Only the Good Die Young

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This article is about the Billy Joel song. For the song by Iron Maiden, see Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. For the song by Queen, see No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young). For the song by Def Leppard, see Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.
"Only the Good Die Young"
OnlyTheGoodDieYoung.jpg
A-side label of U.S. vinyl single
Single by Billy Joel
from the album The Stranger
B-side"Get It Right the First Time"
ReleasedMay 1978
Recorded1977
Genre
Length3:55
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Billy Joel
Producer(s)Phil Ramone
Billy Joel singles chronology
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"
(1978) 		"Only the Good Die Young"
(1978) 		"She's Always a Woman"
(1978)

"Only the Good Die Young" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 rock album The Stranger. It was the third of four singles released from the album.

Song information[]

"Only the Good Die Young" was controversial for its time, with the lyrics written from the perspective of a young man determined to have sex with a Catholic girl.[2] 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 is sinful.[3] 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,[4] and pressured radio stations to remove it from their playlists.[3] "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.[5]

The song begins with a piano introduction and builds in intensity with Joel's high tempo vocals.[6]

Billboard Magazine described "Only the Good Die Young" as one of Joel's "strongest and catchiest" songs.[6]

Demo version[]

A demo, included in the box set My Lives, 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, who hated reggae music.[4][7]

Track listing[]

7" single (1978)[]

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

Charts[]

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.onefinalserenade.com/only-the-good-die-young.html
  2. ^ Sagert, Kelly Boyer (2007). The 1970s. New York: Greenwood Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-313-33919-6.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 242. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b The Story Behind Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young". PerformerSongwriter.com archive. Retrieved April 24, 2013
  5. ^ Interview with Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2008
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. May 20, 1978. p. 92. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  7. ^ Video on YouTube: Billy Joel tells how "Only The Good Die Young" came to sound the way it does crediting Liberty Devitto
  8. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  9. ^ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles Week ending JULY 15, 1978". Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  10. ^ "Item: 114 - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.

External links[]

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