Alexa Ray Joel, like father like daughter

Alexa Ray Joel tried (but failed) to commit suicide in December. It was revealed earlier this month that she was depressed after a romantic breakup.

Billy Joel also tried commit suicide when he was in his early twenties. I wonder if there’s some sort of genetic link between the two suicides? Did Alexa inherit some personality trait from her father?

When I first listened to the album Cold Spring Harbor in the 1990s, I thought that the album was about painful unrequited love, leading up to thoughts of suicide in the song Tomorrow is Today. Now, thanks to the internet, I learned that he did indeed try to commit suicide in his early twenties, and the lyrics of the song Tomorrow is Today was actually based on his suicide note. I guess my initial impression of the album was correct.

This explains why Cold Spring Harbor has a raw emotion about it that’s absent from all of Joel’s later works. And it explains why, for most of his music career, Joel hated that album. Maybe thinking about the songs on the album caused him too many painful memories?

* * *

I'm still trying to figure out if the song Falling of the Rain from Cold Spring Harbor has some sort of deeper meaning to it within the context of the Album, or if it's just some silly song written by a 21-year-old kid. This is a mystery which has bugged me for the last 17 years. Do you think the guy who made this creative music video of the song understands it?

Comments

[ironrailsironweights.wordpress.com]

Alexa Ray's "suicide" attempt involved an overdose of homeopathic pain pills. I'd put that in the same category as jumping out of a first floor window or shooting oneself with a water pistol.

Peter

[HS: But it made for a good blog post, did it not?]

[Sheila Tone]

Good lord, are you on your period?

Judging by Wikipedia, a good reason for him to be pissed off about that album was that he got ripped off by the record company.

[Michael]

James Bowery had a post on Billy Joel and Alexa Ray here:

http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/blame_it_all_on_yourself_cuz_shes_always_a_woman_to_me/

[Sheila Tone]

Hey ... *you're* a man who paints nature scenes. Aw HS, don't do it! We'll miss you.

The ignoring of the rain is perhaps a prescient commentary on global warming denialism.

The use of Churchill for opening and closing quotes was a bit pompous, much like Joel himself. But thank you for reminding me that I did always like his piano playing.

When I think of a landmark song, "raw emotion" and suicide, I think of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, not Billy Joel. Billy Joel was beneath contempt for anyone in my peer group starting at 13. Did three years make that big a difference, or was it geography?

[miles]

Alexa Rae Joel, in my opinion, is quite cute-n'-pretty.

She looks just like her dad. Its interesting to me that the same features that make Billy Joel a likeable-looking, but not hot guy, make Alexa Rae Joel pretty and feminine,
http://news.about-knowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/alexa-ray-joel.jpg

Big eyes, "chipmunk cheeks", delicate chin and jaw structure, aristocratic-brow all equal sexy on a girl, but are beta-esque (or delta-esque if you prefer) on a guy. Alexa wont be as outrageously hot as Christie Brinkley was in her prime, but she is awfully cute (IMO anyway).

[NY Times Reading Blank Slatist]

"Billy Joel also tried commit suicide when he was in his early twenties. I wonder if there’s some sort of genetic link between the two suicides? Did Alexa inherit some personality trait from her father?"

Oh c'mon! How can you say this? It's obvious that Alexa Ray's privileged background exposed her at an early age to the sociological benefits of upper class neuroticism, and she learned this behavior from her wealthy white male father.

A genetic link to suicidal tendencies? HA!

Next you'll try telling us that IQ is inherited!

[Aspic sentence]

"Alexa Ray's "suicide" attempt involved an overdose of homeopathic pain pills"

What!? lol

Oh man, it's true:

http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2009/12/alexa_ray_joel_homeopathic_ove.php

[OneSTDV]

I don't understand why these types of "suicide attempts" are classified as such. If someone wants to actually kill himself/herself, it isn't very hard at all. Most people are really just reaching out for help when they "attempt" suicide.

[Turambar]

For me Billy Joel has a lot of parallels to Woody Allen - Woody had observed how can you enjoy anything when you know you are going to die?

Thats the problem for atheists- finding any substantive meaning in things when they are sure human life is without meaning and a mere side-effect of one's viewpoint.

