Billy Joel’s Turnstiles released

Turnstiles Billy Joel

Released: May 19, 1976 Peak: 122 US, -- UK, -- CN, 12 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Say Goodbye to Hollywood Summer, Highland Falls All You Wanna Do Is Dance New York State of Mind James Prelude/Angry Young Man I’ve Loved These Days Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) Total Running Time: 36:22

Rating: 3.856 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album “For all his seemingly natural pop instincts, it took Joel almost a decade to find his voice – which he finally did on his fourth album, a commercial flop. His singing and songwriting felt supple and relaxed, balancing urban sophistication and suburban gruffness, beauty and bravura, in ways that would often escape him later.” DB It “may not have been a hit, but it remains one of his most accomplished and satisfying records, clearly paving the way to his twin peaks of the late ‘70s, The Stranger and 52nd Street.” AM “The key to the record’s success is variety.” AM Joel “decided to run with his musical talents, turning the record into a whirlwind tour of pop styles, from Sinatra to Springsteen. There’s little question that the cinematic sprawl of Born to Run had an effect on Turnstiles, since it has a similar widescreen feel, even if it clocks in at only eight songs.” AM The Recording Billy Joel started recording the album in Colorado at Caribou Ranch with drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, both of Elton John’s band. James William Guercio, who’d produced Chicago, started out as producer. However, when Joel was dissatisfied with the results, he took over himself as the producer and moved the recording to New York. He rerecorded the entire album with Long Island musicians. The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Say Goodbye to Hollywood Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: October 1976 (B-side of “I’ve Loved These Days”), November 1976 (UK single), 1981 (single, live version), Turnstiles (1976), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), The Hits (2010) B-side: “Stop in Nevada” Peak: 17 BB, 20 CB, 11 GR, 22 HR, 14 RR, 35 AC, 6 CL, 11 AR, 27 CN, 45 AU, 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 20.76 streaming About the Song: “Shortly after Streetlife Serenade, Joel ditched California – and, by implication, sensitive Californian soft rock from sensitive singer/songwriters – for his hometown of New York. ‘Say Goodbye to Hollywood’ was a celebration of his move, a repudiation of his past, a fanfare for a new beginning, which is exactly what Turnstiles was.” AM The song was inspired by “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. Billy Joel recycled the iconic drum intro of the song for “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.” When recording the song in the studio, the production was modeled on the “Wall of Sound” style employed by famed producer Phil Spector, who produced “Be My Baby.” That meant multiple layers of instrumentals and vocals. WK Ronnie Spector herself recorded the song in 1977 with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. WK

Summer, Highland Falls Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Turnstiles (1976) Peak: 37 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 25.62 streaming About the Song: “Summer, Highland Falls was his best ballad to date, possibly his best ever.” AM

All You Wanna Do Is Dance Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Turnstiles (1976) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.66 streaming About the Song: AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called “All You Wanna Do Is Dance” “bouncy, McCartney-esque.” AM

New York State of Mind Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Turnstiles (1976), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), Piano Man: The Very Best of (2004), The Hits (2010) Peak: 11 CL, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 111.08 streaming About the Song: The “saloon song” AM “New York State of Mind” came about when Billy Joel came back to New York after working at a piano bar in Los Angeles for six months. Just as stated in the lyrics, he was actually taking a Greyhound bus on the Hudson River Line Route when the idea came to him. He wrote it as soon as he reached his new Highland Falls home. WK It was a concerted effort to create a standard, directly influenced by his time in L.A. covering traditional standards. WK It wasn’t released as a single but would become “critically-acclaimed and amongst the most covered of Joel’s songs.” WK Barbara Streisand covered the song on her 1977 Superman album and it helped expose Joel to a wider mainstream audience. He thanked her for the exposure and said “his New York relatives were duly impressed to have the Queen of Brooklyn cover one of his songs.” WK In 2004, the song served as inspiration for an illustrated children’s book from Scholastic with illustrations by Izak Znou. WK

James Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: July 1976 (single), Turnstiles (1976) B-side: “Travelin’ Prayer” Peak: 77 AU, 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.49 streaming About the Song: Cash Box called this “a song to an old friend, wondering what he’s doing now.” WK “This beautiful tune kicks off with some sensitive playing on the Fender Rhodes, accompanied solely by bass. Gradually as the song builds, so does the instrumentation.” WK Billy Joel has said that “James” refers to “different people he knew in real life with the title character being a ‘composite’ of those people.” WK That song and “I’ve Loved These Days” offer “tender concessions to impending adulthood.” DB

Prelude/Angry Young Man Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Turnstiles (1976) Peak: 18 CL, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 14.31 streaming About the Song: “Prelude” is an instrumental, “rapid-fire piano riff intended to emulate the iconic drum pattern from the Surfaris’ 1963 surf hit ‘Wipe Out.’” WK It employs a variety of musical styles including “Aaron Copland-style Americana, funk, and a Western shuffle.” WK The vocal section of the song, “Angry Young Man,” is what AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called “bitterly cynical.” AM It “satirizes a self-righteous, idealistic youth who, in his unrelenting struggle for causes, becomes increasingly isolated. The narrator juxtaposes this youthful indignation with a more resigned adult viewpoint, suggesting either that he once was the angry young man or has known many like him.” WK

I’ve Loved These Days Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: October 1976 (single), Turnstiles (1976) B-side: “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.43 streaming About the Song: Cash Box said this song creates “a perfect mood of grand cinema romance” WK with “its elegant strings and crashing piano.” WK Record World said “both melody and lyric stand out in this powerful ballad.” WK The song is “a tongue-in-cheek expression of regret at leaving behind Hollywood decadence.” WKThis song and “James” offer “tender concessions to impending adulthood.” DB

Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Turnstiles (1976), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001) Peak: 16 CL, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 16.37 streaming About the Song: Billy Joel’s Turnstiles album closes with “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway).” Like other songs on the album, it was inspired by Joel’s return to New York after a short stint working in a piano bar in Los Angeles. He said it was “a science fiction song about an apocalypse occurring in New York as a result of discussions that the city was failing in the 1970s.” WK The title was inspired by the idea that many New Yorkers retired to Miami and “the narrator is telling his grandchildren in the year 2017 about what he saw in the destruction of New York.” WK Joel performed the song at the BB&T Center in Miami on New Year’s Eve in 2016. WK

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine DB David Browne (6/07). Blender magazine. Pages 114-5. WK Wikipedia page for Turnstiles WK Wikipedia page for “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” WK Wikipedia page for “New York State of Mind” WK Wikipedia page for “Prelude/Angry Young Man” WK Wikipedia page for “Miami 2017” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 5/9/2011; last updated 2/18/2026.