This is a good example of a song that was written intentionally with a very specific purpose.  Not every song is like that...sometimes you just have a spark of inspiration or something rolling around in your head that you can get rid of....but this one was written with a clear mission.

In 1977, Billy Joel released an album called "The Stranger" that really finally broke through big for him.  It produced four Top 20 singles, and went on to sell over 10 million copies.  Because of the success of that album, he was instantly vaulted into playing 15,000+ seat arenas rather than the small concert halls he had been playing to that point.  After playing these big rooms for a couple of years, he concluded that he really needed to write some "Bigger Music"....harder, edgier songs that would better accommodate the size of these venues and the enormous crowds they held.

"You May Be Right" was one of a long lineup of songs like this that he wrote explicitly for the purpose of improving the quality of his live shows.  It's the opening track on the album "Glass Houses", and actually opens with the sound of glass shattering....thematically appropriate for the title of the album, and the cover photo which shows him standing in front of his own house at the time with a rock in his hand, which had a huge bank of windows.

It's a showstopper live, and has been a live staple ever since it was released.  I've seen it as the opener, but more often as part of the final encores, and more recently the actual closer.

I think one lesson this song teaches me is that great art doesn't always have to come from divine inspiration....sometimes it's just the solution to a problem.  Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention, even with creative work.  This is one of the most celebrated songs in a very celebrated catalog of work by one of the most successful artists in history...and it was written in a utilitarian way for utilitarian purposes.  

I think it's really easy as a creative person to psych yourself out of working on a project or even engaging in your art at all because the conditions just don't seem right...you feel a little off, your space needs to be organized, you have other things on your to-do list....we have a million excuses.  And that's okay...most creatives are hobbyists, and there's no pressure to complete and ship anything. 

But....hobbyist or professional, I think it's worth contemplating that rarely will conditions ever be perfect.  And if that's the case, maybe developing the muscle to simply engage...do the work....even if you can only dedicate 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and maybe even, or ESPECIALLY if you think you don't have access to your best work, to simply engage with it anyway.  I think we get so obsessed with the idea that creativity is something that we "receive" that we forget that it's also very much something that we "do". 

And there is SOOO much satisfaction in simply engaging in the work.  But to enjoy it you have to get over the idea that every time you work it will be your best work.  The fact is, only 50% of your work (whether is 1000 projects or 2) will be in the top half.  But if you're willing to engage even when you think you're doing "bad work"....good work will also inevitably pop out.  This is how creative projects are completed, how skills are developed and honed, and how a truly satisfied creator...be it professional or hobbyist...lives.  By doing the work consistently, even if only for short periods of time in less than ideal circumstances....and when you do that, you look up and see all these wonderful completed projects.  But the funny thing is as you see all the stuff you've created, what matters most to you is the work itself...the process of creating...far more than the completed projects.  And that's the paradox....it's only in actually completing projects that you can ensure a lifetime of satisfying work....the guy trying to create his "magnum opus" on his first try barely ever works on it and never gets very good because he simply doesn't put in the reps to develop his craft.

So....I'm resolving, and I hope you will too, to do more consistent utilitarian work, and trust that the divine inspiration will still find me from time to time....because I want a lifetime defined by satisfying work.

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream show I did on July 1, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and then check out one of my favorite performances of it by Billy Joel himself in Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY in 1982. 

If you'd like to explore my piano method more deeply, my best students use my video courses and join me for conversation and twice monthly Q&A Livestreams in my private community...you can find it all HERE. Thanks.

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube