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Billy Joel-isms -- All For Leyna

Posted by Stephanie Paquette

"If cool was a color, it'd be black-- and Billy Joel would be burnt orange...Yet Billy Joel is great." -Chuck Klosterman in Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs

When deciding what immortal Billy Joelism to share with you all, I figured I should take a step back and reread my favorite chapter in Klosterman's book entitled, "Every Drunk Must Have His Drink". For those of you not in the "Billy" know, Klosterman is not only playing on the lyrics in one of his popular songs, "Don't Ask Me Why" (from the very same album as "All For Leyna"), but also to his battle with alcohol. How clever, Chuck.

In particular, Klosterman chooses to highlight the album Glass Houses, released in 1980. If someone were to forcibly make me choose my favorite album, this would surely be a contender and “All For Leyna” is a large part of that reasoning.

“All For Leyna” tells the story of a man who after one encounter with Leyna is mesmerized and can’t sustain any other parts of his life. We’ve all been there. It’s the person you can’t get out of your mind and you’re obsessed, and the worst part is that you are aware of it.

So you might be wondering, where the glimmer of wisdom is in this Billy Joelism? It's not an easy one to answer. I feel it's evident that there is something haunting and uncomfortably true about the ability of a single event to overcome everything else in your life. The way Joel uses such simple, choppy sentences to continue what comes across as a stream of consciousness is genius.

The glimmer of wisdom is this: Sometimes you're going to feel washed up on the sand and barely alive, wishing the undertow would stop. The worst part about those situations is that your angst isn't merely conscious, but subconscious, too. The ability to recognize and roll with the loneliness is what counts, and eventually you'll make your way to your very own River of Dreams... buh dum tschhh ;-)

--Lyrics--

She stood on the tracks
Waving her arms
Leading me to that third rail shock
Quick as a wink
She changed her mind

She gave me a night
That's all it was
What will it take until I stop
Kidding myself
Wasting my time

There's nothing else I can do
'Cause I'm doing it all for Leyna
I don't want anyone new
'Cause I'm living it all for Leyna
There's nothing in it for you
'Cause I'm giving it all to Leyna

We laid on the beach
Watching the tide
She didn't tell me there were rocks
Under the waves
Right off the shore
Washed up on the sand
Barely alive
Wishing the undertow would stop
How can a man take anymore

There's nothing else I can do
'Cause I'm doing it all for Leyna
I don't want anyone new
'Cause I'm living it all for Leyna
There's nothing in it for you
'Cause I'm giving it all to Leyna

I'm failing in school
Losing my friends
Making my family lose their minds
I don't want to eat
I don't want to sleep
I only want Leyna one more time

Now I'm in my room
Watching the tube
Telling myself she still may drop
Over to say
She's changed her mind

So, I wait in the dark
Listening for her,
Instead of my old man saying stop...
Kidding yourself,
Wasting your time

There's nothing else I can do
'Cause I'm doing it all for Leyna
I don't want anyone new
'Cause I'm living it all for Leyna
There's nothing in it for you
'Cause I'm giving it all to Leyna

All for Leyna
All for Leyna

Music Video--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fChN-6VDakA

Posted: February 4, 2009 2:58 pm | 3 comments
Tags: 80's, awesomeness, Billy Joel, classic rock, loneliness, music