I WATCHED TROY ON TIKTOK AND IM FUCKING CRYING.

“This is a lullaby written from Joel’s perspective.”

IM CRYING SCREAMING THROWING UP.

Close your eyes and listen…..

Hey sweetie <3

Today I'm giving u one of my current fav songs: I guess that's why they call it the blues by Elton John. Haven't been feeling my best lately (literally took a nap instead of going to class today) but this song brings me comfort... and it makes me wanna learn it on the piano so I can serenade literally no one except myself lol

I haven't really thought about it in a glee context but imma spitball and you can pick whatever playlist u think fits it best, yeah?

I think the obvious choice is a blaine solo in which he plays the piano and probably sings to Kurt. But also,, artie?? Artie solo methinks? He might sing a slower version but im so in love with his voice and it would sound great regardless 🥺 (and for either solo the rest of the boys would sing backup softly ofc ) alternatively we could have a blam duet, maybe a flaine duet, a sartie duet, or for some reason I could picture a puck solo. Lots of options for u! For me it's literally just a comfort song but if u want my opinion im leaning towards a blaine or artie solo (or puck??? He'd do well I think his voice fits it pretty nicely)

I hope your week is going better than mine so far, sending u lots of love as always 💞💘💗💕💓💖

hi my angel <3

ooh some elton john… this is a rly wonderful song

def has some clear blaine vibes!!! easy to imagine n i have no doubt he’d sound great… but also puck doing a lil piano song… ça m’intéresse… i have vienna by billy joel in my puck playlist which kind of reminds me of this i think it would be a nice moment… they would def have different spins on it but!!! i like the idea of both a lot!!!

i can see how this is a comfort song for you, it’s rly lovely <3

anyway anyway!! i’m very happy that volleyball practice revived you a lil bit today, i’m glad you had some light in your day 💗 just keeping doing what you can to take care of yourself & find comfort wherever u can! i get u, every day’s not gonna be your easiest but there’s always smth to hold on to. hope u had the time of your life going hard during volleyball practice & i hope any injuries are not too severe!!! (also, you know, but you can message me whenever you want to <3)

(also just want u to know that lil piece of vb au fic u posted i’m in love with the first sentence… such like vivid n tangible description i love it sm…)

have to catch my sleep now but!! i’ve received your love n i’m sending u so much back, if u see a bunch of hearts in your mailbox that’s me! hope your week gets brighter bc you deserve only the best. i love u 💞💞💞💞💞

Taylor Swift on "Lover" and haters

You might say Taylor Swift's happy place is at the piano in her Nashville home. "There have been so many songs that were written at this piano," she said.

"And it's often the middle of the night?" asked correspondent Tracy Smith.

"It's usually in the middle of the night," she replied. "Or if I'm trying to get to sleep and I can't and then I get an idea. And I'm, like, 'Well, I'm not tired anyway!' And then kind of wander over here."

It's kind of a rare sight, not just because "Sunday Morning" was there ("I haven't serenaded someone in a while, hope you know that!"), but because, for the moment, Taylor Swift was actually sitting still.

I promise that you'll never find another like Me-e-e, Ooh ooh ooh ooh I'm the only one of me Baby, that's the fun of me – "Me!" by Taylor Swift, Joel Little and Brendon Urie

And there never really has been another like Taylor Swift. After only 13 years in the business, she's become a musical force of nature, with an armload of #1 hits, more Grammy Awards than The Rolling Stones, and (according to Forbes) the distinction of being the highest-paid celebrity on the planet.

By any measure, she's an amazing young woman. But there were times, she says, that being young, and a woman, worked against her.

"You're always gonna have people going, 'Did she write all her own songs?'" she said. "Talking about your personal life, talking about your dating life.

"There's a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry, right?"

"Gimme an example," asked correspondent Tracy Smith.

"Okay. A man does something, it's 'strategic'; a woman does the same thing, it's 'calculated.' A man is allowed to 'react'; a woman can only 'over-react.'"

And it seems her usual reaction is to get to work. Swift writes or co-writes all of her songs. And what's more, her music videos are all her vision, from the pastel wonderland in "Me!"…to the giant dollhouse in her latest video, "Lover."

That's also the title of her critically-acclaimed new studio album, her seventh. She wrote "Lover" on her piano at home, and polished it up in the studio. And once she recorded the music, Swift (accompanied by and her cats) went to Hollywood to make the music video, and she invited Smith along to watch.

There's a love story here, and like a lot of Swift's work, it's an echo of her real life.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift discovered her love for music as a toddler. She set her sights on a career in country music, and eventually her parents and younger brother moved to Nashville to help her do it.

"My brother's a real bro for doing that," Swift said.

"Yeah, they all upended their lives," Smith said.

"For sure."

"It worked out well!"

"Yeah, I buy 'em lots of presents," she laughed.

The rest reads like a fantasy: Swift became a country music phenomenon, and, in the last few years, a pop icon. But the superstar is, by her own admission, as emotionally fragile as any other 20-something, "I'm still someone who is the first to apologize when I'm wrong," she said. "But I think I'm better at standing up for myself when I've been wronged. So, that's something that I think also comes with growing up."

Which brings us to Scooter Braun. Earlier this summer, Braun, a talent agent with whom Swift says she has a contentious relationship, acquired the rights to her previous recordings – her masters – when his company bought Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group for a reported $300 million. Borchetta, who worked with Swift for years, says she and those close to her (including her dad, who was an investor), knew about the deal in advance, and that Swift had previously been offered the chance to buy her own masters.  

She remembers it differently, and told Smith she didn't see it coming: "I found out when it was online, like, when it hit the news."

"Nobody in your inner circle knew?" Smith asked.,

"Nobody knew."

"And you didn't smell it?"

"No. I knew he would sell my music; I knew he would do that. I couldn't believe who he sold it to, because we've had endless conversations about Scooter Braun. And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations."

With the sale of the masters to her first six albums, there has been speculation that Swift might re-record her back catalog, in order to control the recordings of her songs.

Smith asked, "Might you do that?"

"Oh, yeah," Swift replied.

"That's a plan?"

"Yeah, absolutely!"

