“I didn’t even want to put it on the album because I thought it was too mushy. Linda Ronstadt goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? That’s a hit record!’”: Billy Joel on the classic ballad that Paul McCartney wishes he’d written

Billy Joel.

Billy Joel had his breakthrough hit in 1977 with a ballad that was hailed as a classic by one of his heroes, Paul McCartney. But as Joel reveals, he never believed in this song until another famous singer told him he would be crazy if he didn’t record it.

That song is Just The Way You Are, and Joel tells its story in a new interview with Rick Beato.