"The Longest Time" is a doo-wop song by Billy Joel, released in 1984 as the fourth single from the 1983 album '' An Innocent Man''. Following the theme of the album in paying tribute to Joel's musical influences, the song is presented in the style of

Frankie Lymon Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...

and the Teenagers. It reached number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 1 on ''Billboard''s

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart. In the United Kingdom the song reached number 25 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song features Joel on lead vocals, all backing vocals, and percussive sounds such as finger snaps and hand claps. The only other instruments in the song are a

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

and a snare drum being played with brushes. When the song is covered by vocal groups, the bass part is typically sung.

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business pa ...

and Joel had intended to feature a vocal group, but Joel recorded each of the parts himself.

Background

TBA

Composition

The song composed in a key of

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically ...

Music video

The music video starts with a man (played by Joel) in a gym after his 25th high school reunion party. Looking around at posters of several class awards, he breaks into song as his band, apparently portrayed as his high school friends, enters the gym. As they sing, they alternate between their high school and current selves, ending with their high school selves walking out of the restroom and interacting with a puzzled janitor. The video was entirely filmed at Pratt Institute in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and was directed by Jay Dubin.

Chart performance

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Longest Time 1983 songs 1984 singles Billy Joel songs Columbia Records singles Doo-wop songs Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Songs written by Billy Joel