Scooter Braun may not agree with her side of the story, but he did reach out to Swift in a tweet last week, calling her new album "brilliant."

It's clear that Swift wants to control her music:  When it's time to release one of her new songs, she does it personally, talking to her fans live on Instagram. This personal connection has earned her a loyal following. But her openness comes at price: She's followed just about everywhere she goes these days, by people who are crazy about her – or just plain crazy.

Smith asked, "Where is home for you now?"

"It's a very good question," she said. "I try not to ever really say where I am the most, because since all my addresses are on the internet, people tend to show up uninvited. Like, you know, dudes that think we have an imaginary marriage."

"And you mentioned that you keep wound dressing with you?"

"Yeah. I've had a lot of stalkers show up to the house, armed. So, we have to think that way."

And she's come under attack in other ways: You need only glance at the tabloids to see some very well-publicized feuds, and she often hits back at her haters through her music. For instance, in "You Need to Calm Down," she calls out anti-gay protesters and online trolls:

You are somebody that we don't know But you're comin' at my friends like a missile Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD? Sunshine on the street at the parade But you would rather be in the dark ages …

Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate 'Cause shade never made anybody less gay – "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift and Joel Little

Smith asked, "I'm curious, because I feel like almost every album, you have a song where you address the haters, at least one song. Sometimes more than one song."

"I probably do have that habit. I imagine that I might have that habit, yeah."

"Why is that? Why sing to the haters?"

"Well, when they stop coming for me, I will stop singing to them," Swift replied. "You know, people go on and on about, like, you have to forgive and forget to move past something. No, you don't. You don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget to move on. You can move on without any of those things happening. You just become indifferent, and then you move on."

"Do you believe in forgiveness?"

"Yes, absolutely, like, for people that are important in your life who have added, you know, who have enriched your life and made it better, and also there has been some struggle and some bad stuff, too. But I think that, you know, if something's toxic and it's only ever really been that, what are you gonna do?"

"Just move on?"

"Just move on. It's fine."

Taylor Swift's music is always personal, sometimes intensely so. "There's one song on the album called 'Soon You'll Get Better' that it's, I can't even really hear. I can't even listen to it."

She won't talk specifically about her inspiration, but it comes at a time when her mother Andrea, who was battling cancer, suffered a relapse.

Swift said, "It's really interesting because I don't think I have written a song quite like that before. And it's just sort of, like, it's just a tough one."

"I can imagine. But I can also tell you, having listened to it, that it's universal."

"It's just not something that we deal with until we have to, until we see it, until we experience it, until someone close to us is going through something like that. And so, writing about it was really emotional. And I'm just gonna stop talking about it now."

She's more comfortable plunging into her work. On the Hollywood set, a large glass tank will become a symbolic fish bowl in the "Lover" music video.

"I very oftentimes remark that my life is like a fish bowl, and that, like, if I were to, like, fall in love, you know, somebody's choosing to be in that fish bowl with me. To jump into the fish bowl with me and live in that world just with me – it's not as depressing as it sounds, I promise! It's just symbolic!"

Talk about fish bowls: she's been dating British actor Joe Alwyn for three years. Seems he's up for a swim.

At the moment, Swift is, well, fully immersed in today. Beyond that, she says she doesn't know … and doesn't really want to.

Smith asked her, "Do you think about, you know, 'What am I gonna do in 20, 30 years?'"

"No, 'cause that puts me into what I call a panic spiral," Swift replied. "Like, I cannot do that. I've never been able to do that."

Why? "It just freaks me out. When I zoom out too far, I freak out. Do I know where I'm gonna be or even wanna be in 20 years? Absolutely not. Like, not taking a single day for granted."

"So, how far ahead do you look?"

"Six months. Just 'cause I have to plan shows and stuff. But I don't know what I'll do after this album. And I think that's great. I tell myself, like, it's actually really ungrateful to just assume that you have 20 years. Like, be stoked that you have today."

(x)

Taylor Swift on "Lover" and haters

John D'Amelio August 25, 2019

You might say Taylor Swift's happy place is at the piano in her Nashville home. "There have been so many songs that were written at this piano," she said.

"And it's often the middle of the night?" asked correspondent Tracy Smith.

"It's usually in the middle of the night," she replied. "Or if I'm trying to get to sleep and I can't and then I get an idea. And I'm, like, 'Well, I'm not tired anyway!' And then kind of wander over here."

Taylor Swift at her piano, with correspondent Tracy Smith. 

It's kind of a rare sight, not just because "Sunday Morning" was there ("I haven't serenaded someone in a while, hope you know that!"), but because, for the moment, Taylor Swift was actually sitting still.

I promise that you'll never find another like Me-e-e, Ooh ooh ooh ooh I'm the only one of me Baby, that's the fun of me – "Me!" by Taylor Swift, Joel Little and Brendon Urie

And there never really has been another like Taylor Swift. After only 13 years in the business, she's become a musical force of nature, with an armload of #1 hits, more Grammy Awards than The Rolling Stones, and (according to Forbes) the distinction of being the highest-paid celebrity on the planet.

By any measure, she's an amazing young woman. But there were times, she says, that being young, and a woman, worked against her.

"You're always gonna have people going, 'Did she write all her own songs?'" she said. "Talking about your personal life, talking about your dating life.

"There's a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry, right?"

"Gimme an example," asked correspondent Tracy Smith.

"Okay. A man does something, it's 'strategic'; a woman does the same thing, it's 'calculated.' A man is allowed to 'react'; a woman can only 'over-react.'"

And it seems her usual reaction is to get to work. Swift writes or co-writes all of her songs. And what's more, her music videos are all her vision, from the pastel wonderland in "Me!":

…to the giant dollhouse in her latest video, "Lover." 

That's also the title of her critically-acclaimed new studio album, her seventh. She wrote "Lover" on her piano at home, and polished it up in the studio. And once she recorded the music, Swift (accompanied by and her cats) went to Hollywood to make the music video, and she invited Smith along to watch.

There's a love story here, and like a lot of Swift's work, it's an echo of her real life.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift discovered her love for music as a toddler. She set her sights on a career in country music, and eventually her parents and younger brother moved to Nashville to help her do it.

"My brother's a real bro for doing that," Swift said.

