“Sing us a song you’re the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. Cause we’re all in the mood for a melody, And you’ve got us feeling all right.”

The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.

I’ve lived long enough to have learned, the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burned.

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.

Honesty is the best part of any art form. If you don’t have that, you’re kidding yourself and your listener.

They say that these are not the best of times, but they’re the only times I’ve ever known. And I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.

Know what you love and do what you love. If you don’t do what you love, you’re just wasting your time.

Streetlife serenader never sang on stages, needs no orchestration, melody comes easy, need no vast arrangement to do their harmonizing.

I think historically America has been pretty tolerant. It seems when there’s a mass influx from one place, that’s when it becomes problematic for Americans.

I’ve crashed my car three times.

I won’t be righteous again. I’m not sure anymore.

I can’t think of one person I’ve ever met who didn’t like some type of music.

We all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone.

We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge.

So before we end And then begin We’ll drink a toast to how it’s been A few more hours to be complete A few more nights on satin sheets A few more times that I can say, I’ve loved these days.

You’ve got your passion. You’ve got your pride. But don’t you know that only fools are satisfied? Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true.

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in / There’s an old man sitting next to me making love to his tonic and gin / He says, ‘Son, can you play me a memory?

I like writing on piano and a computer, and a lot of ‘Plans’ came out of samples and vocal lines.

Everyone grew up with a piano in their living room, so rocking out on the piano was accessible – it wasn’t an upper-class thing. Now pianos have become very much a piece of furniture.

If anyone can show me … that there is any reason – other than fear – to believe in any version of an afterlife, I’ll give you my piano, one of my legs, and my wife.

Billy Joel and Joe Jackson were both great, and they both play piano.

A guitar riff played on a piano doesn’t come close to the purity of it being played on a guitar but I faked it enough to get by.

I stay glued to my piano and my work. I don’t look up. I write, I produce, I do the next project, I do my job. I don’t look up, and I try to be kind. I try to be kind to people. That’s what I do.

Those edges and turns teach control and discipline, just like finger exercises on the piano.

I didn’t tell my kids, ‘You have to play viola, and you have to play piano.’ They chose these things on their own, and I don’t think we have to give kids every choice, but we do have to give them some choice because that autonomy is crucial for fostering passion.