Happy Birthday Mommy
For those who don’t know, I am a Billy Joel fanatic.
Coincidentally, like my mother, today is also his birthday- Happy Birthday Billy!
Now, you couldn’t ask me my favorite Billy Joel song. If you did, I’d say “When?”
His music has been my constant, a solace of mine; at both my highest and lowest points, I return to him. I see his discography as the songs of life, knowing in time, I will grow in and out of them, only to grow back into them again, in my cycle of becoming and unbecoming.
But my love for Joel’s music is not mine alone, it was first my mother’s. It was her who introduced me to him. And because of this, I will always think of my mother when listening to him.
In honor of her birthday, and the upcoming Mother’s Day, I’d like to share with you all Billy Joel’s, “She’s Always A Woman”.
It is an ode to women, an ode to myself, and above all- an ode to my mother.
And, in my hopeless romanticism, I hope one day someone will listen and think of me too.
In it, he sings of all the contradictions that is a woman, from her most tender to her most wonderfully selfish parts. But, I’ll let the song speak for itself.
Maybe you’ll listen to it and think of your own mother. Or a lover. A sister. Or maybe just yourself. Any way you take it, how can you not enjoy the sweet sweet voice of Billy Joel?
Happy Birthday Mommy, I love you.
Lyrics
She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child but she's always a woman to me
She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth but she'll never believe you
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free
Yeah, she steals like a thief, but she's always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind
And she'll promise you more than the garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding
But she'll bring out the best and the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself 'cause she's always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind
She is frequently kind and she's suddenly cruel
But she can do as she pleases, she's nobody's fool
And she can't be convicted, she's earned her degree
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me
