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I've Loved These Days 
Turnstiles (1976)

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This is a video consisting of photos of the Los Angeles music scene in the early and mid 1970s.   "I've Loved These Days" is © 1976 Sony Music Entertainment.

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We drown our doubts in dry champagne
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine
I don't know why I even care
We get so high and get nowhere

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     "I've Loved These Days" is Billy's goodbye to the decadent Seventies, or at least to a decadent Los Angeles as Billy returned to the reality of New York. While the elegiac music of "I Loved These Days”;sounds like a wistful goodbye to happy times, the lyrics betray a somewhat more cynical view of a life centered around "satin sheets" and "fine cocaine." Although not as harsh as his earlier "Los Angelenos," Billy's "I've Loved These Days" reflects an uneasy ambivalence toward the indulgent "me" generation of the 1970s as epitomized by the Los Angeles lifestyle. He did love those days, but was happy to say goodbye to Hollywood and get back into a New York state of mind.

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 Billy discusses "I've Loved These Days," from SiriusXM. 

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     Jim Beviglia writes an excellent review of the song in American Songwriter in 2012.  He writes:
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"The song is essentially one man’s farewell to a lifestyle that is as alluring as it is unsustainable. The narrator is aware of the wayward and transitory nature of this type of living, acknowledging that 'We’re going wrong' and that 'We know it’s all a passing phase.' As wallets get lighter and bellies get fatter, the messier side of life is kept at arm’s length for as long as possible:  'We hide our hearts from harder times.'

     It's unusual (and welcome) that a relatively obscure song like this from 1976 would be reviewed in 2012.  American Songwriter is superb in that regard.   A live version of the song is on 1981's Songs In The Attic.

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Now we take our time so nonchalant
And spend our nights so bon vivant
We dress our days in silken robes
The money comes the money goes
We know it's all a passing phase

We light our lamps for atmosphere
And hang our hopes on chandeliers
We're going wrong we're gaining weight
We're sleeping long and far too late
And so it's time to change our ways
But I've loved these days

Now as we indulge in things refined
We hide our hearts from harder times
A string of pearls, a foreign car
Oh we can only go so far
On caviar and cabernet

We drown our doubts in dry champagne
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine
I don't know why I even care
We get so high and get nowhere
We'll have to change our jaded ways
But I've loved these days

So, before we end and then begin
We'll drink a toast to how it's been
A few more hours to be complete
A few more nights on satin sheets
A few more times that I can say
I've loved these days

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"We'll drink a toast to how it's been . . . "
​Billy Joel (1976).  Photo by Michael Putland.
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