Billy Joel was on an A&E songwriters special years ago where he gave insight to his thinking when he was writing a particular song he was a about to play. One thing that stayed with me was that "Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angle)" was an attempt to offer reassurance of a parents immortality to a child from an atheist's worldview. Cold comfort. Thats like making an argument for the continued salience of plague victims because of Ring around the Rosey.

At the time I wondered how of thing would effect this daughter (and having "Downeaster Alexis" invoke her).

Is it enough to know you father loves you? Or would the aloneness and impermanence gnaw at you and make you unable to find satisfaction?

Thats why I was interested when this suicide story came out, even though it is a single data point. Model mother, genius father (dont care what you say Shelia) rich, big house, father knows all of the coolest people. Is that enough to provide satisfaction for someone who should be in their prime? Apparently not.

From the behavior of Jamie Johnson and Casey Johnson its obvious that being a wealth social light doesnt provide satisfaction.

[Easy Peasy]

Turambar,

Of course, psychological comfort is not evidence for truth. Religion may serve certain types of people well as a placebo, but those who know better can laugh at homeopathic belladonna AND a caring god.

[PA]

["Most people are really just reaching out for help when they "attempt" suicide. "]

According to some accounts, Sylvia Plath, the biggest drama queen of english-language literature, timed her head-in-oven with a housekeeper's or someone else's anticipated arrival. But that person did not arrive as expected, and poor Mrs. Ted Hughes died.

Billy Joel's rawest stuff is from the 1970s. It doesn't get any more downer than "Captain Jack."

[bbartlog]

Billy Joel checked himself into a psych ward after his suicide attempt, and apparently the experience gave him a good dose of reality: he realized 'hey, I'm not actually crazy, just kind of torn up about a breakup. *These* people are crazy!'.

[Turambar]

"but those who know better can laugh at homeopathic belladonna AND a caring god."

while dosing themselves with SSRI and "medicinal" pot

[Sheila Tone]

We all know the guy in the song is totally Half Sigma, right? No mystery at all. HS, this is so melancholy. Write something snide again so we know you're OK. Check it out, Newsweek says snooty educated women with high standards are happier in marriage: http://www.newsweek.com/id/232864. You can't let that one slide.

[Days of Broken Arrows]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the assessment of Joel's early work. I think it's poorly sung and poorly arranged (too many intrusive classical motifs). Most of all, the writing just isn't as sharp. The melodies are unfocused and too often derviative of other sources (Elton John, Paul McCartney).

If you want post-breakup angst, I suggest checking out his "All for Leyna" from "Glass Houses." The lyric is realistic and the details are sketched out with the skill of a short story writer. And he sounds like he means it.

[DaveinHackensack]

"Did three years make that big a difference, or was it geography?"

If it was geography, it must have been at the micro level. Growing up in North Jersey, I don't know anyone who self-identified as a Billy Joel fan. We couldn't help hearing him, of course: back in the '80s, hardly anyone who wasn't famous in the '70s got airplay on mainstream rock stations.

[Twain]

"Thats why I was interested when this suicide story came out, even though it is a single data point. Model mother, genius father (dont care what you say Shelia) rich, big house, father knows all of the coolest people. Is that enough to provide satisfaction for someone who should be in their prime? Apparently not.

From the behavior of Jamie Johnson and Casey Johnson its obvious that being a wealth social light doesnt provide satisfaction."

Being an average person doesn't provide satisfacton either and religion can make you obsessed with death and "Hell" and can make your life miserable. So, I guess a lot of people are unhappy. So the moral of the story is die young.

[trey]

I interpreted the suicide attempt as the unfortunate by-product of multi-culturalism run amok. Christie seems smart but not bright and thus probably fairly vulnerable to the constant barrage of messages we receive about how all the critera we have for rating each other (intelligence, looks)are shallow and there are deeper meanings to life. So she did the PC thing and married someone obviously not near her position on the looks chart (probably the #1 criteria for modern day mate selection). So she had a child who was very dissimilar to her on the most salient trait of the day and she thus couldn't deeply bond with her. (And Billy's suicide attempt in his 20's can be viewed as a guy who probably believed he had some genius talents in him but since he hadn't found the outlet yet to prove it to the world, he couln't get the chicks he thought he deserved at the time.)