Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Finally we get a definitive, career-spanning documentary on the great Billy Joel! And we get it real soon.

Billy Joel Details How ‘Music Saved My Life’ in ‘And So It Goes’ Documentary Trailer

Billy Joel: And So It Goes will premiere in two parts on HBO on July 18 and 25 with appearances from Paul McCartney, P!nk, Bruce Springsteen, and more.In the official trailer for Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the musician considers a reality in which “Uptown Girl” was a Mozart piece. It’s not entirely farfetched. His history as a musician started with listening to classical music. Besides, the singer and songwriter has learned not to count out the impossible. “Sometimes it’s alien to me — this guy, Billy Joel. I don’t know who that is, or what that is,” he says in the clip from the two-part HBO documentary. “I’m reminded of it when I go walk on the street. Oh, right, I’m that guy.”

Joel doesn’t have an explanation for how his first band, the Hassles, were ever successful (“I don’t know one person that liked what we were doing”) or how he ended up dating the supermodel Christie Brinkley (“Me? I’m from Hicksville”). Still, he thinks he has the secret to the music mostly figured out. “If there was a skeleton key to unlocking what’s behind the songs, it’s my relationship with others,” he said.



In the documentary, Joel will reflect on how his upbringing influenced his songwriting. “I’m still trying to put the pieces together,” he says in one scene. “I didn’t know my father at all from eight years old until I was in my 20s. I’ve had a lot of hard lessons in my life.” There’s trauma that lingers, but he learned how to flip it into music magic.



Paul McCartney appears in the trailer to recall his first encounter with the singer, saying, “When I first heard Billy Joel, it was like, wait a minute. ‘Who’s this?'” Even Bruce Springsteen popped in to admit, “Billy’s melodies are better than mine.” For P!nk, Joel prevailed because “he cares about the human experience” and “he wrote songs that mattered.”

Joel learned “that life is a fight,” and wore his songs like armor. “I think music saved my life. It gave me a reason to live,” he says. “Everything I’ve done and everything I’ve lived through has somehow found its way into my music.”



And So It Goes premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. Joel was unable to attend the screening due to his recent brain disorder diagnosis. The first part of the film directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin will premiere on HBO on Friday, July 18 at 8 p.m. EST followed part two on Friday, July 25.=

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

I'm really looking forward to this. I've loved his music since I was in middle school.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Thanks for the heads up on this. I'm a huge fan, and love when he talks about his songs on his Sirius XM channel.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Damn, I'm 1.5 hours into the first episode and there's still an hour to go. Pretty good so far.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

I loved part 1. I know his music so well but didn't know about his first band, his first wife, or all the background stuff. At that time in my life I wasn't paying attention to celebrity talk (it was also not nearly what it is now), and Christie Brinkley was probably the first aspect of his personal life that I remember, because it was so front and center. It was great how they got so much interview time from Elizabeth Weber, Jon Small, and others, and how they were able to collect so much material (photos, video) and weave it together.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Yeah, part 1 was pretty great.
I'm an obsessive superfan, and even I hadn't heard some of these stories before. And more importantly, I'd only heard most from Billy's side. That's why I found it AMAZING that we got so much interview time with Elizabeth, who has been painted as kind of a villain over the years. She clearly had to put up with a LOT of BS for a long time. Without her, I don't think we'd even know who Billy Joel was. I'm really surprised and appreciative that she contributed so much.
Was also pleasantly surprised we got interviews with Liberty DeVito, who has been famously feuding with Billy for most of this century, after spending many decades as the most recognizable member of the band.

Mostly, I'm just so, so appreciative that we got all this down and recorded, while we still could. I hope it's not the case, but there's a real possibility that this Billy Joel is now gone and might not be coming back. Much like The Beatles Anthology, it's so great to get these stories down from the people who lived them and preserved forever.

Speaking of which, I really appreciate when they put up captions like this, so you can keep the interview subjects straight.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...8dad42ffca.jpg



Also, I discovered that Brenda and Eddie actually bought deep, pile Carpet? I always thought it was DuPont carpet!

Really looking forward to part 2

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Good to hear the praise. The wife is a big fan, so I will soon be spending apparently 5 hours with this doc. To be fair, I'm a fan as well, just not to her level.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Bill, you're a better spouse than Mrs. Decker. She told me "You're going to have to watch that one by yourself". But God bless her, she's seen Billy in concert with me a LOT of times and never (okay, rarely) complains about it.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

:lol: I've been to probably a dozen shows with her spanning decades.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Wife might be a bigger fan than me so had no problem watching it. I did check to see if another 2.5 hours would be ok, though. :lol:

