When Billy Joel wrote "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" in 1976, he was writing the song with a great 1960s song in his mind.
That song was the Ronettes' classic "Be My Baby." Joel has gone as far as tell college students at lectures of its birth as he was writing songs for what would be his album "Turnstiles," his fourth studio album. It's the same album that brought us classics such as "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)," "Summer, Highland Falls" and one of the most recognizable songs he does in all his concerts, "New York State Of Mind."
Joel claimed to have written the song after he moved back from being on the West Coast for three years. Though some have interpreted the song as him not liking the bright lights of L.A., Joel said he was writing it from the point of living the experience, enjoying the success he began to have, but knowing it was time to go back to his native New York. And as for Spector's influence on the song, Joel said he was a huge fan of the Ronettes and most girl groups growing up in Long Island, New York as a teenager. If you play the recordings of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "Be My Baby" side by side, you can hear the similarities, the only thing missing is the legendary Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" he helped make famous on "Be My Baby."
"Say Goodbye To Hollywood" may have been just stuck on the "Turnstiles" albums forever if not for Joel and his backing band playing this song and many others he recorded before his breakthrough "The Stranger" album in 1977 on tour in 1980. It was those recordings that would wind up on the 1981 album, "Songs In The Attic," his first live album. Many of those songs have become Joel staples on FM radio like "Captain Jack," "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" and "You're My Home."
And to give Joel fans who only caught on with the superstar because of "The Stranger," the first release was the live performance of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," that sentimental ode to the "growing up" part of his career of the 1970s. The song debuted on the Top 40 on September 26, 1981, at No. 40, and it was on this week, October 3, 1981, that it made the biggest leap within the Top 40, jumping 10 places from No. 40 to No. 30. It would eventually peak at No. 17 and be Joel's 14th Top 40 hit since "Piano Man" debuted in 1974. Another live track from that album, "She's Got A Way," would hit the Top 25 in early 1982.
As a side story to "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," a year after Joel recorded his original, guess which artist also recorded the song?
Uh-huh ... Ronnie Spector. She took it to heart, saying, "In a way it's my life story 'cause I was married in Hollywood, I lived in Hollywood, my life fell apart in Hollywood and now I am saying goodbye to Hollywood." Her version of the song was produced by Steven Van Zandt, who had plenty of time to work with Spector as he and the rest of the E Street Band were waiting to record again as his "Boss," Bruce Springsteen, was dealing with legal wranglings with his management and productions teams. Spector also had done backing vocals for Springsteen and the E Street Band.
As for the top of the chart on October 3, 1981, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie were riding at No. 1 for the eighth straight week with the theme from the movie Endless Love, but leaping up five places to No. 2 was Christopher Cross' hit from the movie Arthur, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)."
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