They will tell you, you can't sleep alone in a strange place
Then they'll tell you, you can't sleep with somebody else Ah, but sooner or later you sleep in your own space Either way it's okay you wake up with yourself "My Life" was the biggest hit off of 52nd Street. It continued the same theme found in "Movin' Out" from The Stranger, the young adult trying to move out and get on with his own life, or the young adult telling a family member to stop preaching to him. He tells someone: "I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright, I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home...." And while he still belongs, he tells the listener to "go ahead with your own life, leave me alone." It is a familiar rebellious rock and roll theme, but contained in very non-confrontational pop song. According to this post, it is a reference to Billy's older sister telling him how to lead his life.
Mix magazine has an interesting behind-the-scenes article from 2013 on the recording of the "My Life," click here. In it, recording engineer Jim Boyer explains that "Billy was not a studio person, so [we] weren’t going to get five takes out of him. Phil [Ramone] said, ‘I want you to record everything—record the effects and whatever you’re doing and make sure we have it on tape, because if that’s the take and we have to fix something, you’ll have a recording of what the effects were. So it was like one, two or three takes and that was it. When Billy said that was the take, he sometimes went home! But he knew when he’d gotten it." |
Got a call from an old friend
We used to be real close Said he couldn't go on the American way Closed the shop, sold the house Bought a ticket to the West Coast Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A. I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone I never said you had to offer me a second chance (I never said you had to) I never said I was a victim of circumstance (I never said) I still belong, don't get me wrong You can speak your mind But not on my time They will tell you, you can't sleep alone in a strange place Then they'll tell you, you can't sleep with somebody else Ah, but sooner or later you sleep in your own space Either way it's okay you wake up with yourself I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone I never said you had to offer me a second chance (I never said you had to) I never said I was a victim of circumstance (Of circumstance) I still belong, don't get me wrong You can speak your mind But not on my time I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone Keep it to yourself, it's my life Keep it to yourself, it's my life Keep it to yourself, it's my life Keep it to yourself, it's my life Vertical Divider
"Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone"
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The song is a quintessentially Seventies pop tune, very little hint of rock. The 2013 Mix article notes that in Phil Ramone's biography, Liberty DeVitto stated about "My Life," “[Phil] wanted me to play a very straight beat, and I bucked him. ‘I ain’t playing that disco bullshit,’ I said. Phil got up, slammed something on the console and scolded me like he was my father. ‘You’ve been in this business for what—12 minutes? And you’re gonna tell me what you’re gonna play? Just get the hell in there and play the way I told you to play.’ I grumbled about it then, but every time I see the Gold record I received for ‘My Life’ on the wall, I mutter, ‘F—in’ guy was right!’” Liberty discusses this same anecdote in Modern Drummer from 1982. "My Life" reached #3 on the Billboard charts in 1978.
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Billy and Liberty DeVitto in or about 1982. From Modern Drummer. Photo: Lissa Wales.
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At one point, Billy stopped playing "My Life" in concert during the Eighties and early Nineties because he said it didn't translate well to a live concert. But he resurrected it in the mid 1990s, and it strangely sounded like it fit in his live set again. Perhaps because Billy was older and had been through so much that lines like "I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life, Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone" had become more meaningful. See the live version from Billy's 2008 concert at Shea Stadium.
The song also served as the opening track for the television series, Bosom Buddies, which launched Tom Hanks' career. Decades later, Paul Rudd and Adam Scott did a parody of the opening sequence using Billy's original version of "My Life." They also did a mock "making of" video which featured Billy being "hired" to do the song. See video at 4:35.
For a while, it was rumored that the reference to a friend who moved to the West Coast and gave them a stand-up routine in LA was comedian Richard Lewis. But Lewis states this was not true, see this clip (Update: link may no longer work, but in the video Lewis recounts how he asked Billy about this, and Billy said it was not about Lewis). It was actually a reference to Billy's friend Tony Lawrence who did move to Los Angeles to become a comedian, and eventually became a TV producer. This was confirmed by Billy in the Fred Schruers' biography of Billy Joel from 2014 at pages 141-142 in which Billy is quoted: "The song 'My Life" is based on Tony Lawrence, a guy I knew who had a job on the East Coast but decided to be a comic and move out West to live out his dream . . . It's essentially about people who are making a transition in their life, who are moving out of a particular rut that they think they're in."
In 2021, a new version of "My Life" was used for the Apple TV Series "The Shrink Next Door" starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. The version featured Billy's original vocals but with update music. See trailer.
For a while, it was rumored that the reference to a friend who moved to the West Coast and gave them a stand-up routine in LA was comedian Richard Lewis. But Lewis states this was not true, see this clip (Update: link may no longer work, but in the video Lewis recounts how he asked Billy about this, and Billy said it was not about Lewis). It was actually a reference to Billy's friend Tony Lawrence who did move to Los Angeles to become a comedian, and eventually became a TV producer. This was confirmed by Billy in the Fred Schruers' biography of Billy Joel from 2014 at pages 141-142 in which Billy is quoted: "The song 'My Life" is based on Tony Lawrence, a guy I knew who had a job on the East Coast but decided to be a comic and move out West to live out his dream . . . It's essentially about people who are making a transition in their life, who are moving out of a particular rut that they think they're in."
In 2021, a new version of "My Life" was used for the Apple TV Series "The Shrink Next Door" starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. The version featured Billy's original vocals but with update music. See trailer.
Videos
The official "music video" for "My Life" actually starts with the intro to "Stiletto." © 1978, 2011 Sony Music Entertainment.
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This is a nice mix of Billy Joel's "My Life" with the Stone Roses' "Going Down."
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Billy discusses "My Life" in this 1981 interview on Australian television.
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Live version from 1982's Live from Long Island.
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Billy sings "My Life" in Tokyo, from 2006.
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Publicity photo (1981)
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