"Scandinavian Skies" is a song written by

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 ...

that was first released on his 1982 album '' The Nylon Curtain''. Commentators have noted its

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development ...

-esque elements and obscure lyrics. Joel has stated that the song was inspired by an experience with heroin. Although not released as a single, it reached #38 on ''Billboard''s Mainstream Rock chart.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics of "Scandinavian Skies" appear to be about an event that occurred to Joel during a tour of Europe. The lyrics refer to an incident that occurred in Amsterdam that caused the musicians to flee the Netherlands to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Later, in the song Joel sings of issues that occurred while touring Scandinavia, including financial concerns and loss of power during a show in Norway. The lyrics are not explicit about what the "surprise" or "sins of Amsterdam" were, although music critic Mark Bego suggests that they appear to relate to drugs and possibly sex. Ken Bielen suggests that these surprises and sins may relate to the previous song on ''The Nylon Curtain'', another song with obscure lyrics called "Surprises." '' Rolling Stone'' critic

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

speculated that the lyrics suggest "that Joel may see war and devastation as the inevitable future of a disillusioned world," especially when considered in combination with a ''Nylon Curtain'' song explicitly about the Vietnam War, " Goodnight Saigon." At the time of the song's initial release, Joel merely said that it is "a drug and decadence song" that represents the "nightmare of isgeneration's drug experiences." But Joel has since acknowledged that the subject of the song was an experience with using

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

. According to Joel, ""It got me so high, I didn’t know how to deal with it. "It scared me." Joel's

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Phil Ramone stated that "it's a basic story of what happened to Billy and the band, their first travels. It's not too dissimilar to what happened to the Beatles or other people, experiencing hallucinations that tie you down to madness." "Scandinavian Skies" opens with

string instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the Str ...

played backwards over which Joel plays a repeated C note octave, on piano. The song is in the key of F major. The opening also incorporates a recording in Dutch of an actual boarding announcement for a flight from Amsterdam to Stockholm and the sound of an airplane landing. '' Rolling Stone Album Guide'' critic Paul Evans describes the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

as "strong." The song ends with an "incomprehensible voiceover."

Beatle comparisons

Paul McCartney biographer Ray Coleman described "Scandinavian Skies" as being "a tribute to Paul's romanticism." Joel biographer Hank Bordowitz also described "Scandinavian Skies" as being reminiscent of McCartney's work with the Beatles. Bego notes a similarity between the sound of the airplane landing, which was recorded in

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

, to a similar device at the beginning of McCartney's "

Back in the U.S.S.R. "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a song by the English rock band the Beatles and the first track of the 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as the "White Album"). Written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, ...

" Other authors have noted similarities to John Lennon's work. During the recording Ramone noted that Joel's vocal sounded like Lennon and told him "You're really singing it like John Lennon too much," which led Joel to try to sing it differently but when that didn't work Joel reverted to the Lennon-like vocal. Bielen and other writers have also commented on the Lennonesque vocal performance. Joel biographers including Bielen, Bego and Fred Schruers point out similarities with Beatles

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...

and particularly Lennon's " Strawberry Fields Forever." Bego specifies the similarity further by pointing out the "loopy strings and highly manipulated musical tracks." Bielen and Bego also point out similarities with Lennon's " I Am the Walrus," with Bielen explicitly citing the "incomprehensible voiceover" at the end, which he also notes is reminiscent of the Lennon penned " All You Need Is Love." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' author Roman Kozak stated that "Scandinavian Skies" "could almost be Joel's ' Norwegian Wood'." Bielen also cites the backwards strings, the use of sound effects like the boarding announcements, string arrangements similar to those of Beatles' producer George Martin, and drumming similar to that of

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

as additional Beatle-esque elements in the song.

Reception

"Scandinavian Skies" was not released as a single. However, it still reached #38 on ''Billboard''s Mainstream Rock chart. It spent two weeks in the Top 40.

References

{{Billy Joel Billy Joel songs 1982 songs Songs written by Billy Joel Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Songs about heroin Songs about Norway Songs about Sweden