"Yeah, they all upended their lives," Smith said.

"For sure."

"It worked out well!"

"Yeah, I buy 'em lots of presents," she laughed.

The rest reads like a fantasy: Swift became a country music phenomenon, and, in the last few years, a pop icon. But the superstar is, by her own admission, as emotionally fragile as any other 20-something, "I'm still someone who is the first to apologize when I'm wrong," she said. "But I think I'm better at standing up for myself when I've been wronged. So, that's something that I think also comes with growing up."

Which brings us to Scooter Braun. Earlier this summer, Braun, a talent agent with whom Swift says she has a contentious relationship, acquired the rights to her previous recordings – her masters – when his company bought Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group for a reported $300 million. Borchetta, who worked with Swift for years, says she and those close to her (including her dad, who was an investor), knew about the deal in advance, and that Swift had previously been offered the chance to buy her own masters.  

She remembers it differently, and told Smith she didn't see it coming: "I found out when it was online, like, when it hit the news."

"Nobody in your inner circle knew?" Smith asked.,

"Nobody knew."

"And you didn't smell it?"

"No. I knew he would sell my music; I knew he would do that. I couldn't believe who he sold it to, because we've had endless conversations about Scooter Braun. And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations."

With the sale of the masters to her first six albums, there has been speculation that Swift might re-record her back catalog, in order to control the recordings of her songs.

Smith asked, "Might you do that?"

"Oh, yeah," Swift replied.

"That's a plan?"

"Yeah, absolutely!"

Scooter Braun may not agree with her side of the story, but he did reach out to Swift in a tweet last week, calling her new album "brilliant."

It's clear that Swift wants to control her music:  When it's time to release one of her new songs, she does it personally, talking to her fans live on Instagram. This personal connection has earned her a loyal following. But her openness comes at price: She's followed just about everywhere she goes these days, by people who are crazy about her – or just plain crazy.

Smith asked, "Where is home for you now?"

"It's a very good question," she said. "I try not to ever really say where I am the most, because since all my addresses are on the internet, people tend to show up uninvited. Like, you know, dudes that think we have an imaginary marriage."

"And you mentioned that you keep wound dressing with you?"

"Yeah. I've had a lot of stalkers show up to the house, armed. So, we have to think that way."

And she's come under attack in other ways: You need only glance at the tabloids to see some very well-publicized feuds, and she often hits back at her haters through her music. For instance, in "You Need to Calm Down," she calls out anti-gay protesters and online trolls:

You are somebody that we don't know But you're comin' at my friends like a missile Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD? Sunshine on the street at the parade But you would rather be in the dark ages …

Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate 'Cause shade never made anybody less gay – "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift and Joel Little

Smith asked, "I'm curious, because I feel like almost every album, you have a song where you address the haters, at least one song. Sometimes more than one song."

"I probably do have that habit. I imagine that I might have that habit, yeah."

"Why is that? Why sing to the haters?"

"Well, when they stop coming for me, I will stop singing to them," Swift replied. "You know, people go on and on about, like, you have to forgive and forget to move past something. No, you don't. You don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget to move on. You can move on without any of those things happening. You just become indifferent, and then you move on."

"Do you believe in forgiveness?"

"Yes, absolutely, like, for people that are important in your life who have added, you know, who have enriched your life and made it better, and also there has been some struggle and some bad stuff, too. But I think that, you know, if something's toxic and it's only ever really been that, what are you gonna do?"

"Just move on?"

"Just move on. It's fine."

Taylor Swift's music is always personal, sometimes intensely so. "There's one song on the album called 'Soon You'll Get Better' that it's, I can't even really hear. I can't even listen to it."

She won't talk specifically about her inspiration, but it comes at a time when her mother Andrea, who was battling cancer, suffered a relapse.

Swift said, "It's really interesting because I don't think I have written a song quite like that before. And it's just sort of, like, it's just a tough one."

"I can imagine. But I can also tell you, having listened to it, that it's universal."

"It's just not something that we deal with until we have to, until we see it, until we experience it, until someone close to us is going through something like that. And so, writing about it was really emotional. And I'm just gonna stop talking about it now."

She's more comfortable plunging into her work. On the Hollywood set, a large glass tank will become a symbolic fish bowl in the "Lover" music video.

Taylor Swift filming the fish bowl sequence from her music video "Lover."  CBS NEWS

"I very oftentimes remark that my life is like a fish bowl, and that, like, if I were to, like, fall in love, you know, somebody's choosing to be in that fish bowl with me. To jump into the fish bowl with me and live in that world just with me – it's not as depressing as it sounds, I promise! It's just symbolic!"

Talk about fish bowls: she's been dating British actor Joe Alwyn for three years. Seems he's up for a swim.

At the moment, Swift is, well, fully immersed in today. Beyond that, she says she doesn't know … and doesn't really want to.

Smith asked her, "Do you think about, you know, 'What am I gonna do in 20, 30 years?'"

"No, 'cause that puts me into what I call a panic spiral," Swift replied. "Like, I cannot do that. I've never been able to do that."

Why? "It just freaks me out. When I zoom out too far, I freak out. Do I know where I'm gonna be or even wanna be in 20 years? Absolutely not. Like, not taking a single day for granted."

"So, how far ahead do you look?"

"Six months. Just 'cause I have to plan shows and stuff. But I don't know what I'll do after this album. And I think that's great. I tell myself, like, it's actually really ungrateful to just assume that you have 20 years. Like, be stoked that you have today."

CBS News

-To my dear friend, Joel Arthur Hockemeyer,

I wrote this in your loft as you 'left me to my studies' and you supported me to the very end. I completed this just 5 days before your passing.

I told you all about what it meant to me.

I told you all about it.

Hearing those words as I told you, I finally felt as though I had accomplished something; "I wish I could read it."

Haunts me, and here I am, wishing I could read it to you.

You are Blessing, Joel.

Peace be with you.

Somewhere in the vast wilderness, within the natural, archaic thicket of bleakness shrouding the forest, traveling amongst his pack; there was a young Grey Wolf, and he had just become aware of some anomalous sense about The Full Moon. He turned toward the east and followed his spirited curiosity up river, entranced by some familiar scent in the strangeness of the hanging valley bowing high in the mountains. He pressed on, and He soon found the source of his trance, directly near the falls there, growing mysteriously out of a break in the face of the cliff.

