Only the Good Die Young

"Only the Good Die Young" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 rock album The Stranger. It was the third of four singles released from the album. The song was controversial for its time, with the lyrics written from the perspective of a young man determined to have sex with a Catholic girl.[1]

This article is about the Billy Joel song. For the song by Iron Maiden, see Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. For the song by Queen, see No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young). For the song by Def Leppard, see Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.
"Only the Good Die Young"
A-side label of U.S. vinyl single
Single by Billy Joel
from the album The Stranger
B-side"Get It Right the First Time"
ReleasedMay 1978
Recorded1977
Genre
Length3:55
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Billy Joel
Producer(s)Phil Ramone
Billy Joel singles chronology
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"
(1978)		 "Only the Good Die Young"
(1978)		 "She's Always a Woman"
(1978)

Song information

The song was inspired by a high school crush of Joel's, Virginia Callahan. The boy/narrator believes that the girl is refusing him because she comes from a religious Catholic family and that she believes premarital sex is sinful.[2] He sings,

You Catholic girls start much too late,
but sooner or later it comes down to fate.
I might as well be the one.

Attempts to censor the song only made it more popular, after religious groups considered it anti-Catholic,[3] and pressured radio stations to remove it from their playlists.[2] "When I wrote 'Only the Good Die Young', the point of the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust," Joel told Performing Songwriter magazine. "The minute they banned it, the album started shooting up the charts." In a 2008 interview, Joel also pointed out one part of the lyrics that virtually all the song's critics missed – the boy in the song failed to get anywhere with the girl, and she kept her chastity.[4]

Musically, the song begins with a piano introduction and builds in intensity with Joel's high tempo vocals.[5]

Billboard Magazine described "Only the Good Die Young" as one of Joel's "strongest and catchiest" songs.[5]

Demo version

A demo, included in the box set My Lives, is a slower, reggae version of the song. Joel reprised the song's motif in this version with a church organ. Joel has stated publicly that he changed the reggae beat to a shuffle beat at the request of his long time drummer, Liberty DeVitto, who hated reggae music.[3][6]

Track listing

7" single (1978)
  1. "Only the Good Die Young" – (3:55)
  2. "Get It Right the First Time" – (3:32)

Charts
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References
  1. Sagert, Kelly Boyer (2007). The 1970s. New York: Greenwood Press. p. 177. ISBN 0-313-33919-8.
  2. Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 242. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  3. The Story Behind Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young". PerformerSongwriter.com archive. Retrieved April 24, 2013
  4. Interview with Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2008
  5. "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. May 20, 1978. p. 92. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  6. Video on YouTube: Billy Joel tells how "Only The Good Die Young" came to sound the way it does crediting Liberty Devitto
  7. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  8. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles Week ending JULY 15, 1978". Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  9. "Item: 114 - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
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