"Only the Good Die Young" is a song from

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

's 1977

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

album '' The Stranger''. It was the third of four singles released from the album.

Song information

"Only the Good Die Young" was

controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite ...

for its time, with the lyrics written from the perspective of a young man determined to have sex with a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

girl. The song was inspired by a high school crush of Joel's, Virginia Callahan. The boy/narrator believes that the girl is refusing him because she comes from a religious Catholic family and that she believes

premarital sex Premarital sex is Human sexual activity, sexual activity which is practiced by people before they are Marriage, married. Premarital sex is considered a sin by a number of religions and also considered a Sexual mores, moral issue which is taboo i ...

is sinful. He sings,

You Catholic girls start much too late, but sooner or later it comes down to fate. I might as well be the one.

Attempts to censor the song only made it more popular, after religious groups considered it anti-Catholic,The Story Behind Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young"
PerformerSongwriter.com archive. Retrieved April 24, 2013 and pressured radio stations to remove it from their playlists. "When I wrote 'Only the Good Die Young', the point of the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust," Joel told ''Performing Songwriter'' magazine. "The minute they banned it, the album started shooting up the charts." In a 2008 interview, Joel also pointed out one part of the lyrics that virtually all the song's critics missed – the boy in the song failed to get anywhere with the girl, and she kept her chastity. The song begins with a piano introduction and builds in intensity with Joel's high tempo vocals. ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' described "Only the Good Die Young" as one of Joel's "strongest and catchiest" songs. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "Billy grabs the fun with a rollicking, handclapping beat, raspy sax solo and racy piano licks."

Demo version

A demo, included in the box set ''

My Lives ''My Lives'' is a box set compilation of demos, outtakes, B-sides, soundtrack cuts, live recordings and album cuts by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel. It was released on November 22, 2005. The album name is derivative of the Billy Joel so ...

'', is a slower, reggae version of the song. Joel reprised the song's motif in this version with a church organ. Joel has stated publicly that he changed the reggae beat to a shuffle beat at the request of his long time drummer,

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has also been a session drummer on recordings of ...

, who hated reggae music.: Billy Joel tells how "Only The Good Die Young" came to sound the way it does crediting Liberty Devitto

Track listing

7" single (1978)

# "Only the Good Die Young" – (3:55) # "Get It Right the First Time" – (3:32)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Only The Good Die Young 1978 singles Billy Joel songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Songs written by Billy Joel 1978 songs Obscenity controversies in music Christianity in popular culture controversies Censorship of music Religious controversies in music