This is all from Long Island. The East end. I live on Long Island and Billy really stood up for the fishermen who were suffering. That's why he thought of it. He is a local of Long Island and we're heading into a challenging economy. He avtually thinks about blue collar workers like Springsteen.

Billy Joel often sang from the "working man's" perspective. This is such such an incredible song. I can actually feel the ocean waves through the music. Definitely check out "Allentown" by Billy.

Alexa is the name of his daughter, who is now 35, a singer and songwriter in her own right. Fisheries have been dying due to overfishing for decades. He is showing his solidarity with working people. Another song in the same vein is Allentown, about unemployed coalminers in that city in Pennsylvania. For a REALLY different song on the same theme, consider "The Final Trawl" or "Aragon Mill" by Bok, Muir & Trickett

Billy Joel is from Long Island, New York, and this song is solidarity with the fishers from Long Island who were having a very hard time surviving. A "downeaster" is a type of fishing boat from that area. Thank you for reacting to this terrific song. I don't know any other reactions to it.

Billy grew up on Long Island and remembers the farming and fishing communities that use to occupy a lot of the island. These people can’t afford to live there anymore. He describes the east end of the island as lifestyles of the rich and famous. He hates that these hard working people are being pushed out of the area they have occupied for generations. The proceeds from this song were donated to the bay men. Unfortunately it was not one of his best selling.

One of my favorite Billy Joel songs. It truly shows his depth as a songwriter. Billy Joel has a house on Long Island Sound and he wrote this song about the hard working fishermen he saw in the local harbors and just offshore from his house. A "downeaster" is a traditional fishing boat design of the American Northeast coast. Alexa is Billy's daughter's name and fishermen often name their boats after their wives or daughters.

Interesting that you should equate this to the disappearance of mining jobs, Billy Joel's song "Allentown " tackles that subject.

Billy Joel is an American treasure! May I suggest “Good Night Saigon”. It will reach into your chest and grab your heart. I also think you would really like “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”. Keep em coming Harri. 🌺✌️

This song is pure genius..what a vocal..means something extra special to those of us that grew up on the Island

One of my favorite Billy Joel song about the local fisherman where Billy lives! They have struggled for years!

A really great album filled with songs that have the human condition woven into their fabric. A masterpiece from Billy's collection. Leningrad is a gut punch. just like this one is after you absorb the words and think on them for a while.

Billy Joel was born on Long Island NY. He has long been a conservationist for fishermen and the waters of here on Long Island.

One of my favorite Billy Joel songs!! Thanks for reacting to it. 💕💜💕💜🔥🔥

One of my favorite Billy Joel songs.

This is my favorite song from this musical genius!!! So original Harri!!

Oh man, i LOVE this song, i was surprised that anyone did a reaction, its such a deep cut.

I see that Billy's why of this song has been posted already. Billy sang this to help the commercial fishermen on the northeast coast. At the time, I was married to a commercial fisherman, so this song hit very close to me. The Alaskan fisheries have been losing the same fight. It is very sad.

I grew up amongst all these landmarks. Took my wife out to see the fishing fleets going out in winter. This is very literal. It’s about the death of small, independent fisherman in NY.

I have to agree with you, this is a great song and a great choice. The lyrics really stand out, it's a good tune and his voice is just right for it here.

I'm so glad someone has reacted to this song, it's a gem.

Billy grew up in blue collar Long Island New York. When it becomes ever more difficult to make a living as a fisherman due to overfishing among other issues, the industry gets a double whamo by more government regulations to try to save it. That's the line, "they tell me I can't sell no stripers." (striped bass). Listen to his song "Allentown" about the US rust belt. Another great song.

Billy Joel is from Long Island NY and many who live near the sea develop an attachment to it here in this case he is singing for the fishermen who have many regulations to comply with as it all becomes much harder for them to make a living. There are less fish in the sea permits are cancelled for certain species to give them time to multiply, fish limits may be reduced, areas might of gotten polluted and so on..

His vocal is so powerful here.

