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I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.

Billy Joel

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Billy Joel
Age: 75
Born: 1949
Born: May 9
Composer
Musician
Pianist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
New York City
New York
William Martin Joel
William Martin Billy Joel
BJ
William M. Joel
Bothered
Received
Criticism
Stung
Praise
Puzzling
Honor
Honors
Sometimes
Praised
Even
Always
Criticized

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Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania.
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Following a code of silence, you're never gonna lose the anger.
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Your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation.
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It was so easy living day by day Out of touch with the rhythm and blues But now I need a little give and take The New York Times, The Daily News.
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Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.
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You're not the only one who's made mistakes, but they're the only things that you can truly call your own.
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You can walk away from your mistakes You can turn your back on what you do Just a little smile is all it takes And you can have your cake and eat it too. Loneliness will get to you somehow But ev'rybody loves you now.
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All she wanted was sax.
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I always thought of myself as the piano player in the band. That, I suppose, I'm confident about, and I guess my songwriting developed as I went along and I got a certain amount of confidence in that. The songs are like my kids, I'm proud of all of them for one reason or another.
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you may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you're looking for
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I look at some of the songs I wrote years ago and I can't believe I wrote such crap.
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Out of respect for the things that I was never destined to do, I have learned that my strengths are a result of my weaknesses, my success is due to my failures, and my style is directly related to my limitations.
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There was only really one accident that was kinda bad but it was nothing to do with booze, just bad luck... I was having a hard time a couple of years ago... I'm a good driver, I just had bad luck.
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I actually wrote the song first as well, it's 9 o'clock on a Saturday. That bit. Then I said, You know what? It needs some kind of an introduction to kind of set the mood and set the flavor. So I just played this kind of cocktail lounge thing, the hustle and bustle of waitresses going by - that kind of thing.
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If it seems like I've been lost in 'lets remember', If it seems I'm gettin' older and missin' my younger days, well you shoulda known me much better, cause the past is something that never got in my way.
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And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts... Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they're for.
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I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
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There ain't much future for a man who works the sea, there ain't no island left for islanders like me.
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The joy of life is made up of obscure and seemingly mundane victories that give us our own small satisfactions.
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I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.
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