Top 10 Billy Joel songs

6. ”The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”

Off Joel’s appropriately titled 1989 album Storm Front, this track was written by Joel to showcase the plight of fishermen on Long Island, who work hard but could barely make ends meet. The song also appeared on the soundtrack to the 2011 comedy The Hangover: Part II. The lyrics are replete with New York landmarks and it’s probably no accident that Joel named the boat he sings about in the song after his then four-year-old daughter Alexa Ray. He sings about the tough times fishermen have with lines such as, “We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday/And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay/Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home/Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone/So I could own my Downeaster Alexa… I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes/I know there's fish out there but where God only knows/They say these waters aren't what they used to be/But I've got people back on land who count on me.” Though the subject of the song is a sad one, the beat is intense and shows off Joel’s vocal range.

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