Billy Joel is AMAZING. Such a PHENOMENAL singer songwriter and musician! ♥️🎼🎶🎵🇨🇦

Lyrics: "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound I have charted a course to the Vineyard But tonight I am Nantucket bound We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone So I could own my Downeaster Alexa And I go where the ocean is deep There are giants out there in the canyons And a good captain can't fall asleep I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes I know there's fish out there but where God only knows They say these waters aren't what they used to be But I've got people back on land who count on me So if you see my Downeaster Alexa And if you work with the rod and the reel Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis And I still have my hands on the wheel Yeah yo [x4] Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa More and more miles from shore every year Since they tell me I can't sell no stripers And there's no luck in swordfishing here I was a bayman like my father was before Can't make a living as a bayman anymore There ain't much future for a man who works the sea But there ain't no island left for islanders like me Yea yea yea oh [x4]

I always like that his supposed ship was named after his eldest daughter that he had with his Uptown Girl. He and Christie have such an interesting relationship even though they are divorced, a few years ago she went to a show in MadisonnSquare and he serenaded her with Uptown Girl. One of my favorite videos is for the song “A Matter of Trust”. The video was shot mostly live and you can see Christie and baby Alexa Ray. Now, Alexa Ray performs with her dad sometimes and is a fashion editor. She has a few videos on KZfaq singing Just The Way You Are

This was written by Billy to bring light to the Long Island Fishermen. The places he lists are main point on the Atlantic Ocean. Montauk is the easternmost point on Long Island. He's heading out towards Connecticut and Cape Cod. Its no longer staying on Long Island, they have to go further and further away. It's getting harder and harder for them to make a living on the water when this was done. I knew tuna was scarce and not allowed to be fished. He is very much Long Island, he grew up there and lives there. He will always support the working man. A Downeaster is a fishing boat and Alexa is his daughter's name.

This is my favorite Billy Joel song. Coming from a working class blue collar family, it resonates.

Thank you for listening to the recording and not a live version. Also it's nice to see someone reacting who has an understanding of metaphors and history.

Billy Joel lives in Long Island New York, where people used to make their money fishing, but there was a time where you could make a decent amount of money fishing, but then too many people jumped in to make money, that it dried up the amount of fish they could acquire and sell. People who were proud fisherman and sold their homes to keep their boats. He lives out in the same areas where the fishermen and women lived.

So many Long Islanders, especially from the east end, can relate to this song because we've been to so many of the places he's speaking about and know about the importance of the local fisheries. Great work Harri. I'm glad you got to experience the song, but it hits home a bit more if you're a local like me.

Powerful song

I get callouses on my hands just listening to this song

This is a literal song,set in the Long Island, New York area.So hard to be a fisherman,depending on weather, the affects of pollution on the fish,the price you can get for the fish,if you can find the fish,etc.Billy is a regular guy and related strongly with the working class man.Next do Allentown,about the steelworkers.🔗

I think Billy Joel has always been a bit underrated as a singer. He has an impressive range and still sings amazingly well.

A lot of his songs are true stories from himself or others. The Vietnam vets asked him to write Goodnight Saigon. He has a story about himself and his Russian friend called Leningrad, which is not as popular but brilliant. If you can find his interview on “Inside the actors studio” he talks about his music and sits down at the piano to demonstrate. It’s hard to find, but worth it.

Definitely from a working mans and a fisherman's perspective. Living near Gloucester in MA, fishing is such a tremendous industry for so many folks. . . it's a hard lifestyle and a hard way to live. Lots of tough men and women out there who work the seas, much as their parents and grandparents likely did before them. I know many of my ancestors before me were fishermen.

I thought the best song from this album was “I Go to Extremes.”

My favorite from Billy. Just puts you in the water, on the boat, feeling the feels.

Absolutely a literal song. Billy is from long island and saw the decimation of the fishing industry and so many lives. He wrote this song to bring awareness and donated all the proceeds from it to charities that helped those people. Billy is such a legend but still a normal guy that loves his home

As a former commercial fisherman, this song hits home for me. There is no feeling in the world like owning your first boat, working for yourself, and having the best office view in the world. You work very hard to get to that point, but once there, theres the feeling the rug has been pulled out from under you as the fisheries continue to decline, and regulations and restrictions making it harder and harder to make a living. Yet, you keep going and going, because working for yourself out on the ocean becomes who you are, having invested everything else in life into it. A downeaster is a style of boat, like the ones used on the TV show Wicked Tuna. The boat in the story is named Alexa. For a fisherman, the old saying is true: The two best days of a man's life are the day he buys his first boat, and the day he sells it, lol!

