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 "All For Leyna" is another femme fatale song by Billy (see "Stiletto"). It describes a young man's infatuation with a woman, Leyna, and is more about the effect she has on the young man, rather than about the woman herself. Even though she leads him to peril, he is still desperate for her. If you have ever been crazy in love or lust with someone, then you'll understand. Apparently, the song was inspired by a young woman who was a friend of someone connected with Billy's band or management, and had visited the recording studio or office one day stirring up lust among everyone in the band, as well as inspiring this song. It is an urgent and raw synthesizer-driven song, pure 1980s pop.
It is very much a teen angst song, the type of gnawing and painful angst a young teen feels when his love life is falling apart, and it seems like nothing else matters. Of course, it passes. The song was originally selected to be a single in the US, but was ultimately not released as one. But a music video (below) had already been made. It was released as a single in the UK and reached #40 on the UK Singles Charts. 
Van Gogh's "Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear" (1889).
Nelly Furtado, who became a Billy Joel fan when listening to Glass Houses as as young child, performed "All For Leyna" at a MusicCares benefit honoring Billy Joel in 2002. She won the Grammy that year for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I'm Like A Bird."
|
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 Billy Joel on “All For Leyna" from SiriusXM. Subscribe to SiriusXM.
Vertical Divider
I refer to these songs as Billy's "femme fatale" songs:
|
Videos
Billy hams it up a bit in the music video for "All For Leyna." © 1980 Sony BMG Music Entertainment. It was released as a single in the UK, but not in the US.
|
Billy gives a sneak preview of "All For Leyna" in a 1979 concert in Houston before the release of Glass Houses in 1980.
|
Billy sings "All For Leyna" at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2015. He says it was a "song I should have written when I was about 16."
|