It's form wasn't wilting at all, and its scent attracted him beyond any conceivable appetite; this flower, compelling him, seemed about to fall off the face of the mountain if he looked away.

He took the lonely flower into his jaws, gently, and he chose to bring it somewhere safe, but upon taking this flower in his jaws he began to salivate; and tolerate an ongoing psychedalia that became his primary state of consciousness; and though he would surely become quite normal soon, he would never be the same beast.

He no longer held any obligations to his pack and was content with; and Inside the labyrinthine pilgrimage of endless wandering, he was cherished under the light of The Moon and protected by Her magick. She gave him the strength of his strongest relatives and introduced a sense of temperance by denying his insticts their vicious appetite.

As if she intended to test the vivacity of his mettle, and present him with his strange new purpose in the wilderness he wanders through; she swiftly mastered his form, like the musician controls the complexity of a string instrument; except this instrument took on its own tune and rhythm before she could assume any control, though, She had done nothing to influence his individual will. To Her appreciation, he never offered any mode of resistance, he seemed to have commited to the scent of Her Flower from the moment he distanced his stride from the pack. Indeed, he seemed ready to leave. He seemed so content with the unkown drawing him beyond his view that She wondered about his temperament and if the beast was spirited on by the inner light of his own personal convictions. Still, She wanted the faculties of Her willful thrall displayed; and so She had spellbound his mind with a lean upon his instincts, and this effect led him swimmingly into the space of an open copse, where he was made an exciting target to other predators.

Intent on dwelling within the grove for a time, his hallucinations were painfully sustained like a comforting flame within his perception... Some enigma of myriad chanting in the throats vibrating all around the circling darkness, and knew they would inevitably become much more intense and increasingly dispiriting to a lonely wolf, so it normally goes with fear.

He continued to diagnose the surrounding space of wilderness as something currently unintelligible; and much too hungry it sounds, to share the pickings of his small company. There is a considerable possibility that these reaches covering the lands below the mountain have become ill with fits of displeasure, and it's irritation has infected the bowels that are soon to spill out these ugly manifestations of chirping, right into his new amphitheatre.

He became (to their vexation) rudely distracted by the sweetness of Her Flower before swallowing more of the pleasant psychedalia that seemed to go on, without any possibility of its decrease in life or potency. He then made his way to a central and seated himself in an apathetic position. Sitting, he welcomed all the anxiety of the dark, into the covet of his Sun-blessed grove.

Studying the behavior of this prey could make one imagine what other melody transfixes the mind of this derranged oddity.

There was nothing but warning in the sound of their approach; the heel of the pack; the elite; the ravenous edge of the wild, sounding its disdain for idle weakness.

Rushing their study

willfully,

naturally assuming

history means victory..

In concert..

Leading frivolously,

dovetailed and drivelling,

mortality meant certainty.

The Silence Pulsating;

enticing their folly;

led them

to its subtle meditating,

and horror's drumming

sounds only sacrality,

and righteously so.

Unsullied...

Inoculum..

...

Despair replied

to mutability

with a brilliant howl;

asserting their debts,

unto eternity,

and what they owe

of their bloodied meat,

for Her milk

of a new life.

A sacrifice had been made.

Her budding had tasted it.

The spell of Her magick was an immeasurable fountain, outpouring his will so that his beautiful howl could command concise reigns over incessant bodies of nature. He had potential to avert other packs from his attention, or instill apathy in the the minds of whatever prey his claim could reach.

A mysterious and generous force of the elements had made him a wandering monarch of horror, a demon if he will it.

He ate rarely, and seemed to only eat partially when he would rest with Her Flower, as dawn broke through. Since his first encounter with his new faculties, his meals were always made an offering to the beloved and familiar nature of the flower divining his position. During the consummmation of these sacrifices, Its eager roots would 'solve et coagula' to find the arteries of the warm carcasses. It would consume the nutrients while resonating a song within, blessing its protector with Her Song to serenade the exhausted wolf and nurture him into respite.

The ancient sonata was orchestrated from the Moon Flower's love for the Earth; it was the elemental voice of praise for The Wolf, rewarding him with solace and comfort in the lucidity of his wandering dreams. The vibrations sealed his scent away from predators and enthralled any approaching hostility. *The brilliant melody held no substantiality over pups or lesser prey, and wherever playful curiosity found them, such meddling always proved true, and countervailed the fears met with most witness to the grotesque and ungovernable position of his slumber.

He would usually wake to the play of different animals teasing him (or fighting eachother) over the bones they salvaged from his kills. He was not the beast inclined to take pride or fun in sporting his kills, but this beast tasted the love of beauty, and the magick that transcended him; and when he would wake to the roots that grew and dissolved the arteries of the now skeletal structures, they attracted lightning bugs and grew flowers and vines with sweet leaves that gave him sustenance. He would eat of these and Her Flower dissolved her roots again.

The wolf grew old and felt the climates and terrain of nearly an entire continent. The flower he held onto through the journeys tasted more blood than any wolf that lived during their time; and it remained in bloom under every moonlit night, save for a few turning points, when Her light was out of reach, and then he was left to his experience and newly honed talents.

During the New Moon, somewhere in the vast desert, the elder warrior was crossed by a Shaman, and the Shaman called to him with a song that had the vibrations of the same lovely tune always coming from The Moon Flower..

There was a fleeting moment where he felt fear again, and he felt dreamy. Stifled.

Like he was depersonalized. This feeling left as soon as it came.

The Shaman continued to seranade the ancient wolf, and they approached eachother as old friends. The flower harmonized with the voice of The Shaman's song into what became an intense ululation that summoned The Old Wolf's own sonorous howl, and he sang without the voice of The Moon.

The sound of these celestial calls sounded until The Shaman pointed to where he knew The New Moon to be. He motioned with a fervant smile, and sounded a grunt like he meant to imitate thunder. They came upon a camp and a bonfire that warmed a sound-sleeping woman, bundled by the fire. The Shaman made a playfully pleasant, but high pitched sound when he placed a bit of twig from inside his hair into the fire.

