Billy Joel reveals his Top 5 favorite Billy Joel songs on Colbert's Late Show

Billy Joel names his Top 5 Billy Joel songs

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 10 January 2017

Stephen Colbert asked Billy Joel on Monday's Late Show why he hasn't put out a new pop album since 1993, and Joel said, "I thought I'd had my say." When Colbert expressed surprise, Joel said, "Yeah, I just said, 'You know, okay, shut up now.' I mean, I'd put out 12 albums. How many albums did The Beatles put out? Twelve albums." "Elton John says you should put out more albums," Colbert said, and Joel shot back, "Yeah, well, I told him he should put out less albums."

Joel trotted out his Tony Bennett impression and they talked about sneaking into rock shows in the 1980s and about Bruce Springsteen, then Colbert said that Springsteen had named his five favorite Springsteen songs on The Late Show, then asked if Joel would do the same. "People always shout out what they think the best songs are — if you were at a Billy Joel concert and you were yelling out to you, what are the five songs you'd do?" Colbert asked. Joel said he tends to like the album tracks more than the hits, and named "Vienna" as one of the five. But other than "She's Right on Time," the other three songs would fall under the "hits" category. Joel and Colbert spent the last few minutes goofing around with "True Stories Behind the Hits" — as in Joel joking that the original title to "Only the Good Die Young" was "The Evil Shall Live Forever." (The jokes got better.)

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The song "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" was not one of Joel's Top 5, but at Colbert's request, he played it for the audience. You can watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.