Sometimes people look for too much. It’s a literal song about the struggles of being a fisherman on Long Island where Billy Joel comes from. But it resonates with everyone because everyone has their version of a fishing boat in their lives and their jobs.

For generational working class, people who grew up learning a job from their parents/grandparents, the job becomes as much identity as pride in providing for family. That's the first thing. Farmers, miners, fishermen, craftsmen, if they learned from their elders, they don't like leaving the profession, & they'll fight to continue. In this specific case, it's a confluence of problems. Joel's song is about small family-owned-business fishermen. The biggest issue is corporate fishers with massive nets overfishing areas, making it harder for smaller boats to harvest enough to stay in business. The small fishermen know the area & the seasons; they know when & where to fish in a sustainable way, but the corporate fishers ignore that & fish year round, resulting in fewer fish producing smaller amounts of successive generations of fish. Overfishing also interferes with the ecology of an area. Corporate ship nets pull in EVERYTHING. It screws up the food chain. You take out the smaller fish, then larger fish have nothing to eat. Joel mentioned swordfish; not only does swordfish swim alone (not in schools), but they are near the top of the food chain, requiring what is being overfished from the sea. So swordfish head further out into the ocean. Pollution does take its toll, both chemical & floating debris. In particular, plastics interfere with biological systems, injure marine life directly, & breakdown to microplastics. The microplastics are ingested by marine life at every level, starving &/or killing them. But for the small fisherman, pollution is not yet as impactful on business as overfishing by corporate companies. Climate change, however, IS becoming a great problem. The seas are warming, ice caps are melting, marine life is being stressed, feeding/spawning grounds are being spoiled or are relocating. Marine plant life provide food, shelter, & protection for a myriad of creatures, but these plants are being stressed or killed also. And 'stress' also means disease. Small fishers are forced further out to sea, which carries weather dangers & fuel issues (bad to run out of gas too far out). Fishing is not a single issue, simple thing, especially at sea.

Another huge talent. Piano Man album a masterpiece. Every track a winner.

Hes a Long Island guy the fishing culture is big out there..he literally supports the fisherman Oh and Alexa is his daughter

Referencing the plight of people listen to Allentown! And in terms of his passionate vocals All About Soul is epic.

you reacted to downeaster alexa... youre a legend... it took me many years to find this gem! love you, brother! keep finding great tunes, music is a great relief

His voice is amazing on this album!

Billy is a Long Island native who, after he became famous, for a period of time actually designed and built boats with a partner. He owns boats now and often travels between Long Island to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Newport & Providence. He currently owns a classic motorcycle shop on Long Island. Boats & bikes are his 2 passions.

A lot of Long Islanders grew up with family or friends working in the fishing or aerospace industries. I know I did, and he's a blue-collar Long Islander too, so that's what inspired this song.

As with all, or at least most, of his songs, he's writing and singing about the lives and experiences of people he knows. This one is about the decline of the fishing industry off the coast of New York (his home), due to overfishing and pollution.

He is singing about his home. Long Island New York. He always writes about home

The official video has great visuals. You should look for it. He has the boats and the fishermen there.

This song is along the vein of "Goodnight Saigon." Completely fictional on its face but 100% facts forming the framework of the songs. This is 100% from his heart and soul for those he is portraying in these songs...

Billy named his daughter Alexa, which was uncommon in the '80s, but everyone seems to know it now and say it almost every day. At least he didn't name her "Hey Google".

I'm kind of surprised nobody down below mentioned "Allentown" by Billy Joel, as in the song Allentown he sings about the steel workers and the diminishment of the steel industry in Pennsylvania. Joel is very much a hero of the working man and the military and regularly has written songs as tribute about them, so this song, Downeaster Alexa, really wasn't outside his comfort zone. In fact, it's probably right directly in it.

Dude. This song came to him in a dream.