This simple act woke the young woman from her slumber and she sat up attentively and trustfully, she smiled up toward the beckoning of his grin and then he reached out with a waving hand, letting out a few soft syllables in an archaic dialect that said, "lay back down." She didn't hesitate to follow his command, but she maintained eye contact and appeared confused. The Shaman motioned for her to lay on her side and face the direction where The Old Wolf was, opposite her side of the fire, between her and The Dark Side Of The Moon.

She did not seem to notice his presence at all.. but The Old Wolf noticed the woman was with child. This knowledge quickly drew him towards her. He approached the pregnant woman and in his slow pace he suddenly remembered the night he first followed the river up to the edge of the hanging valley; entranced by The Full Moon... where he met with his enduring purpose.. This feeling of remembering made him feel weary of age, and of travel, and as he approached her gently, he let out a soft howl and curled next to her. She welcomed him like she knew him her whole life. She brushed back the fur of his neck while she softly sang The Moon Flower's

song. The flower joined this spell.

The Shaman sat patiently opposite their side of the fire, and waited out the end of the song, in silence.

With the last of her energy, she looked down in pain-toward the womb she cared for, then she looked up with a graceous smile as she pointed her heavy finger languidly after a vivid cluster of stars, flickering in the vast sky, and she said pridefully;

"He has Moon in eye,

Sun in heart.

Moon Flower flows

strong

forever

in blood

in water

true and full

like Lion,

like river hanging

from mountain

loves our sea."

Our Mother,

She wept,

and She smiled,

as She rested,

and She whispered

into the cherishable soul

of this weary animal

"Home."

The Grey Wolf let out another soft howl that gave The Shaman chills this time.

The Shaman smiled thoughtfully at the scene beyond the fire; and prudently, he played the soft sound of his wooden flute before the fading flames. The Moon Flower sang along to His song until the fire smouldered.

The sight of smoke rose below the nearly dawn sky; and the lovely shrilling of an infant was muffled inside the safety of a leafy-green womb, that clothed the body of Her until The Moon Flower had become Her dying heart.

All left to the silent witness of the illumined Shaman. All but the smouldering of the fire before Him. All this was destined here, to spark a new page of secrets to be delivered under the stars, never escaping the songs and the dreams and never apart from the stars.

↣ musical artist meme

Put 💕 by artists you like Put ✔️ by artists you dont mind Put ❌ by artists you don’t like Put ❓ by artists you’ve never listened to

