much showboating at the end, as if the whole thing were more about him than BJ. Just my opinion . . .

 

Seemed to me like BJ wanted it to be more about the kid than himself anyway.

 

Fun. And yeah, the kid can play. Better than me anyway.

[Allister]

it's gotta take some balls to play piano for Billy Joel though.

[Marzzz]

I thought I heard Billy tell him to play it in C, but it was in Bb.

 

I noticed that too.

 

Another thing I thought of was Billy might have had the board transposed already down a whole step. Very common for great singers to play on digitals that are transposed when they need to sing things in lower keys (Burton Cummings comes to mind). So he had to think about it and told the kid to 'play it in C' so that it would sound in Bb. OR like someone said he told the kid off mic to play it in Bb afterall.

 

I have heard Billy Joel try out several keys when playing a song for Howard Stern, for instance. He has the chops, and knows his own songs well enough, to transpose on the fly.

 

Speaking of songs about New York, if I never heard the song "New York, New York" again it would be too soon. I was once at a bar in San Diego and the pianist did a nice version of "New York State of Mind," I offered him a $20 tip to not play "New York, New York" until after I left.....