One Final Serenade: Songs of Billy Joel
 From Turnstiles (1976)
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A video for "Summer, Highland Falls" featuring iconic photos of the late 1960s to mid 1970s, a turbulent and exciting period in modern American history. Video compilation is © 2009-2010, 2015 One Final Serenade, except stills. Words & Music by Billy Joel. Song is © 1976 Sony Music Entertainment.
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And though we choose between
reality and madness It's either sadness or euphoria "Summer, Highland Falls" is Billy Joel's finest song. The title refers to Highland Falls, New York, a small town in upstate New York where Billy, his wife Elizabeth, and stepson Sean, first lived upon their return from Los Angeles to New York in or about 1975, after three years in California. The summer in Highland Falls was no doubt a time to reflect for Billy. While ostensibly about the give-and-take, yin-and-yang, of life and relationships, the song is also about the ambivalence that we all face individually and collectively as we analyze our relationships and lives, as we get older and move on, and as we "stand upon the ledges of our lives." The rolling piano arpeggios and the up-and-down bass line perfectly capture this ambivalence and contrast, the "sadness or euphoria" of life, and ultimately the resignation and realization that nothing's ever changed. Billy has also stated that the song was about his relationship (with Elizabeth) at the time, and realizing that their relationship was not perfect but had its faults. Vertical Divider
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They say that these are not the best of times
But they're the only times I've ever known And I believe there is a time for meditation In cathedrals of our own Now, I have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes And I can only stand apart and sympathize For we are always what our situations hand us It's either sadness or euphoria So we'll argue and we'll compromise And realize that nothing's ever changed For all our mutual experience, Our separate conclusions are the same Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity Our reason coexists with our insanity And though we choose between reality and madness It's either sadness or euphoria How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives, With our respective similarities It's either sadness or euphoria |
The song is also about manic-depression or bipolarity. Billy introduced the song as being "for all the manic-depressives out here tonight" in his 2008 Shea Stadium concert. Billy has been known to "go to extremes" in happiness and depression, like many other gifted artists. The rise and fall, back and forth, of the bass line juxtaposed against the rolling arpeggios perfectly reinforce the lyrics and give one a sense of euphoria and sadness, simultaneously. Like many great lyrics, the song is subject to multiple, equally valid interpretations.
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For a while it seemed that only hardcore Billy Joel fans even knew this song, perhaps because the title is somewhat vague. It's too bad. For all the critics who have panned Billy Joel for songs such as"We Didn't Start The Fire" or "Uptown Girl," this song is a stunning and beautiful rebuttal. Over the years, as Billy re-introduced it in his live performances, it has become more appreciated and recognized. I am surprised there are so few cover versions of "Summer, Highland Falls." Tori Amos or Sara Bareilles would be appropriate singers to do a cover version.
Billy released a live version of the song on 1981's Songs In the Attic. He performed it at 1985's Farm Aid concert. He again performed it live on several occasions, including on the A&E Special, Masterclass in 2001. And he did a masterful version of it in 2008 at the National Press Club annual meeting on C-Span and again that year at Shea Stadium, as noted, which is on the CD/DVD set too. This is a song that will endure, it is timeless. Billy discusses "Summer, Highland Falls" on SiriusXM.
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"I can only stand apart and sympathize . . . "
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Videos
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From a concert at the Capitol Center (Passaic, NJ) October 2, 1976.
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For more videos of "Summer, Highland Falls," go to the video page.
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