Song of the Day 5/26: Billy Joel, “And So It Goes”

Another veteran rocker has hit the disabled list. Billy Joel has cancelled all his concerts as he deals with a neurological issue. Normal pressure hydrocephalus involves swelling of the ventricles in the brain – fluid-filled sacs inside the organ that act as shock absorbers – causing problems with mobility and cognition. It’s treatable, but he’s been ordered to refrain from performing while he recovers.

Joel loves the stage – he’s played to a sold-out Madison Square Garden 150 times and grosses $3 million a night doing it. He had a lot of money troubles early in his career, most publicly when he sued his ex-manager, who was also his ex-brother-in-law, in 1989. He’s long since overcome that – the tunesmith has sold 150 million records over his five decades in the business – and unlike a lot of rockers his age he’s resisted selling his catalog, because he wants control over how the songs are used.

In recent years he’s taken to calling this the best song he ever wrote, and I’m inclined to agree. It appeared on his “Storm Front” album in 1989 and was the sixth of its songs released as a single. Its elegiac tone didn’t lend itself to radio airplay, and it only reached No. 37, but it’s lyrically deeper than his commercial hits.

Over the years the song has been a favorite of choirs and a cappella groups. Here’s a performance last year by the Danish National Girls Chorus.