I’d like to think that if Sir Paul had had classical music training the end result would have been something like Billy Joel. I fell in love with Billy Joel’s music almost from the moment I first heard it. His work is very eclectic but he writes what he feels and you listen to his music and you know it.In interviews, Billy has stated that he was heavily influenced by The Beatles. You can see this in both earlier and later work, although his earlier work seems to show The Beatles influence more. Songs like “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” and “Captain Jack” and of course the entire Nylon Curtain album I think really show The Beatles coming through. Particularly the Abby Road album. But if there is one song that I think is the most influenced by The Beatles it has to be “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.” This song almost sounds as if it could have been on Abbey Road. Listen to the medley of “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry that Weight” and then listen to the Scenes and you will see that Scenes is constructed in much the same way. Two seemingly separate pieces of music strung together to make one coherent whole. That, I believe shows the genius of both The Beatles and Billy Joel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGqgZgdkzoc]