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Speaker 1: Live from the Mercedes Benz Interview Lounge. Wow, this Sunday

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Speaker 1: night the Grammys, there's gonna be a lot of moments

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Speaker 1: we're never going to forget, and one of them will

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Speaker 1: be Billy Joel singing his new song, turn the Lights

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Speaker 1: back on? This song you know white, wait till Sunday.

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Speaker 1: Let's have a moment now, let's world premiere in a

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Speaker 1: few minutes. This is gonna be pretty cool on with this.

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Speaker 1: Freddie Wexler and Billy Joel. Hi, guys, thanks for being

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Speaker 1: on with us. Hi, how's it going great? This is

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Speaker 1: an exciting moment for us as we world premiere turn

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Speaker 1: the Lights back On? Billy? When's the last time we

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Speaker 1: had a release from you? When's less to be released

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Speaker 1: a song?

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Speaker 2: I don't know, it must be close to twenty years ago. Wow. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: this is actually the first time I'm releasing me as

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Speaker 2: a recording artist since since they're like thirty years River

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Speaker 2: of Dreams or since Red Dreams yet, I.

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Speaker 1: Mean, other than doing your residency at the Garden, you

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Speaker 1: haven't released any new music since nineteen ninety three until today.

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Speaker 1: We're so excited about turning the lights back on. We're

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Speaker 1: going to play in just a few minutes, let's talk

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Speaker 1: about Freddy Wexler. Why you guys are together, because the

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Speaker 1: story behind this song is really magical. I love it, Freddie.

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Speaker 1: You want to take it away, like how did this

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Speaker 1: come to be? And how did you meet Billy?

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Speaker 3: It's a funny thing. So back in back in two

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Speaker 3: thousand and six, I was, I was. I was an artist,

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Speaker 3: I was a signed artist, and I really wanted to

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Speaker 3: be Billy Joel. That was that was the reason I

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Speaker 3: was a songwriter. I was. I'm a New Yorker piano player,

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Speaker 3: crappy piano player. But anyhow, Billy Joel was just my

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Speaker 3: real inspiration. I had really wanted to meet him. I

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Speaker 3: tried to meet him, and he was very difficult to meet.

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Speaker 3: Even if you know I'd had submit songs, I couldn't

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Speaker 3: seem to get to Billy through through a label, through

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Speaker 3: a publisher. And for my thirty fifth birthday, unbeknownst to me,

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Speaker 3: my wife made it her mission to track down Billy

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Speaker 3: and she to get to him, and Billy agreed right

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Speaker 3: to meet for a couple minute.

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Speaker 2: Got a message from my family doctors said, this is

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Speaker 2: this kid, Oh, I want you to meet. He wants

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Speaker 2: to meet you, and he's you know, he's a songwriter too,

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Speaker 2: And so I.

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Speaker 3: Said, oh, okay, yep.

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Speaker 2: Why not. I'm thinking I'm going to meet like a

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Speaker 2: teenager or something.

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Speaker 3: He's looking around. Here's some kid, and it's disappointed. You

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Speaker 3: know that a man sits down a grown man.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what I was expecting. I just thought,

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Speaker 2: you know, I'll me somebody and okay, that'll be the

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Speaker 2: end of us. And we ended up having what was it,

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Speaker 2: three hour lunch or something.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was crazy, two hour, two and a

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Speaker 3: half hour lunch, and I think we just hit on

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Speaker 3: We hit on some things that were unique.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, we found out we had a lot in

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Speaker 2: common about how we approach songwriting and recording and producing

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Speaker 2: and all of that stuff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. It was one thing in particular that was interesting,

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Speaker 3: which is I said to Bill, hey, when you're writing,

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Speaker 3: do you ever imagine you're somebody else or do you

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Speaker 3: always just write for yourself?

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Speaker 2: And I said, always, always imagine somebody else. I don't

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Speaker 2: like my voice. I'm always trying to sing like somebody else.

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Speaker 2: I'm thinking like a writer, not like a singer, which

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Speaker 2: helps me to get it written, but.

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Speaker 3: I feel it. But had you been asked that before? Probably? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: well here I was thinking I had a great question.

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Speaker 3: But anyhow, we bonded. We bonded over that, and then

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Speaker 3: at some point I said, I have a song that

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Speaker 3: I started with a couple of friends. Curious what you

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Speaker 3: think about it? And I think it resonated at least

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Speaker 3: enough that he said, okay.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this kind of came out of left field. He said,

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Speaker 2: here's this idea. What do you think of this? And

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Speaker 2: I heard it and I went, that's not bad. That's

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Speaker 2: a pretty good song. And then he's going, so, why

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Speaker 2: don't you come down to our studio and sing it?

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Speaker 2: I s get at it here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, when it was finished, she goes, so, who

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Speaker 3: do you think should cut it? I said, what are

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Speaker 3: you nuts? It's a Billy Joel song.

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Speaker 1: Oh, without doubt. I mean you listen to the song

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Speaker 1: it is, it's written in your voice, without doubt. If

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Speaker 1: you're just turning us on, you're here just in time.

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Speaker 1: Music writer Freddie Wexler here with Billy Joel. Their song

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Speaker 1: turn the Lights Back On is going to be on

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Speaker 1: the Grammys this weekend, but you're going to hear it

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Speaker 1: here first as we premiere it in just a few minutes.

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Speaker 1: All right, back to this meeting you guys had Freddie

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Speaker 1: was saying earlier before we had you on that he

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Speaker 1: knows for the fact that you told the waiter, get

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Speaker 1: me out of here in ten minutes, bring me the belt.

