Billy Joel quit songwriting more than three decades ago because he didn’t want to “dilute his legacy”.
Speaking to Rick Beato in a new YouTube interview, the 77‑year‑old music legend said he knew he was finished after completing River of Dreams in 1993.
He explained: “When I got to the end of writing River of Dreams, I felt like I was done.
“I was married, I had a child. I didn’t want to lock myself in a cave and devote myself like a monk to writing anymore. I had done it 12 times and I thought, ‘You know what? The Beatles had 12 albums.’ And that was just enough for me.”
The Piano Man said he didn’t want to become another artist who slowly fizzles out.
He continued: “Maybe they’re not as good as they used to be or they’re not as motivated as they were, but it ends up trailing off. I didn’t want to go like that… Saying no sometimes is really hard to do.”
Although he stopped making pop records, Billy didn’t stop creating music entirely. He released his classical album Fantasies and Delusions in 2001 and returned with the standalone single Turn the Lights Back On in 2024.
He said: “I did a whole album of classical piano pieces after that. That’s where I wanted to go… I didn’t want to just keep beating a dead horse and being played because I was Billy Joel.”
Billy said the pressure to match his own past work became unbearable.
“You get to a point you can’t do it anymore. You’ve tapped it out, you reached such a high level that you can’t stand not reaching that level anymore and you hate yourself. You beat yourself up, and I didn’t want to put myself through that anymore.”
The Uptown Girl singer admitted he even warned others about the emotional toll of chasing perfection.
He said: “You better learn how to stop songwriting because it’s gonna drive you crazy. You’ll go insane.”