Albums We Love: Billy Joel’s ‘Songs in the Attic’

Billy Joel’s “Songs in the Attic” is an album that has a song for every mood, from the melancholy teen ballad, “Captain Jack,” to the love-dovey “You’re My Home,” which also happens to be my parents wedding song and the first song I can remember singing. It was also an album that made some of Joel’s B-side tracks on several of his early albums feel all-brand new again, sung with a wild vigor and passion that his bland and boring studio versions fail to do.

Growing up, “Songs in the Attic” was a way for my father to tell a story. To Patrick Sr., a tough-looking Irish-man [If he was born in another era, he would have fit in perfectly with the cast of “Braveheart.], who liked his Jack Daniels and a good fist fight from time to time, the songs on this album were an escape; a way for him to show his twin boys that every seemingly brazen, callous-handed man, regardless of what they showed the world, had the ability to love and be responsible enough to help satisfy the emotional needs of his family.

Through my father, this album taught me that there comes a time when a boy becomes a man. In “Captain Jack,” Joel sings, “When you’re 21 and your mother makes your bed, now that’s too long;” a motto that thankfully has never become the case for me.

In “Summer, Highland Falls,” Joel doesn’t make excuses for himself or his relationships. “As we stand upon the ledges of our lives, with our respective similarities; it’s either sadness of euphoria.” The first time I heard this song, my father told me: “If someone ever asks you how things are going and you can’t answer right away with an honest answer, you know things have to change. And if you can answer honestly, you have the duty to either make things better or ensure that they continue to stay where you want them to.”

If only this hulking brute told these tales to me, I could have passed them up, washed away like much fatherly advice tends to be. The fact that they were so well supported by Joel’s voice and ability on piano has cemented them into my mind for life.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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