Billy Joel: Sing Along, Everyone!
Billy Joel's career over the past 30 years has brought him many awards and accolades, from six Grammys to sales of more than 100 million albums. But for Super Bowl XLI, Joel is being honored in a way that is unique: He is the first performer to sing the National Anthem twice at the Super Bowl. His first time was in 1989.
In a conversation with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, Joel talked about the Super Bowl and his special relationship with his concert audiences.
As he thought about performing the National Anthem for the second time at the Super Bowl, did Joel consider doing it differently — with a string section, for instance?
"You know, honestly, I approach it as a musician," says Joel. "It's a difficult song to sing in the first place. There's a 15-note — an octave and a half span in the song. Nobody can hit the high note; everybody drops out. Rockets red glare! The lyrics were written in the early 19th century vernacular, which is difficult for people to understand, so very few people remember the words.Photos: Billy Joel
"So," he concludes, "I think you stick to the script. Don't take it out 50 ways from Sunday. You have to treat it with respect, whatever you think of the song."
It is an honor, though.
"Sure, it's an honor. Yeah. Absolutely," concurs Joel. "And I am aware that this is a huge day in television. This is the biggest day of the year."
Interjects Smith, "It's only about 141 million people, or something like that."
And Joel points out, "Yeah but that's an abstract number. You can't think of that."
Did he think about pre-recording his performance?
"I'm not gonna tape it! I'm gonna sing it live!" Joel emphatically replies. "That's what I'm paid to do. I'm paid to be a singer, not a lip syncher."
The singer says he hopes everyone sings along with him, telling Smith that "The Star Spangled Banner" works better as a sing-along than a solo number. But Smith isn't sure that anyone wants to hear him sing along!
"Well, that's why everybody should sing," says Joel. "You'll all 'mush' each other out. So don't worry about what you sound like. Just sing."
Moving to a different subject, Smith brings up Joel's upcoming U.S. concert tour.
"Honestly, the American audiences are the best audiences for us," Joel observes. "They're the most energetic, enthusiastic, crazy, frenetic type of a crowd, and we like that. So, they do a lot of work, whether they know it or not. The audience is half the show.
Last year, Joel sold out 12 straight shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. But diehard New York fans may be disappointed to hear that he won't be heading back there this time around.
He explains, "I feel like we kinda hit that New York area pretty heavy for a while. I mean, it went from the winter into the late spring, just staying at the Garden. We were like the house band! It was like here we are back in the office again…
"There are a lot of other places we haven't played in the states. We're gonna cover the Southeast for the first four weeks, then we take a break, then we go to the Midwest. We're gonna do some Canada, so there's a lot of places we haven't been for a while on our own. I was touring with Elton John and we played a lot of places, but we haven't been to places on our own for a long time. So there's plenty left to do."