Run the Jewels - ❓ Tyga - ❓ The Submarines - ❓ Saint Motel - ❓ Tupac - ✔ Deuce - ✔ Tyler, the creator- ✔ Chance the Rapper - ❓ Aminé- ❓ G-Eazy - ✔️ Kanye West - ❌ XXXtentacion - ✔️ Wifisfuneral - ❓ $uicideboy$ - ❓ Odd Future - ❓ Kehlani - ❓ Logic - ❓ Kodak Black - ❓ Yo Gotti - ❓ Wiz Khalifa - ✔ Creature Feature - 💕 Mindless Self Indulgence - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Rabbit Junk - ✔ La Roux - ❓ Eels - ❓ Future - ❓ Gucci Mane -❓ Denzel Curry - ❓ Drake - ✔️ Eminem - ❌ The Weeknd - ✔ 50 Cent - ✔ Lil Yachty - ❓ 21 Savage -❓ Chief Keef - ❓ Kendrick Lamar - ❓ Rae Sremmurd - ❓ Migos - ❓ Big Sean - ✔ A$AP Rocky - ✔ Schoolboy Q - ❓ Kodie Shane- ❓ Miley Cyrus- ✔ Travi$ Scott - ❓ Kid Cudi - ❓ Young Thug - ❓ Justin Bieber - ✔ Dej loaf -❓ J. Cole - ❓ Jay-Z - ❓ Lil B - ❓ Meek Mill - ❓ Snoop Dogg - 💕 Nicki Minaj - ✔ Lil Wayne - ❌ Lupe Fiasco - ❓ 2 Chainz - ❓ Outkast - 💕 Macklemore - ✔ Ghostface Killah - ❓ Lil Uzi Vert - ❓ Childish Gambino - 💕 The Chainsmokers - ✔ KYLE - ❓ Quavo - ❓ Soulja Boy - ✔ Chris Brown - ✔ Rihanna - ✔ Beyonce - ✔ Fetty Wap - ❓ Lorde - ✔️ One Direction - ✔ 5 Seconds Of Summer - ✔ Melanie Martinez - ✔️ Ariana Grande - 💕 Iggy Azalea - ❓ Taylor Swift - ✔ Bebe Rexha - ❓ Twenty One Pilots - ✔️ Lady Gaga - ✔ Desiigner - ❓ Ace Hood - ❓ ReyCooper - ❓ Nas - ❓ Whitney Houston - ✔ Birdman - ❓ Ice JJ fish - ❓ Shatta Wale - ❓ Eazy-E - ❓ Blackbear - ❓ Imagine Dragons - ✔ Jason Derulo - ✔ Snakehips - ❓ Galantis - ❓ Pitbull - ❓ Kygo - ❓ Skrillex - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Major Lazer - ✔ Flume - ✔ Troye Sivan - ✔ The 1975 - ✔ The Neighbourhood - ✔ Marshmello - 💕 EDEN - ❓ Bryson Tiller - ❓ Ty Dolla $ign - ❓ Khalid - ❓ Post Malone - ❓ Dreezy - ❓ Jeremih - ❓ D.R.A.M. - ❓ A$AP Mob - ❓ Justin Timberlake - 💕 Skepta - ❓ Dr. Dre - ✔ Pouya - ❓ Coldplay - ✔ Ed Sheeran - ✔ gnash - ❓ Glass Animals - 💕 David Guetta - ✔ Avicii - ❓ BØRNS - ❓ Panic! At The Disco - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Frank Ocean -✔ Calvin Harris - ❓ DJ Snake - ❓ Oh Wonder - ❓ OneRepublic - ✔ LIGHTS -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Lily Allen -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Alessia Cara - ❓ Meghan Trainor - ✔ Flo Rida - ❓ Arctic Monkeys - ✔️ Sia - 💕 Lana Del Rey - ✔ Little Mix - ❓ Passenger - ✔ will.i.am -✔ Halsey - ✔️ MØ - ❓ Hozier - ✔ Maroon 5 - 💕 Mac Miller - ❓ Earl Sweatshirt - ❓ Knowmads - ❓ Adele - ❌ Bruno Mars - ✔ The Notorious B.I.G - ❓ The Game - ❓ A$AP Ferg - ❓ System of a down - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Puddle Of Mud - ✔ Drowning Pool - ✔ Wheatus  - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Metallica - 💕 The Strokes - ✔ Megadeth - 💕 Nirvana - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The unicorns - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Linda Ronstad - ❓ David Bowie - ❓ Pink Floyd - ✔ Disney songs - ✔ Queen - 💕 The Scorpions - 💕 Rammstein - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Slipknot - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Disturbed -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Salvia - ✔️ Korn - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Rob Zombie - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Jet - ❓ Paramore - ✔️ Billy Talent - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Stabilo -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Shawn Mendes -✔ Selena Gomez - ✔️ Katy Perry - ✔ Gorillaz - 💕 DNCE - ✔ Demi Lovato - ✔ M.A.G.S. - ❓ T.A.T.U. - ❓ The Veronicas - 💕 Oasis - ❓ Modest Mouse - ✔ Martin Garrix - ❓ NerdOut -❓ Lifehouse - ❓ Thirty Seconds To Mars - 💕 Three Doors Down - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Allstar Weekend -❓ Royal Deluxe -❓ Johnny Cash - ✔ Train - ✔ Us The Duo -❓ In Love With A Ghost - 💕 Lindsey Sterling - ❓ Vanessa Mae - ❓ AJR - ❓ MAX - ❓ Dwayne Johnson - ❓ Dan Bull - ❓ Jon Bellion - ❓ Hollywood Undead - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Erutan -❓ Eurielle - ❓ Secondhand Serenade - 💕 Simple Plan - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Boys Like Girls -✔ Razihel - ❓ Rootkit - ❓ Stonebank - ❓ Pegboard Nerds -❓ Taku Matsushiba - ❓ Breaking Benjamin - ✔ Aero Chord - ❓ Jhameel - ❓ Adam Lambert - 💕 Skillet - 💕 Oliver Boyd And The Remembrals - ❓ Thousand Foot Krutch - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Within Temptation - ❓ Three Days Grace - 💕 💕 💕 💕 My Darkest Days -  💕 💕 💕 💕 The Script - ✔ My Chemical Romance - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Used - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Issues - ❓ Starset - ❓ Parachute - ❓ Five Finger Death Punch - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Shinedown - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Seether - ✔️ Two Steps To Hell - ❓ Audiomachine - ❓ The Living Tombstone - 💕 Nate Wants To Battle - ❓ Corrine Bailey Rae - ❓ Jason Mraz - ❓ Fall Out Boy - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Bullet For My Valentine - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Red Hot Chili Peppers - ✔️ Green Day - ✔️ Blink 182 - 💕 💕 💕 💕 +44 -❓ 311 -❓ Audioslave -❓ Staind -  💕 Incubus - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Marilyn Manson - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Smashing Pumpkins - 💕 Halestorm -❓ Bring Me The Horizon - ✔️ All Time Low - ✔ Pierce The Veil - ✔️ Sleeping With Sirens - ❓ The Killers - ✔ Goo Goo Dolls - ✔ Judas Priest - ✔ Kansas - ❓ Def Leppard -✔ Fit for Rivals -❓ Falling in Reverse - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Set It Off - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Get Scared - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Escape the Fate - ✔ Motionless in White - ❓ Neck Deep - ✔️ I Prevail - ❓ Waterparks -❓ Black Veil Brides - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Jeffree Star - 💕 💕 💕 💕 BOTDF - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Slayer - 💕 The Clash -✔ Ghost Town - 💕 Clean Bandit - 💕 Area 11 - ❓ Iamjakehill -❓ Bastille - ✔ Homesafe - ❓ Front Porch Step -❓ Son Little - ❓ The Fray - ✔️ Amber Run -❓ Days N Daze -❓ Lund - ❓ Never Shout Never - ✔ Dashboard Confessional - ❓ Sam Smith - ❓ Hotel Books ❓ Emarosa - ❓ Have Mercy - ❓ Two Inch Astronaut -❓ Nothing - ❓ mansionz - ❓ The Wombats - ✔ Asking Alexandria - ✔ The All-American Rejects - 💕 The Front Bottoms - ✔ Fitz & The Tantrums - ✔ Florence + The Machine - ✔ dad. the band -❓ Birdy - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Gregory and the