1696 – Billy Joel – James (1976)

Escrita por Billy Joel, foi gravada entre o verão de 1975 e janeiro de 1976 e foi lançada em 19 de maio de 1976 no disco Turnstiles, o quarto disco da carreira de Billy. Foi produzida pelo próprio Billy Joel. James é referente à varios tipos de pessoas que ele conheceu na vida real e o personagem James é um conjunto dessas pessoas. Billy Joel cantou e tocou piano acústico, piano elétrico, sintetizador Moog, clavinet e orgão. Howie Emerson tocou guitarra e violão. Russel Javors tocou guitarra e violão. James Smith tocou violão. Doug Stegmeyer tocou baixo. Liberty DeVitto tocou bateria. Mingo Lewis tocou percussão e Richie Cannata tocou sax e clarinete.

A letra:

James, we were always friends,
From our childhood days
And we made our plans,
And we had to go our separate ways.
I went on the road-
You pursued an education.

James, do you like your life,
Can you find release,
And will you ever change-
Will you ever write your masterpiece.
Are you still in school-
Living up to expectations, James

You were so relied upon, everybody knows how hard you tried-
Hey, just look at what a job you've done,
Carrying the weight of family pride.
James, you've been well behaved,
You've been working so hard
But will you always stay,
Someone else's dream of who you are.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody, James.

I went on the road,
You pursued an education, James
How you gonna know for sure, everything was so well organized.
Hey, now everything is so secure,
And everybody else is satisfied.

James, do you like your life,
Can you find release
And will you ever change,
When will you write your masterpiece.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody, James.

A versão de Billy Joel: