I worked as a deck hand on a crab boat in Dutch Harbor Alaska. Billy Joel absolutely nails the rhythm you experience in 40" seas. The lyrics will go down as part of our history, as he describes having to go further and further out to sea to catch fish, away from the Bay. Just an awesome well written song!
I sail out of the Northeast coast of England and this song hits me where I feel... especially the lines "like all the locals here I've had to sell my home, too proud to leave I work my fingers to the bone"... too proud to leave... damn right I'm proud... Billy Joel, you nailed it.
I work on a oyster boat on hoopers island md. At the age of 16, I feel it is the last generation to work the water of bay, for the past hundred years my family's been doing it. Keep the tradition alive
@@veshapoochi0.3 Solid point. I mean, how much could you really care about an issue, if someone roughly your age hasn't written a song about it? For example, until John Fogerty wrote "Fortunate Son," no one had any idea that Baby Boomers didn't want to get drafted.
I was raised on the ocean coast of New Jersey .... this song is immersed in truth and struggle of fishermen from Cape May to the tip of Maine . Beautifully done Billy Joel !!
@@catsupempire3920 You’re quite a fragile human being. Sit back and enjoy the music bro. It’s not that hard to not be full of hate for other people with differing opinions.
This song is masterpiece and nails exactly the really tough life of be a fisherman! Honestly it's hard to listen to since I grew up in New England and understand that life.. brings tears to my eyes
I’ve been boating with my dad for about 7 years; we’ve had 3 boats. My dad has played this song anytime we went out whether that be fishing or just cruising. Billy Joel nailed this song.. what a masterpiece.
An early listen in my childhood, will always remind me of the first pair of headphones I ever wore and cranked up at my mom n dad's listening to this cassette over and over.
Having been born and raised on Long Island, this song has a very deep meaning. I moved off the island 24 years ago, but this song brings me right back every time.
This song always makes me want to go fishing! Downeaster Alexa is a classic song about bringing home the big catch, that'll feed a fisherman and his whole family! God bless the Piano Man! Good job, legendary track by Joel & Company!
THIS SONG I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS LIKE- THIS IS SOMETHING I WOULD PLAY WHEN I WANNA FEEL BIG WALKING INTO A NEW PLACE ITS JUST SO HEROIC AND NICE FEELING AND I LOVE ITTTTTTT I'M SURE IF ONE 13 YEAR OLD'S AFFECTED BY THIS SONG THIS MUCH THEN THERES A CHANCE THERES MORE KIDS WHO LIKE THIS (Oop, lots of caps, i got excited)
Yeah I discovered this song from The Hangover. But, I mean, it's a banger. I'm a music lover and I can't deny Billy Joel is actually kind of a badass lol.
So cool. Billy Joel over here doing a whole movie's worth of worldbuilding and crafting lore and shit on this one. Man, people hardly tell STORIES like this one anymore in music.
I am now proudly a Critical Care RN working in NYC but when I was a kid I was a mate on a few charter and party fishing boats out of the Captree area and Montauk and Billy nailed the water conditions in this song. The bays and South Shore was dead and the canyon was desolate. Thank god that this song is now very incorrect about the state of Long Islands waters. Decades of strict regulations by the NYSDEC have vastly improved the native species here and I still go fishing every chance I get and am amazed by the healing and return of life to our waters.
Recently I few home from New York. On the climb out of JFK, our plane flew over the Long Island Sound, I remember seeing on the moving map all the towns and reference points that Billy Joel mentions, instantly thought of this song. Hangover 2 brought me here, but it's my dad's music collection that really brought be here!
Just a great song . i fished a long line swordfish boat back in the 70's when there was still fish some big fish out there . we used to fish out of Point Pleasant, NJ a lot in summer, and would pass Montauk on the way out to sea . that line in the song that says, "there are giants out there in the canyons", reminds me of Hudson's Canyon, and it was definitely true back then, as we caught some really big swords and 1000 lb giant bluefin there, but most of the hooks came up with sharks.
My brother works the Alaskan waters. As a deckhand and working on Captain's license. My father was a fisherman and passed away in 2014, unexpectedly. Those is my favorite Joel song, it came out in 5tj grade during the oil spill. Everyone started to take pollution and climate change seriously, but as we see that did not last. Thank you brother for letting me share, Vaya con dios!