Hawk - ✔ Lenka - 💕 💕 💕 💕 alt-J - ✔ Alex Clare -❓ AWOLNATION - ✔ Bishop Briggs -❓ Daughter - ✔️ Marina and The Diamonds - ✔ McCafferty - ❓ Neon Trees - ✔️ Banks - ❓ Bad Suns - ❓ RHODES - ❓ Cruel Youth -❓ Robb Bank$ -❓ Bones - ❓ Beamon - ❓ Black Sabbath - ✔ Bexey - ❓ Lil peep - ❓ Ramirez -❓ Wu-Tang Clan - ✔ NF - ❓ Bone Thugs n Harmony ❓ Frank Sinatra - ❓ Tomppabeats - ❓ Saib. - ❓ Limes -❓ Muse - ❓ Daniel Caeser - ❓ Gallant -❓ Tom Misch - ❓ Sabrina Claudio - ❓ Brasstracks -❓ Summer Salt -❓ The Walters - ❓ Snails House - ❓ Jeff Bernat -❓ Jeffrey Lewis -  ✔ Max Frost -❓ Caravan Palace - 💕 Daft Punk - 💕 MGMT - 💕 Animal Collective - 💕 Osamuraisan- ❓ Mother Mother - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Decemberists - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Postal Service -  💕 💕 💕 💕 AJJ -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Band Of Horses - ✔ Foot Ox - 💕 Metric - ✔ Jukebox The Ghost - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Cornell - ❓ Young the Giant - ✔ Hue - ❓ Summer Heart -❓ Honne -❓ Willa - ❓ William Wild - ❓ The Antlers - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Cigarettes after sex - 💕 Turnover - ❓ Champs - ❓ Moose Blood -❓ Paradise Fears - ❓ Citizen - ❓ The History of Apple Pie - ❓ Alina Baraz & Galimatias -❓ Zedd - 💕 Mystery Skulls - ✔ Michl - ❓ Khai -❓ Little Joy -❓ Vanic - ❓ Phoenix - ❓ Witt Lowry - ❓ Grieves - ❓ Mac Demarco - ❓ Sloan -❓ Jason Reeves -❓ 2am Club - ❓ We Hold Hands And We Jump - ❓ Against Me - ✔ Boys - ❓ The Cure - ✔ Ke$ha - ✔ Stromae - ❓ Weezer - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Vampire Weekend - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Studio Killers - ✔ Foo Fighters -✔ Queens Of The Stone Age - ❓ Rage Against The Machine - ✔ The Hives - ❓ The Offspring - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Linkin Park - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Zomboy - ❓ Highly Suspect -❓ Keane - ❓ Royal Blood - ❓ In This Moment - ❓ Chevelle - ❓ Ghost - ❓ The Beatles - ✔ Depeche Mode - 💕 Duran Duran - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Franz Ferdinand - ✔ R.E.M. - ❓ U2 - ❓ HIM - ❓ Radiohead - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Modern Baseball - ❓ Aphex Twin - 💕 Grimes - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Phantogram - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Purity Ring - 💕 💕 💕 💕 FKA twigs - ❓ Wolf Alice - ❓ Teen Suicide - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Cribs - ✔️ mewithoutyou - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Say Anything - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Salvia Palth - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Panucci’s Pizza - ❓ Manchester Orchestra - ❓ Neon Indian -❓ Unknown Mortal Orchestra -❓ Joywave -❓ Blur -❓ Catfish & The Bottlemen - ❓ Bon Iver - ✔ The Smiths - 💕 Led Zeppelin - 💕 Ocean colour scene - ❓ The Temper Trap - ❓ Blossoms - ❓ Kings Of Leon - 💕 George Ezra - ❓ Tom Odell - ❓ Jake Bugg - ❓ The Kooks - ❓ Nothing but Thieves - ❓ Mac - ❓ Keaton Henson - ❓ Noah Gunderson - ❓ Jimi Hendrix - ✔ Stevie Ray Vaughan - ❓ Michael Jackson - 💕 The Maccabees - ❓ Billy Joel - ✔ Little Comets - ❓ Milky Chance - ❓ Amy Winehouse -💕 Gabrielle Aplin - ❓ The Verve - ❓ London Grammar - ❓ The Who - ✔ The Vaccines - ❓ Joy Division - ❓ Arcade Fire -❓ Jamie T - ❓ The Coral - ❓ Tame Impala - ❓ Stereophonics - ❓ Blaenavon - ❓ Sundara Karma - ❓ Two Door Cinema Club - 💕 The Japanese HouseGromz - ❓ Cage the Elephant - 💕 The Black Keys - ✔ Mumford and Sons - ✔️ Paolo Nutini - ❓ Carole King - ❓ Van Morrison - ❓ Vance Joy - ❓ Ben Howard - ❓ The Hunna - ❓ Alicia Keys - ✔ Jack Garratt -❓ First Aid Kit -❓ Viola Beach -❓ Circa Waves -❓ Foster the People - 💕 Foals - ❓ The Velvet Underground - ❓ The Runaways - ❓ Patti Smith - ❓ X-Ray Spex - ❓ Vince Staples - ❓ Hodgy -❓ Ugly God - ❓ The Doors- ❓ Angerfist - ❓ S3RL - 💕 Dausuke tanabe -❓ sweet trip - ❓ kid606 - ❓ moeshoppost Malone- ❓ Joey bada$$ - ❓ toro y moi - ❓ tally hall - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Portugal. The Man - ❓ Lullatone - 💕 💕 💕 💕 sublime - ✔ grateful dead - ✔ king crimson - ❓ rush - ❓ frank iero andthe patience/celebration -❓ flatsound - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Nothing, nowhere -❓ elvis depressedly - ✔ Cloud nothings - ❓ kimya dawson -💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 guns n’ roses -💕 social repose ❓ Arkells - ❓ July Talk - ❓ Jank - ❓ Father John Misty - ❓ Sky Ferreira - ❓ HAIM - ❓ Declan McKenna - ❓ Sean Bolton- ❓ Beach House - ❓ The xx - 💕 Transit - ❓ Knuckle puck- ❓ Trophy Eyes - ❓ Joyce manor- ❓ Boston manor - ❓ Sum 41 - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Godsmack -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Papa Roach - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Dope -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 P.O.D - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Trapt -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Limp Bizkit - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Pretty Reckless - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The wonder years - ❓ Basement - ❓ American Football - ❓ La dispute - ❓ Surf Curse - ❓ Title fight - ❓ Brand New - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Mountain Goats - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The story so far - ❓ Real Friends - ❓ Balance and composure - ❓ A day to Remember - 💕 Elliot Smith - ✔ With Confidence - ❓ Our last night - ❓ AS IT IS - ❓ Senses Fail - ❓ Ween - ❓ Away days - ❓ Sorority Noise - ❓ Broken bells - ❓ Beartooth - ❓ Delta spirit - ❓ DREAMERS - ❓ The strumbellas - ❓ Neutral Milk Hotel - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 National Parks - ❓ Daughtry - ❓ Handsome ghost - ❓ Cold War Kids - ❓ Colony House - ❓ Dance Gavin Dance - ❓ Kodaline - ❓ Sweatshop Union - ❓ The lumineers - ❓ Of Monsters and Men - ❓ Waterparks- ❓ Foxing - ❓ Cyrberbully Mom Club - 💕 daisyhead - ✔️ The Mowgli’s - ❓ Banners - ❓ Billie Eilish - ❓ Switch Foot - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Culture Club - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Eurythmics - ✔️ Tears For Fears - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Simple Minds - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 A-Ha - 💕 The Bangles - ✔️ Cyndi Lauper - ✔️ Twisted Sister - 💕 Punch Brothers - ✔️ Nickel Creek -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Poets Of The Fall - 💕

