Billy Joel’s Glass Houses released

Glass Houses Billy Joel

Released: March 12, 1980 Peak: 16 US, 9 UK, 17 CN, 2 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.1 UK, 11.2 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. You May Be Right Sometimes a Fantasy Don’t Ask Me Why It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me All for Leyna I Don’t Want to Be Alone Sleeping with the Television On C’Etait Toi (You Were the One) Close to the Borderline Through the Long Night Total Running Time: 35:06

Rating: 4.003 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: “The closest Joel ever got to a pure rock album.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album “The back-to-back success of The Stranger and 52nd Street may have brought Billy Joel fame and fortune, even a certain amount of self-satisfaction, but it didn’t bring him critical respect, and it didn’t dull his anger. If anything, being classified as a mainstream rocker – a soft rocker – infuriated him, especially since a generation of punks and new wave kids were getting the praise that eluded him.” AM “Instead of turning out to be a fiery rebuttal to his detractors, the album is a remarkable catalog of contemporary pop styles, from McCartney-esque whimsy (Don’t Ask Me Why) and arena rock (All for Leyna) to soft rock (C’etait Toi [You Were the One]).” AM “Comparatively a harder-rocking album than either of its predecessors, with a distinctly bitter edge, Glass Houses still displays the hallmarks of Billy Joel the pop craftsman and Phil Ramone the world-class hitmaker. Even its hardest songs, including the top-10 hit “You May Be Right” and top-40 hit “Sometimes a Fantasy,” “have bold, direct melodies and clean arrangements, ideal for radio play.” AM “The Stranger and 52nd Street were fine albums in their own right, but it’s nice to hear Joel scale back his showman tendencies and deliver a solid pop/rock record… [that is] the closest Joel ever got to a pure rock album.” AM The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

You May Be Right Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 3/7/1980 (single), Glass Houses (1980), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), The Hits (2010) B-side: “Close to the Borderline” First Charted: 3/14/1980 Peak: 7 BB, 8 CB, 2 GR, 7 HR, 2 RR, 48 AC, 2 CL, 64 UK, 6 CN, 28 AU, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 38.5 video, 110.97 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: After becoming a Grammy-winning artist with his top-10 hit “Just the Way You Are” and his 1978 album 52nd Street, Billy Joel still wasn’t satisfied. He was angry that “critics still lumped him in with the middle-of-the-road-soft-rock balladeers of the era.” SG With his 1980 album Glass Houses, Joel intended to “throw a rock at the image people had” FB of him and “show that he could rock as hard as anyone else.” SG The first sound on the album in the lead song “You May Be Right” is of breaking glass. It corresponded with the album cover depicting Joel about to throw a rock at an all-glass house. It was a statement to his critics that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. SF “The snarl of the motorcycle-riding You May Be Right” DB made it clear this would be a harder-rocking album than its two predecessors. The song is sung from the perspective of a man being told he is reckless. The character “confirms the suspicion, admitting that he is crazy and extolling the virtues of a more carefree, but dangerous existence.” SF Cash Box called the song “witty, urbane, and energetic.” WK It features hard guitar playing “reminiscent of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones.” WK Record World said “Joel’s rock energy blends well with his pop melodies on this smashing cut.” WK The song gave Joel another top-10 hit and was the first of four top-40 hits from the Glass Houses album. Joel himself considers it one of his top 5 songs. SF

Sometimes a Fantasy Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 10/11/1980 (single), Glass Houses (1980) B-side: “All for Leyna” First Charted: 10/11/1980 Peak: 36 BB, 40 CB, 39 HR, 22 RR, 12 CL, 29 UK, 21 CN, 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.6 video, 15.17 streaming About the Song: “The terrifically paranoid Sometimes a Fantasy” DB is what Billboard magazine called a “melodic, fast paced rocker” WK that “starts with a telephone ring and a rockabilly vocal.” WK Record World called it a “pulsating rocker for AOR-pop.” WK It gave Glass Houses its fourth top-40 hit. “The lyrics are about a sexually frustrated man who tries to convince his significant other to have phone sex. He explains that he is lonely since they are far away from each other (which is implied by the fact that his phone call is long distance).” WK