Lyrics : Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa And I'm cruisin' through Block Island Sound I have charted a course to the vineyard But tonight I am Nantucket bound We took on diesel back in Mantauk yesterday And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home Too proud to leave I work my fingers to the bone So I could own my Downeaster Alexa And I go where the ocean is deep There are giants out there in the canyons And a good captain can't fall asleep I got bills to pay and children who need clothes I know there's fish out there but where, God only knows They say these waters aren't what they used to be But I've got people back on land who count on me So if you see my Downeaster Alexa And if you work with the rod and the reel Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis And I still have my hands on the wheel Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa More and more miles from shore every year Since they told me I can't sell no stripers And there's no luck in swordfishing here I was a Bayman like my father was before Can't make a living as a Bayman anymore There ain't much future for a man who works the sea But there ain't no island left for Islanders like me Ya-ya-ya-oh Ya-ya-ya-oh Ya-ya-ya-oh Ya-ya-ya-oh
This is just a testament to the brilliant writing on the Sopranos. This song fit Gloria so well. And her little dance was so sexy. It’s the same way the song, the captain, that played when they first met, and she was on Tony’s boat in the last scene. It was perfect song for that scene.
To start this off, I do fish quite a bit; but not for a living. But I have some good friends who haul traps off the central coast of Maine, this song is the song of the fisherman either way.
What a tune. I've always loved Billy Joel ever since hearing Uptown Girl back in the 1980s. A lot of us here in the UK love Billy Joel's music, and he's a party animal what's not to like? 😂
It took him 18 years of writing lyrics professionally to finally craft one this well. That's not a knock on him. It's just that writing really, REALLY good shit is hard. For years you'll think you're generating decent output until you finally do. The understanding of how badly you sucked up to that point is pretty soul crushing, lol. Getting back to Billy Joel, this is easily the best lyric in his catalog.
It's the lyrics that make this Anyone else, the iconically 80s synthwave would make this song too cheesy to age well, even with the subject matter intact. But Billy Joel's haunting, melancholy voice and lyrics tie it all together into one of his best
I must admit I love Billy Joel but never heard this song until I watched hangover...he has a different timber in his voice so I didn't know it was him till I looked it up.
I’m in and out of Seattle all the time. Whenever I’m in the airport and I see guys wearing hoodies that say Dutch Harbor, I think of this song and I’ll pull it up in my music library.
I worked as a deck hand on a crab boat in Dutch Harbor Alaska. Billy Joel absolutely nails the rhythm you experience in 40" seas. The lyrics will go down as part of our history, as he describes having to go further and further out to sea to catch fish, away from the Bay. Just an awesome well written song!
You sir have my respect
You have my respect as well
The rhythm fills like swells and there are parts where the chords sound like bow thrusters
I sail out of the Northeast coast of England and this song hits me where I feel... especially the lines "like all the locals here I've had to sell my home, too proud to leave I work my fingers to the bone"... too proud to leave... damn right I'm proud... Billy Joel, you nailed it.
You still working the Bering Sea? To have fished it and lived through it is an accomplishment in itself. From a fisherman in Jersey.
I work on a oyster boat on hoopers island md. At the age of 16, I feel it is the last generation to work the water of bay, for the past hundred years my family's been doing it. Keep the tradition alive
Respect.
Billy was so good at capturing the struggle of those who did hard labor for a living - first "Allentown" then this one.
Totally concur with your assessment. This is a genuine human being...
is*
@@veshapoochi0.3 Solid point. I mean, how much could you really care about an issue, if someone roughly your age hasn't written a song about it? For example, until John Fogerty wrote "Fortunate Son," no one had any idea that Baby Boomers didn't want to get drafted.
Absolutely love this song 🙏💗
@@justincoffey8718 no shit they didn’t want to be drafted, it doesn’t take a song nor a genius to come to that conclusion. Reason why it’s forced lmao
Hangover part 2 brought me here
such a great song to the airport scene
Me to
Wolfpack only !
Preach Bruh !
Amen to that brother hard work is all I have ever known to support my family
Same
ALLAN AND THE WOLF PACK BROUGHT ME HERE
Omg me too. Hangover ll
Same here bro.
