Early in Part One of the new documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which premiered Wednesday night at New York’s Tribeca Festival, Billy sits at the piano in his palatial mansion in Long Island, which is being renovated. “It’s not finished yet,” he says. “And neither am I.”
Despite the brain disorder which kept him from attending the documentary’s premiere, Billy wanted everyone to know that, as the filmmakers told the audience, “He will be back.” They also read a message that he’d asked them to share: “Getting old sucks, but it’s still preferable to getting cremated.”
Director Susan Lacy admitted that it “wasn’t always easy” to get Billy to open up. But, she noted, “He peeled back the layers of his music and his life with courage, humor and vulnerability.”
The premiere was introduced by Tribeca Festival co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal.
“Billy may be considered the poet laureate of New York,” De Niro said. He even sang a little bit of “New York State of Mind,” before noting, “He’s our Piano Man, and a wonderful, integral part of the heartbeat of our city.”
Only part one of the documentary, which will air in July on HBO and HBO Max, was shown. Through archival footage, photos and new interviews, it covers Billy’s childhood in Hicksville, Long Island, his first bands, his early solo career and his relationship with his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, his muse and manager who guided him to superstardom.
Part one, which ends with Billy’s 1982 motorcycle accident and impending divorce from Weber, drew spontaneous applause from the audience numerous times.
Weber is featured in interviews in the documentary, along with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Pink, Jackson Browne, Garth Brooks, rapper Nas and the surviving members of Billy’s original band.
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