Billy grew up by the water on Long Island…..he’s talking about the fisherman being deprived of making a living because of government interference.

I believe Billy Joel grew up in Long Island NY. So he’s from a fishing community. It’s definitely very literal. It’s a massive industry in the north east and no one except those involved with it or from those communities really think about it. It’s really just a tribute to the fishermen of the northeast. It’s an anthem. I’m a young man but have worked the seas in the industry. It means a lot to us still. Still an anthem.

Billy Joel grew up on long Island where there once was a robust fishing industry, but do to overregulation and global overfishing it is harder for them to make a living., he wrote this to draw attention to tkeir plight.

Literally a story about the plight of the Long Island fishermen

This song paints such a vivid picture. My favorite Billy Joel song. Thanks for playing

It's been a long time since the song came out but I do believe he did this in order to help the fishing community off the east coast where he's from. And the song is named after his daughter Alexa

The fishermen were already struggling and the state and feds were putting tougher restrictions on them and what and where they could fish.... which lead to him writing this and making a stand.

Great pick and analysis Harri!

I used to live on long Island's south shore, around Massapequa. I remember going to Amity Harbor and getting fresh fish from shops on Merrick road.

He wrote this song for the same reason he wrote Allentown, Goodbye Saigon, Piano Man and dozens more. Because he's a storyteller and can't help himself. And one of the best storytellers ever, if you ask me. If you enjoy the genre, try Harry Chapin as well.

Another great Billy Joel song about the working class is Allentown.

Billy Joel wrote this song simply because of how much long island means to him. The record company hesitantly released this and didn't think it would be a popular song. It ended up charting very well and the rest is history

There is a beautiful and haunting music video that goes with the song, but it most likely would have been blocked if you reacted to it. I recommend watching it on your own time.

It's literal. Totally literal. His experiences. That's where he gets his words, feelins, lyrics. Allentown, Goodnight Saigon. Many more. No interpretation needed. Just enjoy

Thank you! Someone has done a reaction to one of my favorite songs of his! I wish you could've done the official video. It is visually beautiful. He grew up on Long Island and was first-hand the slow demise of fishing communities. He is definitely a champion for the working man! Interesting side note: It wasn't until later that the public found out that Itsach Perlman, one of the finest violinists of our time, played violin on this song. Great reaction!

This is one of the songs i like to drum along with in my garage, at first i didn't know what to do because the beat is so different from most songs, but i got it now. I saw Billy Joel once way back in the 80's, it was a great show, and i was surprised how hard Liberty Devitto hit those drums, great drummer !I always considered Billy Joel and Elton John very similar, they both play piano & sing, they both have tons of great songs, & they both do ballads and rockin' tunes, and were around at the same time, and I'm lucky to have seen them both

Well that's a first for me I've never heard this one...wow...it hardly ever happens...yes he was commiserate with the ones who lost there fishing feilds.

Billys other epic song Goodnight Saigon

Local off shore fisheries along the Northern coastline from New York up to Maine have been overfished, forcing local line fishers to go further off shore to get any catch at all.

One of the "lesser known" great songs from BJ. My wife and I got to see him twice with Elton John, fantastic concerts.

One of his early albums was "Cold Spring Harbor". It is a little dated, but every song is a keeper. I understand that he is from Long Island and he remembers how it used to be. The song is about the plight of the Bay Men in and around Cape Cod that were forced to sell their home and land due to the "gentrification" of the islands of Massachusetts. It hard to keep a home inherited from your father, that his father paid less than $10,000 for, when it is now assessed as being worth over $1,000,000.00. They could not pay the taxes on million dollar homes. FYI, former President Obama purchased a $11 Million waterfront estate on Martha's Vinyard. I guess he is truly worried about Global Warming causing a rise in sea-level. He should be congratulated for purchasing such an estate so that several Bay Men familes would not have to take the risk. Always working for the working men. Billy Joel actually owned a boat that he named "Downeaster Alexa" in honor of his baby daughter.

❤️❤️ to all sailors

Billy Joel is from Long Island.He has done a lot for the fishermen on Long Island.The song is about fishermen.Montauk is at the end of Long Island NY.

