Billy Joel’s compilation of live performances, Songs in the Attic, is my third favorite album released in 1981. It might have cracked the top two but I subtracted a few points because it’s a greatest hits collection of sorts.
Joel was riding a commercial high after the releases of The Stranger, 52nd Street and Glass Houses, and saw an opportunity to introduce his new fans to the music he had recorded prior to breaking into the mainstream. Rather than release the original recordings, which were performed with session musicians, he preferred to put them in new context with the backing of his talented touring band.
The result is one of the strongest collections in Joel’s catalog, ranging from delicate ballads like ‘Summer, Highland Falls’ and ‘She’s Got a Way’ to rockers ‘Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)’ and ‘Captain Jack.’ This album doesn’t quite make his early releases superfluous, but it comes damn close.
And you see the crazy gypsy in my soul
It always comes as a surprise
When I feel my withered roots begin to grow
Well I never had a place that I could call my very own
That’s all right, my love, cause you’re my home
When you touch my weary head
And you tell me everything will be all right
You say, “Use my body for your bed
And my love will keep you warm throughout the night”
Well I’ll never be a stranger and I’ll never be alone
Wherever we’re together, that’s my home
Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Indiana’s early morning dew
High up in the hills of California
Home is just another word for you
Well I never had a place that I could call my very own
That’s all right, my love, cause you’re my home
If I travel all my life
And I never get to stop and settle down
Long as I have you by my side
There’s a roof above and good walls all around
You’re my castle, you’re my cabin and my instant pleasure dome
I need you in my house cause you’re my home
You’re my home
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’ve told this story before, probably even on this blog, but it was around 1980 that I went from a very casual Billy Joel fan who knew his hits to date to a huge fan when my cousin Rita bought me The Stranger album and, if memory serves, Piano Man. I was immediately hooked and bought every other album Joel had released to that point, including a very hard to find cut out of Joel’s debut Cold Spring Harbor, which had been discontinued prior to a remixed version coming out in 1983.
So, needless to say, I was eager for new music by 1981 and was initially disappointed that the next release would be live recordings of older songs. However, Songs in the Attic quickly became a favorite because the versions are so remarkably better than the originals.
When Daniel used to play DJ during long car rides, if he tried to play the original recording of, say, Miami 2017 or really anything that was also on SITA, I would ask that he change over to the SITA better version. By now, he knows the drill, and always defaults to those versions. I’ve trained him well.😊