Tagging: anyone !!j

Billy Joel

1. Cold Spring Harbor (1971)- In a sense, Billy Joel didn’t quite sound like Billy Joel yet here. He definitely hadn’t established any sort of unique style on this album, and it 100% sounds like it fits right in with the entire 70s soft singer-songwriter thing. That being said, he actually does it pretty well, and I think this album is probably better than it gets credit for. At times, he does the James Taylor thing better than James Taylor. Songs like “Why Judy Why” on one hand sound like they could be by any 70s singer-songwriter, but showcase a little extra young angst and edge that I found pleasantly surprising. Still, I’m glad that I know he’ll promptly move on from this sound. “She’s Got a Way” is definitely the song that best embodies the style he’ll begin to formulate after this album, and it slots in well with many of his classics. 

Favorite song: “Why Judy Why” 

2. Piano Man (1973)- Okay, we’re starting to establish Billy Joel’s defining characteristics now. Some of the cinematic and theatrical elements that he goes on to draw on heavily at times in his career start to build a foundation here, and his style of storytelling both gets its launch and potentially reaches its peak with the title track. “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” really jumps out to me as a defining moment. Kid from the Bronx sings about the wild west really reaches an impressive level of inauthenticity, and yet it totally works for me— I think this sort of sums up his whole career. This song is so silly, but the melodies rip and the way he draws on cinematic music writing in combination with song and storytelling sheds light on both what Joel’s gift is and why some are so put off by it.  

Favorite song: “Piano Man” 

3. Streetlife Serenade (1974)- Now this really sounds like an artist finding their footing, and it doesn’t come together here. He seems to take his penchant for cinematic scoring and go the whole nine yards with it. It sounds like a movie soundtrack (there are two instrumentals), but most of them don’t really stand out as songs. He seems to try to go a little early Springsteen with these urban flavored stories, but I can’t imagine many of these songs sticking with me. 

Favorite song: “The Entertainer” 

4. Turnstiles (1976)- This is a huge step forward and an underrated album. This one is fantastic, top to bottom. From the start, he starts to bring in a more of the 60s pop/Phil Spector sound with the “Be My Baby” beat of “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” to open the album. Right after that, “Summer, Highland Falls” goes back to the softer 70s songwriter sound but does it better than Joel ever had. This album covers a lot of territory in short amount of time but manages to mostly remain cohesive with so many standout tracks like “Prelude/Angry Young Man,” “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway),” and one of his signature songs, “New York State of Mind.” I imagine this is in the conversation for his best. 

Favorite song: “Summer, Highland Falls” 

5. The Stranger (1977)- Well, this is his best. Whether it’s the big stand out singles like “Only the Good Die Young” and “Just the Way You Are” or some of his best album tracks like “Vienna,” these songs all show him at his best. The more story oriented, rich in the flavor of the city style songs stand out to me: his best rock song to this point- “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” and his best multi-tiered epic “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” are astounding fears of songwriting. He’s just at his best in all the different types of songs he writes here. 

Favorite song: “Vienna” 

6. 52nd Street (1978)- With the songs have bigger arrangements and more instrumentation, he gets a little more rock and roll and a little more showtune-y on this one. “My Life” and “Big Shot” feel like they could contend for the big opening number of a musical. This is a good batch of songs, well arranged and well executed, but I don’t think it quite hits the highs of the previous two. 

Favorite song: “Honesty” 

7. Glass Houses (1980)- I think this is his punk album?? There are definitely elements of punk and new wave, and they don’t sound out of place. This is the least piano man-y album so far, but songs like “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” and “Sleeping with the Television On” hold up as straight pop rock jams. “You May Be Right” is definitely in his top tier of songs. The album could do without the pretty silly “C’etait Toi (You Were the One).”

Favorite song: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”

8. The Nylon Curtain (1982)- Billy Joel had a hell of a first decade with those first 7 albums, but man, it comes to a hard end here. This is album is bad. His voice sounds really strangely different on this. It’s hard to imagine revisiting this one as a whole. 

Favorite song: “Allentown” 

9. An Innocent Man (1983)- What a return to form! He goes all in on that 60s pop/Spector sound that he’s touched on at times and produces great results. This might be his catchiest album with hooks all over the place. He takes influence from various individual sub-genres of the era like the doo wop vocal groups (”The Longest Time”) or the more early days of R & B sounds (”Easy Money”) and nails most of them.

Favorite song: “Uptown Girl”

10. The Bridge (1986)- This gets off to a decently promising start. He gets with the 80s with the decade appropriate groove of the opener “Running on Ice.” Joel starts to get really into the electric guitar and it pays off decently on “A Matter of Trust.” Then this album falls off of a cliff. The duet with Ray Charles, “Baby Grand,” is truly atrocious, and nothing in the second half of this album comes close to working. 

Favorite song: “A Matter of Trust” 

11. Storm Front (1989)- The late 80s production makes this one feel especially dated— the drum sounds, the synths, etc. Still, “We Didn’t State the Fire” gets a bad rap; it’s actually pretty cool. It’s the right kind of silly for Billy Joel. The album sounds a little too of the era at times, but the songwriting is better overall than the previous album, albeit with some duds like the title track. I don’t think we’d realize how great a song “Shameless” is if he hadn’t passed it on to Garth Brooks— Joel’s version is just okay. Lyrically, I can’t think of an album that deals so directly with The Cold War? This is an album to pick and choose a few songs from and leave the rest behind. 

Favorite song: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” 

12. River of Dreams (1993)- This is not good. From the cringe worthy guitar theatrics on “Great Wall of China” to what in the world is happening on “Blonde Over Blue.” And yet, the title track completely rules— beyond infectious. 

Favorite song: “The River of Dreams” 

Ranking:

12. River of Dreams

11. The Nylon Curtain

10. The Bridge

9. Storm Front

8. Streetlife Serenade

7. Cold Spring Harbor

6. Piano Man

5. 52nd Street

4. Glass Houses

3. An Innocent Man

2. Turnstiles

1. The Stranger