Billy Joel: Glass Houses

I was going to start by saying it was another vacation in Pennsylvania but I might be wrong on that, seeing this was released in March 1980. It happens that we were in Pennsylvania a bit early that year as my grandfather had died and we’d gone for the funeral. It was early June and my brothers and I missed out on the last few days of school for the year.

Some time during that visit I had a sleepover with my cousin, who was three years older than me. The next day, we went with my aunt to “town” which was Clarion and we stopped at Jamesway, the only discount department store in the town. Well, as far as I know it was since I didn’t live there and didn’t know all the places very well.

Anyway, for some reason, we were there so I could choose a belated birthday gift. I’m not really sure what this was innate of because my aunt and uncle (who were my godparents) weren’t in the habit of doing birthday gifts for me before or after that year. I guess it counts as a notable gift in that way.

So there we were in the music department and I made the choice of Glass Houses by Billy Joel. I don’t know if there were any other contenders for my choice but I think I was pretty keen on this record due to the radio play it was getting at the time.

That was the first Billy Joel album I owned so it holds a special place in my heart even if it’s not anywhere near the best of his albums. It’s kind of weird to think the album is now forty years old. How did that happen? It doesn’t seem so long ago and yet, it was another lifetime ago.

I think the opening song, “You May Be Right”, is the one that I most identify with this record. That breaking of glass at the beginning of the song always alerts me to the memory of getting the album and the great, catchy song that would follow.

I adore the lovely, Latin sound of “Don’t Ask Me Why”. Without paying too much attention to lyrics, it’s rather a soothing listen late at night when you’re nearly asleep. That is, unless the excitement of hearing it wakes you up.

“Still Rock and Roll” is maybe the best known of the songs on this album and it still stands up well forty years later. It’s a catchy look at a rock and roller’s fame in decline due to the changing attitude of the public.

There were quite a few songs I’d forgotten from this album since I hadn’t listened in quite a long time. The most notable is “C’etait Toi (You Were the One)” another smooth ballad with some verses in French. Maybe it spoke to the French student in me but I really loved this then and it still works for me now. I would add the final song, “Through the Long Night” which is another almost lullaby for me. Good stuff!

Again, this is definitely not my favorite Billy Joel album but it fills a place in my memories and has much nostalgia for those days when I was a teenager in junior high school. In fact, it was on the cusp of my high school experience so very much a period of transition and growing up just a bit more.