Opie and Anthony and little Jimmy Norton
Did it aye
Same here watching hangover part 2 during lockdown in 2921 in Ireland
People who dislike this song are soulless
Agreed
Yes
People who don't like this don't want us to sell striper
That they are
Or they dislike Jews.
I move to Long Island in a few weeks, and I just found this song. It’s my anthem now🤝
Hope you're enjoying our island, & that the island has been good to you! This IS the Long Island anthem 😄
@@prbetty719 I DO LOVE IT! I wanted to come to NY to better my music and I love it so far. Thank you for having me
@LoveWolfe Excellent! All the best 🙂 Have you been to Baiting Hollow?
I was raised on the ocean coast of New Jersey .... this song is immersed in truth and struggle of fishermen from Cape May to the tip of Maine .
Beautifully done Billy Joel !!
Amen I'm a Fisherman from cape may ;)
That synth lick at 0:32 is pure gold.
❤
This is an absolute one of the best songs ever written in music history always brings me to tears.
Only found it like 3 days ago
Like so many of Billy Joel's songs, this goes way beyond and is an absolute experience
🎼🌹Agree..also love & appreciate your Pink Floyd DSOTM logo🌹🎼
This song makes me feel as though I am right on the Downeaster "Alexa"
admist the crashing waves. Wonderfully Written~
Victoria Susan Baldwin agreed, but I've ever been on the boat?
Victoria Susan Baldwin YES
Been on a boat. But not on rough seas, just ferry going to Maniac Island ... Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I was born!❤
Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Eltoon
John these guys are like wine. The older they are.. the better they are...
This song evokes so many relatable emotions, even if you aren’t a fisherman or have ever been on the water. A truly unique musical experience.
Billy Joel's amazing voice brought me here.
This song makes me cry
Makes me homesick for my home in NY
One of the two essential fishing/boating songs in a playlist. This and the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Both capture life on the sea perfectly.
Somebody should do a tribute to the Andrea Gail
And sea shanty 2 from RuneScape
Conservative
@@catsupempire3920 You’re quite a fragile human being. Sit back and enjoy the music bro. It’s not that hard to not be full of hate for other people with differing opinions.
@@ILikeToLaughAtYou I am NOT fragile.
This song is masterpiece and nails exactly the really tough life of be a fisherman! Honestly it's hard to listen to since I grew up in New England and understand that life.. brings tears to my eyes
Billy's voice is so clear and tone perfect here. Great track.
I’ve been boating with my dad for about 7 years; we’ve had 3 boats. My dad has played this song anytime we went out whether that be fishing or just cruising. Billy Joel nailed this song.. what a masterpiece.
For me this is his most Captivating song
Masterpiece
Nitin Tomar YES
My dad's side is all lobster fisherman, and this song is not wrong in all aspects of fishing on the ocean for a living.
1989: This song is amazing!!! 👏👏👏
2020: This song is amazing!!! 👏👏👏
2021: This song is amazing!!! 👏👏👏
9652: This song is amazing!!! 👏👏👏
indeed :)
2022: This song is amazing!!!👏👏👏
2023: This song is amazing!!! 👏👏👏
2024: This song is amazing !!! 👏👏👏
An early listen in my childhood, will always remind me of the first pair of headphones I ever wore and cranked up at my mom n dad's listening to this cassette over and over.
I just cannot believe this song is released two years before I was born. Listening in 2020 feels like a new song
Everytime I'm on the plane I gotta play this
gotta live the moment
He’s referring to the hangover
I'm pretty sure that any songwriter in the world, wished that they've would have written this song.
Toto wrote "Unknown soldier" that sounds like this one. It is a great song
One of the best songs ever created
Having been born and raised on Long Island, this song has a very deep meaning.
I moved off the island 24 years ago, but this song brings me right back every time.
Me too…left 46 yrs ago….didn’t look back, but loved it well when I lived there.
