One Final Serenade: Songs of Billy Joel
"Where's The Revolution" (audio only)
 Not released on "My Lives"
Will I be just another voice
In the chorus of confusion? "Where's The Revolution" is an unreleased demo song recorded in the early 1970's probably in 1971 before the Cold Spring Harbor album. It was not released on the 2005 My Lives collection, like other rare recordings from this era, which is a shame because it is a thoughtful and introspective song.
In it, Billy questions revolutions and wars. Keep in mind that this song was written while the Vietnam War was still ongoing. He does not know any more if he should join the revolution as he may just become just another voice in the "chorus of confusion" and he has seen how revolutions and wars end up as he "fought them once before" in the "Spanish Civil War." That war, of course, was a particularly brutal war and resulted in General Francisco Franco's Nationalists defeating the democratic Second Spanish Republic and installing Francisco's regime for the next 36 years. Billy also seems to wonder aloud about the role of an artist in a time of war and revolution, telling his comrade that "I'll leave it in your hands to fulfill the obligation" while Billy asks rhetorically "can the measure of a man [instead] be the fruit of his creation?" Billy's talents are better used "compos[ing] an anthem to inspire" rather than fighting in war. Many of Billy's friends and contemporaries served in the Vietnam War. As an artist, he ultimately wrote about it in 1982's Goodnight Saigon, drawing from the stories of his friends and road crew who served in Vietnam. "Where's The Revolution" vaguely reminds me of ABBA's hit "Fernando" (video, right) which came out in 1976, though in that song the protagonists are in the war. * * * * *
Billy, a history buff, referred again to the Spanish Civil War in 1976's "Miami 2017" with the line: "They burned the churches up in Harlem, like in that Spanish Civil War."
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Would you have me make a choice?
Do I join the revolution? Will I be just another voice In the chorus of confusion? Well I don't know any more 'Cause I fought them once before Yes I fought them in the Spanish Civil War Oh oh Throw the fuel upon the fire Paint the fact and not the fiction Compose an anthem to inspire Reflect the human crucifixion Well I tried it, won't ya know As a soldier in the snow In a dreary Russian winter long ago Oh oh Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh oh oh oh, 'cause I don't know Oh no, I don't know So I'll leave it in your hands To fulfill the obligation Can the measure of a man Be the fruit of his creation? Though our talk was incomplete And our meanings didn't meet I'll be with you when you're fighting in the street Oh oh Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Oh oh, 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know Hey where's the revolution? Oh 'cause I don't know ABBA's "Fernando" (can you hear the drums Fernando)
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Where's the revolution? Billy from his high school yearbook.
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He joined a different kind of revolution.
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