Some may not have known that the US release of 2000 years has a few songs missing.
Links
Some of the songs were "Just the way you are", "Uptown gril" "And so it goes" as well as others.
The folling is a story from the New york post on the day of the concert
Enjoy
In an exclusive interview with The Post, a relaxed Joel candidly spoke about his plans for the next century.
Post: "Auld Lang Syne" is the theme song for New Year's Eve. Why, particularly with such confusing lyrics as "Should old acquaintance be forgot"?
Joel: Nobody really knows what the hell "Auld Lang Syne" means. But there's something about it that's very evocative -- something about the Irish/Welsh/English/Scottish modality that gets to you. And it has that great phrase: "We'll raise a cup of kindness." That's a very hopeful lyric -- and, as a bonus, it lets you have a drink.
Post: Will you play it at midnight?
Joel: I kicked it around. I mean, isn't it a Guy Lombardo song?
Isn't it time for a new song?
Post: So you're not going to play it?
Joel: I thought about it, and even though it is the start of a new millennium, it's also the end of the last one. I think we have to tip our hat the past -- and "for auld lang syne" means for old times' sake. So, yeah, I think we're going to do it at midnight.
Post: Will it be a rock version?
Joel: No. We'll do it respectfully. We'll have singers who can hit harmony, and after that we'll go into something that rocks.
Post: At $999 for the best seats, this concert is pretty expensive.
Joel: No shit. I'm not worth the kind of money they're charging. You know, I made my deal with the devil. I sold my soul. I'm Faust -- OK. I'm 50 years old. I'm about to quit touring. What better way to go out than this concert?
Post: Are you comfortable with what people are paying to see you?
Joel: Most of the tickets are $75 to $225 -- and that's still expensive. But when the promoter said that the top ticket was $999, I said, "You guys are out of your skulls." I thought my usual fans weren't going to come at those prices. What we're going to see is a bunch of rich bastards.
Post: You usually do something special with the first few front rows.
Joel: For the last 15 years or so , we hold all the tickets for the first two front rows at every arena and give them to the road crew. They pass them out to the kids with the worst seats in the back of the house.
Post: Who will you be kissing when the ball drops?
Joel: My daughter will be with me, and my mom. There'll be a lot of women friends, but I don't think I'll be swapping spit on stage. My job is to play music at that particular time, and these people are paying too much to watch me kiss.
Post: Are there any special women in your life who are not just friends or family members?
Joel: If there was something interesting to tell you about, I would. But, really -- you know what? -- there isn't. Shouldn't you be asking me about security at the Garden?
Post: What about security at the Garden?
Joel: Good question. We've got metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs. We'll have New York City police and their terrorist squad in the building. We'll also have our own security staff. We're taking every precaution in the world to make sure Madison Square Garden is safe.
Post: Won't that put a damper on the festivities?
Joel: We are going to celebrate -- we're New Yorkers. We don't back off, and if we go down, we go down together.
Post: Do you have any Y2K fears?
Joel: I ain't afraid of Y2K. I don't even know how to work a freaking computer.
Post: But that's the future of your instrument. There's a device that hooks up to your piano that records and plays back exactly what's played on the keys. Sounds like something that could help you make an album.
Joel: Good God, no. I'm not that good a pianist.
Post: Everybody thinks you are.
Joel: What does everybody know?
George Gershwin actually made piano rolls that you could put into your piano and supposedly you'd have George Gershwin playing in your home. It didn't work then.
Post: What about now?
Joel: The technology is at the point where you can do that. However, the pieces that I've been writing aren't for me. I'm not the guy who'll be playing them.
Post: What do you mean?
Joel: I have classically trained pianists playing them -- because I suck as far as playing my songs.
Post: How's it possible to write something and yet suck at playing it?
Joel: Look at it this way. When I write a song, I don't write it from A to Z in one sitting. I write in increments. Essentially, I am not a great classical pianist. I can pick out notes -- barely hitting the right ones -- but I don't have the nuance and the training to give it a bravura performance.
Post: That sounds like a pretty significant handicap.
Joel: I'm very pissed off at myself these days. I hate myself for not studying more when I was a kid.
Post: Will synthesizers eventually make the piano obsolete?
Joel: The piano is in no jeopardy. As a pure acoustic instrument, it will always be an instrument of value. The synthesizer will never replace it.
Post: What are you writing now?
Joel: I've been working with a pianist Hyuang-Ki Joo. We call him "Yankee Jew" -- we have a lot of fun with his name. He's a Korean guy, highly trained, who won the Stravinsky piano competition.
Post: That's good?
Joel: It's beyond my comprehension as a pianist. Forget it. I don't even want to think how good you have to be for that. Anyway, he likes my stuff. He's my brother's best friend.
P
ost: What does your brother do?
Joel: He's a classical conductor. He lives in Vienna. I love my brother. He's 28 years old, and he's brilliant. He's a typical Euro snob -- he thinks everything sucks except the works of the great masters and what he does.
Post: And how does he rate you?
Joel: Well ... he actually likes my music, but he doesn't think my singing voice is very good. He's right. He busts my chops, telling me I sound like I'm trying to be a black man. He reminds me, "You're not black."
Post: And how do you reply to that?
Joel: I say, "I know, but I want to be black."
Post: When will we hear some of the classical stuff you've been writing?
Joel: There have already been a few performances. Three years ago I had two of my pieces played at Tanglewood by a Russian pianist. They were pretty well-received. I thought I was going to get carved up like a turkey by the critics.
Post: Like Paul McCartney did?
Joel: I gotta hand it to Paul. He didn't put a toe into the classical pool -- he dove into the deep end. First he writes an oratorio, then he writes a symphony. Paul's gift was always melody.
Post: Your approach is different?
Joel: I'm just sticking my toe in the shallow end. I'm just writing small piano pieces.
Post: Are you quitting rock 'n' roll?
Joel: I'm always gonna love rock 'n' roll, and I can't say I'll never write a pop song again. If it comes into my head I'm going to put it on paper. I won't shut the door on anything.
Post: What about touring?
Joel: I don't want to tour after this New Year's Eve show. I'm just back from a sissy nine-city tour. It was great, maybe one of the most quality tours I've ever done, but I don't have the strength for a long tour. I worry about my throat all the time.
Post: So touring takes it out of you?
Joel: There is an athleticism about touring. If I can't hit the notes I wanna hit, I don't want to be up there. That's what I admired about DiMaggio. When he lost his ability to get the bat around fast enough, when he lost a step, he took himself out of the lineup. That's what I'm doing.