Literally watching hangover 2 & said I needa hear this song 😭
Exact same thing happened me. Heard it watching the hangover 2 and had to pause and UA-cam the song. Such somber lyrics
My heart goes out to the brave souls that work the waters and live by the sea. Mankind has taken alot from u and us all. God be with us all
I'm from Massachusetts Bay...this one gets me everytime, great tune
I think of the Andrea Gail but this song's about Long Island fisherman
One of the best songs ever
This song always makes me want to go fishing! Downeaster Alexa is a classic song about bringing home the big catch, that'll feed a fisherman and his whole family! God bless the Piano Man! Good job, legendary track by Joel & Company!
THIS SONG I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS LIKE-
THIS IS SOMETHING I WOULD PLAY WHEN I WANNA FEEL BIG WALKING INTO A NEW PLACE
ITS JUST SO HEROIC AND NICE FEELING AND I LOVE ITTTTTTT
I'M SURE IF ONE 13 YEAR OLD'S AFFECTED BY THIS SONG THIS MUCH THEN THERES A CHANCE THERES MORE KIDS WHO LIKE THIS
(Oop, lots of caps, i got excited)
Yeah I discovered this song from The Hangover. But, I mean, it's a banger. I'm a music lover and I can't deny Billy Joel is actually kind of a badass lol.
I'm 51 and I discovered this song from The Hangover too lol. Just because I'm 51 doesn't mean I've heard every good song from the 80s. :-)
8 year old here :) I like this song
The most underrated album for me the album for me is absolutely fantastic all the songs on the album are awsome no doubt about it
The album was nominated for a Grammy. So underrated? I think not.
the best
A Father's ANTHEM, this tune will choke up the Strongest Badasses 4 Real !
That and Coward of the county
So cool. Billy Joel over here doing a whole movie's worth of worldbuilding and crafting lore and shit on this one. Man, people hardly tell STORIES like this one anymore in music.
I am now proudly a Critical Care RN working in NYC but when I was a kid I was a mate on a few charter and party fishing boats out of the Captree area and Montauk and Billy nailed the water conditions in this song. The bays and South Shore was dead and the canyon was desolate. Thank god that this song is now very incorrect about the state of Long Islands waters. Decades of strict regulations by the NYSDEC have vastly improved the native species here and I still go fishing every chance I get and am amazed by the healing and return of life to our waters.
Get over yourself
One of the best song in human history
I’m from Long Island and Billy Joel song is home !! The best !!
Recently I few home from New York. On the climb out of JFK, our plane flew over the Long Island Sound, I remember seeing on the moving map all the towns and reference points that Billy Joel mentions, instantly thought of this song.
Hangover 2 brought me here, but it's my dad's music collection that really brought be here!
Today. Still a great song
This man set the standard of a real voice in music...and I hope to follow it
Just a great song . i fished a long line swordfish boat back in the 70's when there was still fish some big fish out there . we used to fish out of Point Pleasant, NJ a lot in summer, and would pass Montauk on the way out to sea . that line in the song that says, "there are giants out there in the canyons", reminds me of Hudson's Canyon, and it was definitely true back then, as we caught some really big swords and 1000 lb giant bluefin there, but most of the hooks came up with sharks.
Simply brilliant.
Brilliant song, from a brilliant album. 0ne of the best around.
I was a deckhand on a fishing vessel in Alaskan waters. I feel your pain.
My brother works the Alaskan waters. As a deckhand and working on Captain's license. My father was a fisherman and passed away in 2014, unexpectedly. Those is my favorite Joel song, it came out in 5tj grade during the oil spill. Everyone started to take pollution and climate change seriously, but as we see that did not last. Thank you brother for letting me share, Vaya con dios!
Lyrics :
Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa
And I'm cruisin' through Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to the vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound
We took on diesel back in Mantauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay
Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I work my fingers to the bone
So I could own my Downeaster Alexa
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep
I got bills to pay and children who need clothes
I know there's fish out there but where, God only knows
They say these waters aren't what they used to be
But I've got people back on land who count on me
So if you see my Downeaster Alexa
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel
Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers
And there's no luck in swordfishing here
I was a Bayman like my father was before
Can't make a living as a Bayman anymore
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island left for Islanders like me
Ya-ya-ya-oh
Ya-ya-ya-oh
Ya-ya-ya-oh
Ya-ya-ya-oh
"Trawling Atlantis" since he's a fisherman.
This is just a testament to the brilliant writing on the Sopranos. This song fit Gloria so well. And her little dance was so sexy.