Because he grew up on long island at a time when people fished the atlantic, the north shore, the sound etc

hey man, first time here... great assessment... you seem like a good guy... i just subbed... lookin forward to more of your reactions... peace

He's always been one of my favorites...so many great songs over the years. Love the way he plays... Baby Grand with Ray Charles is a good one to try, or New York State of Mind. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant is probably my favorite. And So It Goes will break your heart.

Billy Joel is from Long Island NY, where I'm from. This song is about the plight of people who make their living as fishermen. Alexa is his daughter's name.

Thank you for you great comments! This is a great song by Billy named after his daughter Alexa Ray (after Ray Charles). It was written as a ballad to the Long Island fisherman. Fishing was once a hard, but important job, this was written during a time that a number of countries were violating the fishing ground minimum distance, countries like Japan had huge boats that were floating factories to catch fish and process them on board. As a result the waters were depleted of fish, some like the striped-bass became endangered, and many laws were past to protect fish, destroying the small commercial fishing industry on Long Island, bankrupting many boat owners. As a Long Islander one becomes a part of the land and water, and Billy, a boating man gave homage to the fisherman's plight. You should review "Baby Grand" by Billy!

It's real life for some people...and he is telling their story.

"Allentown " is a great song!

this is about were im from long island im a fisherman our industry is dieing i was a bayman like my father was before

Billy Joel is a native Long Islander / New Yorker and he is singing about the plight of generations of Long Island fisherman who's livelihoods were and have been threatened by government overreach that impacted the small, local, solitary fishermen while allowing commercial fishing to encroach and deplete resources without equal restrictions.

Why are you surprised he wrote this? It's a song about the dying fishing industry of Long Island, New York, where he is from. Fishing was a main source of income for many people who used to live on Long Island. But now its been over fished and the fishermen who worked that career their whole lives started to struggle. He wrote about a dying industry that was the lifeblood of his home.

Easily his best song. No contest.

Billy owns a custom lobster boat named Alexa, after his daughter Alexa Ray, the Ray honoring Ray Charles. I'm not sure if he still does, but Billy was in the business of customizing boats like his for a while. I'm sure he has traveled to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket from Long Island more than once.

This is real life in NewEngland.. he spent time on the Boats in Maine..my family are fishermen fron The Cape

The 9th house is not only a grace or religious house. It is a house that shows how we are humans different from the bessts. In the case of Billy Joel, just like Meryl Streep, he has Jupiter in Capricorn (Sidereal all the way here I am talking not Tropical) in its fall in a kendra the 7th house and Jupiter rules the 6th and 9th, a Dusthana (difficult) 6th house and the 9th house itself which has Pisces the fish overlaying the 9th. A dusthana ruler in its fall sign placed in a kendra becomes a Raja Yoga. And Jupiter here rules the 9th house human element too which has something to do with fishing. Hence the yarn on fishing which is not only a great song but a song with a lot human elenents with regard to fishing. As Jupiter trines the 3rd houde of struggles and the 11th house of gains, the story recounts how the lucrativeness of the fishing turns into a struggling affair. He has TWO planets in the 3rd and TWO planets in the 11th. Quite a wallop!!

It's literally a song about the fisherman's way of life in NYC

If you look up every name he mentions in this song you”ll find all of them on or near Long Island NY. Block Island Sound, (Marthas) vineyard, Nantucket, Montauk, Gardiner's Bay, ain't no (Long) island left for Islanders like me.🥂

In particular, this song is talking about the gentrification of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Thanks for this surprise! Love this & haven't heard in many years. Great reaction. Yes, he's being literal here -- the dying off of fishing for a living. He's writing about Long Island, Massachusetts, etc., but the story was real all over. Where I live we have The Chesapeake Bay where generations of watermen and women and their families worked a living on the water, but couldn't anymore due to a number of factors. Billy Joel writes lots of story-songs. Oh, Harri, please react to Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." It's a great story.

Rain on the Scarecrow by Mellencamo is also an emotional song on the same vien!!

Written by Billy Joel. Produced by him and Mick Jones. This is about the plight of East Coast fishermen. Suggested next video 📹 a duet: Billy Joel and Garth Brooks sing Shameless. 🤠🎹