
The song is in the key of E-major, and shifts to the C-major key in the chorus. The lyrics are also pretty clear and easy to remember. The song is catchy, and easy and fun to sing or whistle along to. The song has backing vocal harmonies throughout, which Billy Joel drew inspiration for from Frankie Hall and the Four Seasons, a group Joel loved when he was young. "Uptown Girl" is one of those easily recognisable songs, particularly with respect to the opening harmonies, which are repeated at various points throughout the song. This cover was ok, but fails to live up to the original, as with so many covers of great songs. The attention "Uptown Girl" recieves has recently been bolstered by the Westlife cover of it in the UK in 2001. His career had been quite successful over the previous ten years to this point, but "Uptown Girl" really caught the attention of the mass record buying public.

" Uptown Girl" is probably Billy Joel's best-known song, taken from his highly successful 1983 album " An Innocent Man". After the cops set their batons to "stun", Homer tells Munchie and Seth to sing their rebel song, and breaks into a slow, heartfelt rendition of Uptown Girl. Later on in the episode, after Homer uses Munchie and Seth's marijuana crop to complete their organic juice order, the cops come to bust them. Munchie and Seth are listening to the staple 60's acid music when Homer asks if he can put on something that will really blow their minds. When they reluctantly agree, they pile into Munchie's Saturn and hit the road.

He convinces Munchie and Seth to go on an old-fashion freak-out with him. They proceed to tell him about how his mother took him to Woodstock.Īfter that, Homer decides to get back to his hippy roots. When he arrives there, he's met by Munchie ( George Carlin) and Seth ( Martin Mull). In "D'oh-in' in the Wind", when Homer is filling out a form and realizes he doesn't know his middle name, Abe (grandpa) takes him to the hippy commune that Homer's mother ran away to. The only logos known to be used are MTV and Friday Night Videos.Uptown Girl is also Homer Simpson's rebel song.
#UPTOWN GIRL BILLY JOEL UK TV#
Then, depending on the version, the next image on the TV is either a blank screen or the logo of the network or TV show the video was on. Subsequently, the song was missing from the setlist during Joel's 1994 "River of Dreams" tour.ĭifferent versions of the music video opening were produced, in which an auto mechanic is watching the end of Joel's previous hit "Tell Her About It" on a small TV. Joel and Brinkley married in 1985 and divorced in 1994. The title character in the music video was played by Christie Brinkley. The song also has the uncommon feature of changing key from the original two times before giving back, for a total of three keys.Ĭovers of this song have been performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Aaron Carter, Weezer and most notably in 2001 by Irish boy band Westlife, again reaching #1 in the UK, though this time for only one week, whereas Joel's version spent five weeks at the top of the charts. The style of music, including the doo-wop beat, the close harmonies and Joel's frequent use of falsetto singing, is reminiscent of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK in 1988, Rolling Stone ranked "Uptown Girl" #99 on their list of the 100 most important singles of the period 1963-1988. The song was first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man.

His first attempt at the song had the lyrics, "Uptown girls, I've been around the world." The music was more of a classical piece when it started.

Joel thanked his creator for his good fortune, and began dating Elle. "Uptown Girl" is a song performed by musician Billy Joel, whose lyrics deal with a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl".Īccording to the Uptown Girl Songfacts, Joel explained to Howard Stern that he was on vacation in the Caribbean when he was playing the piano, looked up, and saw Elle McPherson, Christie Brinkley and Whitney Houston (who was more a model than a musician at that point) standing over his piano in wonderment watching him play.