It’s the same way the song, the captain, that played when they first met, and she was on Tony’s boat in the last scene. It was perfect song for that scene.
One of Billy's Masterpieces,sure do miss his Rock music writing.
Sometimes I listen to this song when I'm thinking about my island. I miss it, but you can't stay in a place that stops taking care of you.
To start this off, I do fish quite a bit; but not for a living. But I have some good friends who haul traps off the central coast of Maine, this song is the song of the fisherman either way.
Specifically Long Island fisherman.
Powerful ❤
Just brilliant!
What a tune. I've always loved Billy Joel ever since hearing Uptown Girl back in the 1980s. A lot of us here in the UK love Billy Joel's music, and he's a party animal what's not to like? 😂
Goosebumps
It took him 18 years of writing lyrics professionally to finally craft one this well. That's not a knock on him. It's just that writing really, REALLY good shit is hard. For years you'll think you're generating decent output until you finally do. The understanding of how badly you sucked up to that point is pretty soul crushing, lol.
Getting back to Billy Joel, this is easily the best lyric in his catalog.
The whole album is amazing.
Only 48 comments? Really? This is one of his real songs. Thanks Mr Joel.
Still a great song.
Good song hard work is all I know to support my family
Amen brother 🤗
Absolutely superb, one of the best songs I've ever heard, and it resonates further as I hold a trawlerman's deckhand ticket!
Great for riding home from school on incredibly rainy days.
This song has been haunting my dreams for days. I listened a few times and then watched Hangover part 2 and laughed it showed up. I grew up in PA
Actually, my favorite all-time number from him. Can't cover this song. At his best.
I've found is not a bad motivation song for getting up and working out, running, it s surpsingly effective for me
It's the lyrics that make this
Anyone else, the iconically 80s synthwave would make this song too cheesy to age well, even with the subject matter intact. But Billy Joel's haunting, melancholy voice and lyrics tie it all together into one of his best
Billy Joel
"The Downeaster Alexa"
1990. ¡The Song are Amazing!
This song is pure Americana.
This is for you jason your song you were a fisherman through and through.barring straight to hoping on boats in mass.miss you amore
Long island represent🤘🏻
Woah. Wow.❤
This is what makes Billy Joel, Billy Joel: we took on diesel yesterday and we still got our hands on the wheel!
Love this stuff!!
Awesome 😎
I must admit I love Billy Joel but never heard this song until I watched hangover...he has a different timber in his voice so I didn't know it was him till I looked it up.
Underrated song
Best
This ones for you joe! Rest in paradise buddy! We love and miss you!
What,he's not dead
@@idgottfried I think he's referring to his friend Joe not Billy Joel.
Right there with Toto's Africa! Amazing song
2:29 best part for me
RIP to anyone playing this on an Amazon Alexa *ding* device.
Oh that would be fun to watch though.. an exercise if frustration...
Saw this song performed by B Joel & co at the Oakland Coliseum.
Jennifer Culp of the Kronos Quartet guest starred on viola ... yayayayo!!
His best album of the 80's together with Glass Houses
We only play 80s Joel at the Catalina wine mixer!
Its the fucking Catalina wine mixer! ... Great Movie!
this song only went to #57 on the pop charts in 1990!!!
Fantastic song... chart number probably reflects all the other awesome songs at the time... as opposed to the current tripe
Daniel Burns Cool! My mom had this on cassette
Probably #1 on Long Island!
Yeah, but 30 years later we are still listening to it. How many of the other 56 songs on that list can you say that about?
Super from Billy
Play this song out on a boat for even greater experience
I am not a big Billy Joel fan but this song is amazing. Like most people on here, yes, The Hangout l Hangover II is where i first heard this song.
Excelente👍👏😆
The song is pretty sad after u realise what he's singing about. I'm sure most manual laborers felt the same way.
cool
2024 anyone??? STORM FRONT!!!! Lets gooooo
The Bell at Gardners Bay
The Hangover has me here what a brilliant song i love it lyrics are brilliant
Goosebumps, every fucking time.
I’m in and out of Seattle all the time. Whenever I’m in the airport and I see guys wearing hoodies that say Dutch Harbor, I think of this song and I’ll pull it up in my music library.