The Piano Man is back and he’s better than ever. Making its live debut appearance on The Grammys and one of his first songs released in nearly 20 years, “Turn The Lights Back On” by Billy Joel’s lyrics have such a deep and touching meaning.
The song serves as Joel’s first single since “Christmas in Fallujah” which was released in 2007. “I have a lot of music that no one’s ever heard and no one may ever hear if I don’t decide to do something with it,” Joel told Rolling Stone in 2019. “It’s really about the creative process that’s important to me, not about having records on the charts or selling a lot of recordings. I’m learning all the time, and you never stop learning. That’s what’s good about the writing process. You always learn something new whenever you create.”
He continued, saying that new music is never out of the picture. “I’m never going to say never, I may come up with an idea that could become a song. I may write a movie soundtrack. I may write a symphony. I don’t know. Anything’s possible.”
So what does “Turn The Lights Back On” by Billy Joel lyrics mean? Read more to find out.
What does "Turn The Lights Back On" by Billy Joel lyrics mean?
Billy Joel’s “Turn The Lights Back On” was written as a love ballad but also serves as a song about how he hasn’t released any songs in the past couple of years. The “Piano Man” singer revealed that he was inspired to make music again after his co-writer Freddy Wexler egged him on and in turn, “turn(ed) the lights back on.” “Other people have tried to talk me into going back in and doing new material, and making the recordings, and I’ve always resisted it. I studiously avoided it because songwriting had become painful,” he recalled. “I have this high bar. I said to myself, ‘If I don’t reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punched myself and I hate myself.’ So, I stopped doing it because I got tired of feeling like that,” Joel revealed on the Audacy Check-In podcast.
“The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that’s how I relate to music,” he explained “This particular lyric in this song, I’ve had these thoughts, I could have written these lyrics verbatim. I’ve chewed on these words and I’ve thought of these words, and I’ve said these words before. It was all kind of falling into place — and who am I to fight that?”
Billy Joel "Turn The Lights Back On" lyrics
Here are Billy Joel’s “Turn the Lights Back On” by Billy Joel lyrics, via Genius.
[Verse 1]
Please open the door
Nothing is different, we’ve been here before
Pacing these halls, trying to talk
Overthesilence
And pride sticksout its tongue
Laughs at the portraitthat we’ve become
Stuck in a frame, unable to change
I was wrong[Chorus]
I’m late, but I’m here right now
Though I used to be romantic
I forgot somehow
Time can make you blind
But I see you now
As we’re layin’ in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on?[Verse 2]
Herе, stuck on a hill
Outsiders inside the homе that we built
The cold settles in
It’s been a long winter of indifference
And maybe you love me, maybe you don’t
Maybe you’ll learn to and maybe you won’t
You’ve had enough, but I won’t give up
On you[Chorus]
I’m late, but I’m here right now
And I’m tryin’ to find the magic
That we lost somehow
Maybe I was blind
But I see you now
As we’re layin’ in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on?[Instrumental Interlude]
[Chorus]
I’m late, but I’m here right now
Is there still time for forgiveness?
Won’t you tell me how?
I can’t read your mind
But I see you now
As we’re layin’ in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on?[Outro]
I’m here right now
Yes, I’m here right now
Looking for forgiveness
I can see as we’re layin’ in the darkness
Yeah, as we’re layin’ in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on?When is Billy Joel ending his Madison Square Garden residency?
On June 1, 2023, The “Uptown Girl” musician announced that he was ending his monthly Madison Square Garden shows. “I’m kind of flabbergasted that it lasted as long as it did. My team tells me that we could continue to sell tickets, but ten years, 150 shows – all right already!” said Billy Joel in a press release. “I do remember the first time we played Madison Square Garden, it was the pinnacle of my career. I thought, ‘My God, I’m headlining Madison Square Garden.’ Everybody in the world knows when you play The Garden, it’s not just New York. To our audience, I want to thank them for coming to our shows for this long. It’s hard to end, even at 150 lifetime shows. I just want to thank everyone for the wonderful thing that’s happened here.”
The last date for his residency is July 25. Here’s where to get tickets.
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