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This Is The Time
​The Bridge (1986)

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         This is the time
         But time is gonna change
         You've given me the best of you
         But now I need the rest of you

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      "This Is The Time" is a mellow ballad featuring the electric guitar of David Brown.  It's much better live than it is on the album.  When played live, Billy lets his guitarist really delve into an extended solo, like John Mayer in the live version from Live at Shea Stadium.   
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     Billy said on Sirius XM that he wanted to write an "atmopsheric wintertime song" and that a beach in winter was the ideal setting to evoke that theme.  Click on the player below.

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Billy on "This Is The Time" (audio)

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Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley (1987).  
​Photo by Mary Ellen Mark. 

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Words and Music by Billy Joel

We walked on the beach beside that old hotel
They're tearing it down now
But it's just as well
I haven't shown you everything a man can do
So stay with me baby
I got plans for you

This is the time to remember
'Cause it will not last forever
These are the days
To hold on to
'Cause we won't
Although we'll want to
This is the time
But time is gonna change
You've given me the best of you
And now I need the rest of you

Did you know that before you came into my life
Some kind of miracle that I survived
Some day we will both look back
And have to laugh
We lived through a lifetime
And the aftermath

This is the time to remember
'Cause it will not last forever
These are the days
To hold on to
'Cause we won't
Although we'll want to
This is the time
But time is gonna change
I know we've gotta move somehow
But I don't want to lose you now

Sometimes it's so easy
To let a day
Slip on by
Without even seeing each other at all
But this is the time you'll turn back to and so will I
And those will be days you can never recall

And so we embrace again
Behind the dunes
This beach is so cold
On winter afternoons
Ah, but holding you close is like holding the summer sun
I'm warm from the memory of days to come

This is the time to remember
'Cause it will not last forever
These are the days
To hold on to
'Cause we won't
Although we'll want to
This is the time
But time is gonna change
You've given me the best of you
But now I need the rest of you
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     This is a mature love song, the singer realizes that he is at the peak moment in his romantic relationship.  He and his partner have experienced the good and bad, and are now at a happy moment in their lives.  Of course, Billy at the time was married to Christie Brinkley, had a baby girl (Alexa Ray Joel), and was an established pop star.  It's no wonder he wrote a song like "This Is The Time."   
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[UPDATE (2014):  I read Fred Schruer's biography on Billy Joel and apparently the song was first written before 1986 and was about Billy's relationship with Elle McPherson, which he knew would not last, see "And So It Goes."  But lines like "we lived through a lifetime and the aftermath" and "now I need the rest of you" suggest that the song is not only about that relationship.]

Billy, Christie and Alexa.  Source unknown.

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        Yet at the same time, as is common with Billy's ballads, there is a underlying sense of sadness creeping in around the edges of the song.  Things can never be perfect, at least not forever.  He writes: "This is the time to remember 'cause it will not last forever / These are the days to hold on to, 'cause we won't although we'll want to."  Maybe Billy knew that his life was too good to be true at the time, that sooner or later this contentment would dissipate and vanish.  But in the meantime, he cherishes and relishes his contentment.  

​     Look around you, now may be the time that you'll remember later as the happiest days of your life.

Videos
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Official version of "This Is The Time"

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This a live performance in Philadelphia from 1986.

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John Mayer joins Billy Joel at Shea Stadium for "This Is The Time" in 2008.  See Live At Shea CD/DVD.  This is audio only, the video was removed from YouTube but you can see a video of the song. with John Mayer, from a later concert at MSG at this video.

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This [was] apparently a demo version of "This Is The Time."

There was no official music video for "This Is The Time."   This is a lyrics video by Megan Smith.

A dreamy languid take on Billy Joel's classic 1980's tune...by Correatown

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