Don’t Ask Me Why Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 7/24/1980 (single), Glass Houses (1980), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001) B-side: “C’Etait Toi (You Were the One)” First Charted: 8/2/1980 Peak: 19 BB, 21 CB, 17 HR, 10 RR, 12 AC, 8 CL, 73 UK, 4 CN, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.80 video, 42.75 streaming About the Song: Joel offers “McCartney-esque whimsy” AM on “Don’t Ask Me Why,” the album’s third top-20 hit. “The track contains all acoustic and Latin percussion instruments performing in an Afro-Cuban rhythmic style. An eclectic, instrumental Latin Ballroom piano solo, played over the bridge section after the second verse, is also featured in part of the song.” WK Billboard said the song was “catchy” WK while Record World called it “one of [Joel’s] easy rollin’ romantic piano ballads that often become pop standards.” WK Cash Box said the lyrics deal with “themes of success and chance” WK backed by a “crisp pop/Latin/rock rhythm.” WK

It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 5/12/1980 (single), Glass Houses (1980), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), Piano Man: The Very Best of (2004), The Hits (2010) B-side: “Through the Long Night” First Charted: 5/13/1980 Peak: 12 BB, 13 CB, 14 GR, 14 HR, 14 RR, 45 AC, 1 CL, 14 UK, 13 CN, 10 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.20 UK, 4.41 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 39.50 video, 311.61 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Joel “saw the kind of press that punk and new wave bands were getting, and he decided that there wasn’t actually anything new about these new bands.” SG In railing against the new sound, however, he ended up embracing it. In fact, “thanks to his innate brattiness and gift for stylistic wandering, Joel was able to pull it off better than just about anyone.” DB “You May Be Right,” the first single from Glass Houses, was “basically an Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson new-wave rave-up.” SG The follow-up single, “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “is a sharp, well-written song” SG that “works in the same mode…but with some angry snark in the mix, as well.” SG With a sound that “ironically Joel showed on the “Cars-imitating It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” DB that it “came naturally to him.” DB His first #1 found him “sarcastically raging against the idea that he should have to switch his style up, to adapt to a new sound…even as he… [does] exactly what he complains that he shouldn’t have to do.” SG Interestingly, even Rolling Stone critic Marsh acknowledged that the song “redeemed the project commercially.” FB Musically, it “is more mannered than ‘You May Be Right.’…It’s a controlled and locked-in rockabilly shuffle – as if Joel is proving how old these new sounds are by making them sound as old as possible.” SG “At times, it nods in the direction of Bruce Springsteen, Joel’s fellow tri-state beach-town road warrior; Richie Cannata’s saxophone solo is a straight-up Clarence Clemons bite. But Joel never tries to wail his way into transcendence, the way Springsteen always did. Joel is more concerned with airing out petty grievances.” SG

All for Leyna Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: February 1980 (UK single), 10/11/1980 (B-side of “Sometimes a Fantasy”), Glass Houses (1980), The Ultimate Collection (2000) Peak: 17 CL, 40 UK, 35 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.9 video, 14.61 streaming About the Song: “All For Leyna” was released as the lead single for Glass Houses in the UK, but not in the U.S. “The lyrics tell the story of the protagonist who meets a girl named Leyna, and, after a one-night stand, becomes obsessed with her.” WK

I Don’t Want to Be Alone Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Glass Houses (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.90 streaming

Sleeping with the Television On Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Glass Houses (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.98 streaming

C’était Toi (You Were the One) Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 7/24/1980 (B-side of “Don’t Ask Me Why”), Glass Houses (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.78 streaming

Close to the Borderline Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Glass Houses (1980) Peak: 25 CL Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.22 streaming

Through the Long Night Billy Joel

Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: Glass Houses (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.16 streaming

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 527. DB David Browne (6/07). Blender magazine. Pages 114-5. SF Songfacts page for “You May Be Right” SG Stereogum (3/30/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia page for “All for Leyna” WK Wikipedia page for “You May Be Right” WK Wikipedia page for “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” WK Wikipedia page for “Don’t Ask Me Why” WK Wikipedia page for “Sometimes a Fantasy” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/6/2011; last updated 2/11/2026.