While first watching the “Turn The Lights Back On” lyric video the morning it debuted, I swear with all honesty that my subconscious ever so fleetingly imagined the music spilling forth from a 20-something-year-old version of Billy Joel as an innocent man: fresh-faced, long-haired, figuring life out. You’ve probably experienced the same epiphanic phenomenon listening to it. After all, the single might as well have been a long-unreleased track from “The Stranger.” Focused on Joel’s new/old sound for the 15 days until the music video dropped, I was left to create my own mental images of Joel’s modern-pop anthem connected to the entertainer himself. I’d seen his modulated Grammy’s rendition, an easy-listener ballad with notes enjoyably reminiscent of Paul McCartney on “Hey Jude” and Elton John on “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” in Joel’s distinctive croon. On what would’ve been my dad’s 64th birthday, we finally saw Mr. Long Island put his face to his original forte.
My wildest fantasies never conceived of summoning three representations of Piano Men past. Although, hey, the Billyverse is real! Picking up where his Feb. 22 preview left off, a bald, goateed present-day Joel sits in Manhattan’s stunning United Palace, turning the page on “Famous Last Words’” to a clean page for his blank slate. Over the resonant Grammy’s piano intro, our view pans from his wizened face to a shadowy cigarette. An unexpected glow is laid over them, the camera slides back up — and bringing my dreams to life before our eyes is that 20-something Joel, clad in his trademark rust herringbone tweed jacket, white button-down and black four-in-hand straight from his “52nd Street” days.
No time machine here: this stunning imagery is the work of artificial intelligence (AI)I deep-machine-assisted-learning draping stand-ins’ faces with generated renderings of singing Joels derived from footage of his younger selves. His dryer-tenured coiffure reaching his ears, Billy — the kid — wears the weary countenance of a young adult already exhausted by, yet burning with, stardom. An off-camera transition brings a portrayal of late-30s, new-father Joel, this version donning a “Glass Houses”-era bomber-sleeved black leather jacket out of the ’80s. Joel and his cowhide appear worn from tearing through “The Nylon Curtain” and weathering the chaotic “Storm Front” amidst his crusade against the critics. Seeing the intensity of this recreation sings with, MTV could have aired this to pacify impatient fans while he was touring “Leningrad.” Our next surprise on the bridge is a middle-aged Joel, circa “The River of Dreams,” having learned a few tricks in mature life and suited up in a suede jacket and signature Ray-Ban Wayfarer. It’s not just the younger AI Joels that are amazing, but what they all symbolize: different ideas, personalities and people. Each Joel picks up where the others left off, in life and song. Vintage Billy is somehow magically timeless, his unparalleled expertise, established ’71.
The piano solo reunites us with the present-day Joel, playing for a candle replacing the cigarette he’s quit, and just when we think that’s all the tasteful throwbacks we’re getting, the closing chorus airs a spellbinding archival montage synced with the percussion. Home videos spotlight Joel’s daughters, including a clip of his first being quite cheeky. The real streetlife serenader, in classic live concerts, mouths and charades the lyrics of “Lights.” It’s scary how he sounds more like the Joel of the ’70s than the Joel in his 70s. Forgive me as I go to extremes — is it possible he sounds too good? If you suspect the song itself had AI, you may be wrong; for all I know, you may be right. It’s a matter of trust; like my prophetic musing, only a few people on Earth will ever know the truth. If AI is present, I wouldn’t like it any less, though I genuinely don’t believe any was employed, but its application in the “Lights” video is a genius application. Bless producer Freddy Wexler! AI plays the hero today in a beautiful homage powered by the cleanly renewable energy of nostalgia. “I saw myself going through time!” Joel remarked after he first watched the video. And so did we. Thank you for your fan service, Piano Men!
