My Favorite Billy Joel Songs: Captain Jack (#1)

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Hooray for Billy Joel! And hooray for @DianneN for the suggestion to count down my favorite songs by the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. Probably to everyone’s surprise, here’s my favorite Billy Joel song. #1: Captain Jack Let’s face it, “Just the Way You Are,” this ain’t. This is right up there with Hoyt Axton’s “The Pusher” (famous by Steppenwolf) as one of the most powerful anti-drug songs of the late 60s/early 70s. According to Joel, “Captain Jack” was a real person: a heroin dealer whose hangout Joel could see from his apartment window in 1971, when he wrote this song. Joel said (per Picky Wedia) that he’d see kids from the good parts of the suburbs coming into the Projects to buy drugs, which made him wonder what was missing in their idyllic lives. And this song is what he imagined. Brutal, powerful, and a Billy Joel song like no other. Thanks for reading. And thanks again, Dianne! Captain Jack Written by Billy Joel From Piano Man, 1973 Your finger’s gonna pick your nose: