Saturday, March 21, 1987

Billy Joel & Ray Charles “Baby Grand” charted

Baby Grand

Billy Joel & Ray Charles

Writer(s): Billy Joel (see lyrics here)

First Charted: March 21, 1987

Peak: 75 US, 87 CB, 3 AC, 78 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.0 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Billy Joel said Ray Charles was his favorite singer and pianist, ^SF commenting that he “was my hero when I was growing up. As big of a pianist or as big of a star I could ever become, I could never be Ray Charles.” ^WK When Billy Joel had a daughter in 1985, he named her Alexa Ray, partly as an homage to Charles. When Charles found out, he contacted Joel and said they should do a song together. ^WK

Joel wasn’t sure if he had enough in common with Charles to write a song for him to sing. Then he thought about how they both played piano and had their share of trouble with women. Joel then crafted “Baby Grand” as an ode to the piano, but also comparing the piano to women and using it as a way to reflect on both men’s careers. ^WK As Joel said, “The piano has provided me with a nice living…It’s gotten me women, and it’s gotten me through some strange times.” ^SF

He wrote the song in a single night, saying “it was one of those rare songs…that seem to come all at once – it seemed almost as though I had heard it before.” ^WK He tried to write in the vein of “Georgia on My Mind,” ^WK a song which Charles took to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960.

Joel was nervous about recording with Charles, but said he ended up being very easy to work with. Joel said, “He would have taken the thing anywhere I wanted to take it.” ^WK Joel originally sang in his natural Long Island accent, but at the suggestion of his producer, Phil Ramone, Joel challenged Charles by doing his best impression of Charles so that they ended up singing in a similar style. ^WK The pair also played dual pianos during the song. Ramone said the song “works…because it’s heartfelt and simple. It’s just two giants who admire each other, singing and playing together.” ^SF

The song was included on Joel’s 1986 album The Bridge and released as the fourth single. While it was an adult contemporary hit, it only reached #75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Joel’s line in the song that “they say no one’s gonna play this on the radio” a little prescient. Still, it did receive mostly positive reviews with the Miami Herald saying the song found “Joel actually convincing in the jazz testimonial setting.” ^WK