She generally watches music documentaries without complaining but I pick my spots: John Williams, Yacht Rock, The Wrecking Crew were fine. I watched Get Back, Carole King, Taylor Swift Folklore, and the Beach Boys by myself. I watched the Bee Gees by myself as well but thought it was good enough that I rewatched it with her.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Second part was also great and really dug into more of the stuff I didn't know much about, like his comeback from retirement, his classical compositions, and later albums (they still mostly ignore The Bridge, though, lol). There was a lot of sadness, though, with his failed marriages and financial problems. It was great that they interviewed Christine Brinkley (fun story of how they met) and Alexis, and I didn't remember that they had stayed married as long as they did.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

I've never been a fan and won't be watching this. Something about Billy Joel seems smarmy. This article puts it pretty well:

https://slate.com/culture/2025/07/bi...es-review.html

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Gee, thanks for the insight. :rolleyes:

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Yeah I couldn't give less of a shit about what music you don't like. There are musical artists I don't care for either, but I don't pop into their threads to breathlessly chime in with my opinion. But I guess you think it's cool that you found some writer at Slate who agrees with you. Maybe you feel that gives you some personal validation? Negative critical and public reception to Billy is covered in the documentary that you won't be watching as well.
In any case, thanks for the :crap:

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Posting someone else's critique of something he didn't even watch. I don't think it's possible to get any lazier.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Great doc. Just spent a Saturday morning/early afternoon watching it all through.

Billy is my favorite singles artist. Seen him about 6-7 times live.

The best was 10th row (center) floor seats in DC for Billy/Elton face-to-face about 20-some years ago. 3 hours of joy. Best money I ever spent on any event.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

They just dropped a massive 155 track* soundtrack to this (I found it on Spotify).

* Some of the tracks are intros.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Just finished part two. Fantastic.

It's a shame they didn't touch on his most recent tune, "Turn the Lights Back On" which is lyrically just genius with how it's layered and can mean something different for everyone. The video was also pretty genius and well done.

I've seen him live about 4 times (once with Elton) and would love to see him one more time, but I doubt that's going to happen.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Joel might come across as a little cocky from time to time, but never smarmy. Let the man crow. He's an icon and legend. I don't know anyone who hates the him or his music.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

I thought it was amazing that all his exes still care for/about him.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Yeah, I'll watch a music doc even if I don't like the musician(s) profiled. I loved that yacht rock doc, and I fucking hate yacht rock.

My Billy Joel fandom peaked at the Glass Houses record. Obviously he and I were embracing the "new" music at the same time. Only I went further into it, going into punk and alternative music while he went back to his roots after that record. But I still liked hearing about his life and music.

That's why Edgar Wright's The Sparks Brothers will always be one of the best docs, for the graphic of "Fucking Beck" when they were interviewing Beck.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

I watched the first half of the first episode last night, and I love this documentary. I didn't know half of what they revealed. This is a fascinating look at Joel's struggles and mistakes, as well as his triumphs.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

By the way, I missed the beginning of the first half, I started watching it as they were going over the releases of Piano Man and Streetlife Serenade. I watched almost all of the second half, minus a couple of minutes of doing household chores like throwing in a load of laundry. I mention all of this, because I noticed they barely talked at all about his tour in the Soviet Union. That was a pretty big deal, I saw a documentary on that alone, and there were some fascinating episodes in that tour, like him stopping mid-song because the arena kept lighting up the crowd and the audience would have to stop dancing lest they be seen enjoying a Western musician. And another where a Red Army soldier threw him his hat, another big no-no in the former USSR.

I would have thought that would be addressed in the second half, maybe not as in depth as that other doc, but it looked like they glossed over it completely other than the one scene of him upending his piano. And I think that was in Germany anyway...

ETA: One more note about not watching a music doc because you don't like the musicians. I'd have to say that one of my least favorite music docs is about one of my favorite musicians. Specifically, the story of Descendents and All, called Filmage. Don't get me wrong, I loved learning the history of the band, and seeing all the clips, but as a doc it falls flat because there simply was never any drama within the band(s). When the guitarist quit the band, burned all his gear, and moved out of town the rest of the band just said, "That's so punk rock". When the singer breaks up the band to go study biochemistry, they all said "He's a science nerd. Of course he'd do that". When the rest of the band decides to just change the name and get a new singer, the original singer said "Man, I loved them, bought all their records". Never any animosity whatsoever. Great band(s). Boring doc.

The Billy Joel story has so many ups and downs, it's a hell of a watch even if you despise every note the guy's played.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)
 

Watched both parts back to back. Loved it. Big Joel fan. So many memories associated with his music. Saw him solo in Biloxi MS. Seats were high enough to see some of the backstage. Spotted a stunning blonde walking around and I always assumed it was Christie. Saw him and Elton in San Diego on their first tour together. I had met a couple who had an open marriage. Took her to the concert for a date. Good times.

Re: Billy Joel : And So It Goes (Two Part Documentary) - HBO (7/18 & 7/25/25)