Just the Way You Are (Billy Joel song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Just the Way You Are" is a love song from Billy Joel's 1977 pop rock album, The Stranger. It was written as a birthday gift to Joel's first wife Elizabeth Weber. After they divorced, Joel said that when performing the song, he would imagine what he would eat for dinner or what he would do after the show, or even accidentally sing alternate lyrics written by Liberty DeVitto ("She took the dog, the house, the car"). This was his first US Top 10 (reaching #3) and UK Top 20 single, and it was also Joel's first Gold single in the US. "Just the Way You Are" won the 1978 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
The track features an alto sax solo by jazz artist Phil Woods, who replaced Richie Cannata (who played sax for most of the songs on The Stranger) when the latter's style of playing was deemed unfit for the song. Guitarist Steve Khan, who played on most of the songs on The Stranger missed playing this one because he was on a trip, and had to be replaced. The bossa nova style of the song was strongly encouraged by producer Phil Ramone. Upon learning this would be the beat used for the song, drummer Devitto threw his drumsticks at Joel and said, "I'm not a damned cocktail lounge drummer!"
Joel has gone on record stating that he personally dislikes the song and was originally going to leave it off the album. However, at the request of both Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow (both were recording in other studios in the same building at the time), Joel and Ramone agreed to leave it on the album. Joel does not perform "Just the Way You Are" regularly.
