Experiencing Billy Joel by Thomas MacFarlane

Author:Thomas MacFarlane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

The musical setting of “Rosalinda’s Eyes” provides colors that are consistent with the thematic elements presented in the text. The introduction consists of a series of ambiguously minimalist whole-tone cluster chords played on an electric piano that evokes the sounds of a marimba. This is followed by a sparse verse melody supported by a baroque-style harmonic sequence. The sequence is distinguished by the fact that the chords are voiced in the manner of jazz pianist Bill Evans. Thus, Joel layers the two approaches (baroque/classical and jazz), one over the other.

Although somewhat disguised by the active rhythm parts, the chorus of “Rosalinda’s Eyes” displays anthemic qualities that were present in earlier songs like “Tomorrow Is Today” and “I’ve Loved These Days.” Once again, a traditionally conceived form is superimposed with an element derived from jazz—in this case, Latin percussion. Taking things a bit further, we also have an additional section that doubles as instrumental break/development. Consistent with verse and chorus, this new section employs chromatic harmony to arrive at some surprising jazz-based musical ideas that suggest the influence of Bob James. The expansive melody of this section is played on a sopranino recorder, at once evoking the timbral richness of classical music and the authenticity of folk.

“Rosalinda’s Eyes” may not be as dramatic or as exciting as “Zanzibar,” but it has a unique energy and charm. This is especially evident in its attempts to integrate jazz harmony within a classically conceived musical structure. Since the chromaticism of jazz tends to challenge the directed tonal motion of high classicism, the listener might think that the situation is fundamentally irresolvable. However, on another level, a resolution to this “problem” may well be beside the point. What Billy Joel really may have been after was not a new form, but a release of energy.

In the book From Cliché to Archetype (1970), Marshall McLuhan and Wilfred Watson assert that a cliché, that is, a repeatable process, “is charged with the accumulations of corporate energy and perception.” They also stress that in order to “release energy the cliché needs the encounter of another cliché.”[29] In this regard, we can assert that the jazz process and classical music have each accumulated a sizeable charge of energy within them through their repeated use. Thus, Joel’s seeming attempts to incorporate these two processes into a unique and original style may actually be a camouflage. As an intuitive artist, he may simply have wanted to rub the styles together in order to release the powerful energies contained in each.

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