With Song of the Week, Consequence highlights the latest and greatest new songs. Find these new favorites and more in our Spotify best songs playlist and to see other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify new sounds play list. This week, Billy Joel returns stronger than ever.
Billy Joel is not entirely realistic about love; He's the kind of hopeless romantic who gets divorced three times and married four times. Judging by “Turn the Lights Back On,” Joel almost experienced a fourth divorce, but as evidenced by his first new song in 17 years, he has lost none of his musical talent and none of his belief that this time, he will finally , Things will change. it finally works.
“Turn the Lights Back On” was co-written by Joel along with Freddy Wexler, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector. The melody is effortlessly sweet, even when the lyrics find Joel swallowing bile. “Please open the door,” he begins, before acknowledging, “Nothing is different, we've been here before.”
His belt-friendly hooks and plot-building skills have drawn comparisons to the world of musical theater, but those skills don't just appear in storytelling masterpieces like He Strange. In the seemingly personal “Turn the Lights Back On,” the narrator has to struggle with “Trying to speak in the silence/And pride sticks out its tongue,” before he can say, “I was wrong.”
The recording is surprisingly raw. Never mind the autotune: Joel allows his voice to waver and occasionally hit the wrong note, further highlighting how close to perfect the 74-year-old sounds. The soaring chorus, complete with a suggestive line sung “as we lie in the dark,” might lead listeners to think that reconciliation will be easy. But it gives way to a second verse that reveals that the relationship is even worse than we thought: “Maybe you love me, maybe you don't,” she sings, apparently moments after make-up sex failed to solve their problems. “You've had enough, but I won't give up on you.”
The verses seem to know where this is going, but Joel keeps returning to that irresistible chorus: less of the cynicism of the thrice-divorced father and more of the hope of a man who keeps walking down the aisle, who truly believes he's found the one. The ending reuses the chorus with a bitter little twist, leaving the listener with the same question that will haunt the narrator:
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