 |
| Billy Joel - Uptown Girl |
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl Youtube Music Videos and LyricsAlbum:
An Innocent Man Released:
1983 Uptown GirlShe's been living in her uptown world
I bet she's never had a backstreet guy
I bet her momma never told her why
I'm gonna try for an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
And when she knows what
She wants from her time
And when she wakes up
And makes up her mind
She'll see I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love with an uptown girl
You know I've seen her in her uptown world
She's getting tired of her high class toys
And all her presents from her uptown boys
She's got a choice
Uptown girl
You know I can't afford to buy her pearls
But maybe someday when my ship comes in
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been
And then I'll win
And when she's walking
She's looking so fine
And when she's talking
She'll say that she's mine
She'll say I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love
With an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
Uptown girl
She's my uptown girl
You know I'm in love
With an uptown girl
My uptown girl
You know I'm in love
With an uptown girl
My uptown girl
You know I'm in love
With an uptown girl
My uptown girl
You know I'm in love
With an uptown girl
Writer/s: JOEL, BILLY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by
LyricFindUptown Girl Song Chart Billy Joel married the supermodel Christie Brinkley less than two years after this song was released, but he wasn't even dating her when he started writing the song - he was actually dating another supermodel: Elle McPherson. Asked about his relationship with Elle on The Howard Stern Show in 2010, Joel explained: "We dated on and off. We weren't like engaged or anything. We just kind of dated. She was 19."
Joel went on to explain that he and Elle parted ways when she went off to Europe, which is around the time he started dating Brinkley. He reworked the lyrics, and by the time he finished the song, it was about Brinkley. On Australian TV in 2006, Joel said: "The song was originally called 'Uptown Girls' not 'Uptown Girl.' I know its associated with Christie but when I started to write that song I had recently divorced prior to meeting her, all the sudden I'm a rock star and divorced. All these women were going to go out with me."
As he explained to Howard Stern, Billy Joel was on vacation in the Caribbean when he was playing the piano, looked up, and saw Elle McPherson, Christie Brinkley and Whitney Houston (who was more a model than a musician at that point) standing over his piano in wonderment watching him play. Joel thanked his creator for his good fortune, and began dating Elle. His first attempt at the song had the lyrics, "Uptown girls, I've been around the world." The music was more of a classical piece when it started. Joel is from Long Island, New York, and always considered himself a working-class, regular guy. This song reflects his surprise at his ability to attract such beautiful, glamorous women. In a 1987 interview with Q magazine, Joel said: "The fact that I can attract such a beautiful woman as Christie should give hope to every ugly guy in the world!" The whole album, especially this song, was a musical tribute to '60s pop music. Specifically, this one is done in the style of The Four Seasons, with Joel trying to sound like Frankie Valli . He had their song "Rag Doll" in mind both musically and lyrically; on that track Valli sings about a poor girl that he loves anyway. In fact, he loves her "just the way she is." Christie Brinkley was in the video, playing the Uptown Girl. Joel portrayed a mechanic working on her car. The clip was directed by Jay Dubin, who also helmed Joel's videos for "Tell Her About It" and "The Longest Time." Brinkley and Joel remained married for nine years. She drew the cover art for his 1993 album River of Dreams. They eventually separated due to Joel's busy schedule. This was Joel's only #1 single in the UK. It's also one of his best-selling in the US. In an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer decides to hang out with the band of hippies his mother was once part of in the 1960s, Homer breaks into singing a fragment of this song at one point. (thanks, Vincent - Fayetteville, AR) In 2001 the Irish boy band Westlife covered "Uptown Girl," topping the UK charts for a week. It was recorded as the official song for the 2001 BBC Comic Relief charity appeal. Screenwriter Richard Curtis, one of the founders of the Comic Relief campaign, knew supermodel Claudia Schiffer's agent and obtained her cooperation to be the Uptown Girl in the video, which mimicked Billy Joel's original that featured his model wife Christie Brinkley. In addition to Schiffer and Westife themselves, the video also featured the actors Tim McInnery, James Wilby, Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Bathurst and Crispin Bonham Carter as a chorus of city workers. The owner of the Rolls Royce in this video tried to pull a fast one on Jay Dubin's team. The director said in our interview : "The guy who owned the car was a little crazy. His radiator went out. His radiator had a leak in it and he was trying to shake us down. He said he needed a new radiator, and a Rolls Royce radiator was $2,000. So I remember my guy, Bruce, that handled that went up to him and said, 'Hey, no problem at all. I'll give you $2,000, but before I give you money, you've got to take the old radiator out of the car and give it to me.' And he goes, 'What do you mean?' Bruce said, 'I'm buying a $2,000 radiator for you, I'm taking the old one.' And suddenly the problem with the car went away." This song is a topic of discussion in the 2015 movie Trainwreck, where Bill Hader plays a surgeon who is dating Amy Schumer's character. When Hader operates, he listens to this song; the two have this exchange:
Schumer: Why Billy Joel? Why "Uptown Girl"?
Hader: I love that song.
Schumer: That's probably the worst Billy Joel song. I'm pretty sure even
Billy Joel hates that song.
Hader: He shouldn't, it's great.
Later in the film, Hader is stitching up Schumer's equally churlish father, played by Colin Quinn, who wonders why he is humming this song. They share Billy Joel stories:
Quinn: That's the only thing that'll save you. I like Billy Joel. I saw him at Nassau Coliseum. Nylon Curtain tour.
Hader: That's awesome. I saw him with Elton John at Shea Stadium. It was great.
Quinn: Of course you did. Nothing better than down to earth blue collar Billy Joel with Elton John, the Queen of England.
At the end of the film, after a dance number that brings Hader and Schumer back together, another Billy Joel song plays: "A Matter Of Trust."