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Speaker 1: And it turned into a career changing day for you. Ready,

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Speaker 1: And of course, Billy, it brought you back into the

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Speaker 1: studio to record this song.

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Speaker 2: Right, No, there was no setup. Really, yeah, I was

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Speaker 2: just gonna have lunch anyway.

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Speaker 3: Okay, fair enough, but you But the point is it

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Speaker 3: was clear you were not expecting us to become friends

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Speaker 3: or to hang out for that long.

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Speaker 2: No, I wasn't expecting anything was going to come up

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Speaker 2: it except to say bye to somebody who might have

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Speaker 2: been a fan.

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Speaker 1: But look at this, I mean, how many years have

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Speaker 1: people been trying to get you back into a studio

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Speaker 1: to release something. And in addition to that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean Freddy used to be an intern over at Sony,

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Speaker 1: so your pictures are up haunting him for all these years.

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Speaker 1: And but it all came together. There's some magic that happened.

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Speaker 2: What do you what do you think it was? What clicked?

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Speaker 2: I think it was simpatico about songwriting, about music in general.

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Speaker 3: I just as a fan honestly wanted another Billy Joal

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Speaker 3: song because it's my favorite music. That that's it. And

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Speaker 3: so I said to him in that lunch, I said, look,

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Speaker 3: your music's brought me so much joy over the years.

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Speaker 3: If I could help you me biding the fun in

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Speaker 3: it at some point again, that will make me really happy,

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Speaker 3: you know. And he said, Oh, that's what Phil Ramone

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Speaker 3: used to say. It needs to be fun. Yes, And

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Speaker 3: that was really my mission.

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Speaker 2: That thing we get coming back to that concept. It's

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Speaker 2: supposed to be fun, which is why I got into

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Speaker 2: the music in the first place. It was fun, and

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Speaker 2: when it stopped being fun, didn't want to do it

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Speaker 2: that much anymore. And he had funny convinced me that

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Speaker 2: it was fun for him to know my stuff, which

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Speaker 2: I've always kind of yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, Billy Joel.

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Speaker 3: I'll still look at Bill and be like, Yo, this

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Speaker 3: is so fun.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I mean, are you pinching yourself from time touse?

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Speaker 1: I'm ready and this is going on because.

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Speaker 3: I'm pinching myself this whole interview. I'm pinching myself every day.

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Speaker 3: This is again, like Billy Joel's read and I became

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Speaker 3: a songwriter. It's really it's surreal. I think it's gotta

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Speaker 3: be kind of surreal for you too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I had no idea it was going to culminate

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Speaker 2: like this, and I tried my best to stay away

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Speaker 2: from that.

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Speaker 3: When we got to the studio, he tried his best

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Speaker 3: to leave.

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Speaker 1: Seriously, Buddy stayed and you know what the story is

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Speaker 1: gonna Well, it's gonna continue.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna World Premiere turn the Lights Back On. And

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Speaker 1: as we do that, take yourself to Sunday, this Sunday night,

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Speaker 1: where you'll be sitting in the Grammy audience, Freddy watching

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Speaker 1: Billy Joel sing this song. That's gonna be an amazing

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Speaker 1: moment for both of you. That's so cool. I love

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Speaker 1: this story. Thanks for sharing it with us today, and

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Speaker 1: we'll see you at the Grammys. Now we know the

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Speaker 1: story behind the song. Let's play the song, the World

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Speaker 1: Premiere turn the Lights Back On, written by Freddie Wexler

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Speaker 1: for Billy Jowel. Listen to this. There you go, Brandon,

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Speaker 1: Billy Jowell turn the lights back on. His question was

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Speaker 1: is it too late for me to turn my lights

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Speaker 1: back on? Because he has not put out a pop song. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: thirty one years, even though he still sells out his

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Speaker 1: residency shows at Madison Square Garden. Anyway, it sounded great.

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Speaker 1: But the story I'm loving here was Freddie Wexler who

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Speaker 1: wrote that song with him. Freddie Wexler, as you may

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Speaker 1: have heard there, just to reiterate what happened. He's been

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Speaker 1: trying to get as a songwriter his music to Billy

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Speaker 1: Joel for years since he was a kid growing up

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Speaker 1: on Long Island, not far from Billy right. Actually he

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Speaker 1: grew up in Manhattan, but close to Long Island. So

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Speaker 1: his wife found this commonality between the two of them.

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Speaker 1: A doctor. They knew that they knew Billy's doctor, and

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Speaker 1: went through the doctor and got a ten minute coffee

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Speaker 1: meeting that turned into three hours into the studio and

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Speaker 1: Billy Joel recorded this song. So Freddie Wexler, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: even though Billy Joel, look, you know, Billy Joel's Billy Joel,

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Speaker 1: Freddie Wexler is right up there with him as far

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Speaker 1: as how far up the podium they share. As this

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Speaker 1: story has been unfolding, I think it's pretty cool this guy,

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Speaker 1: Freddie Wexler, as he said, to us he will be

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Speaker 1: at the Grammys to watch Billy perform his song Sunday night,

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Speaker 1: and for iHeart to have the honor. iHeart Radio had

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Speaker 1: the honor of world premiering this song for Billy Joel today.

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Speaker 1: It's just a really cool thing. So whether you know

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Speaker 1: Billy Joel is your your thing or before your time

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Speaker 1: or whatever, just understand the musicians you love who are

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Speaker 1: out today, they have inspiration. A lot of them look

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Speaker 1: to the Billy Joels of the world to find them.

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Speaker 1: So anyway, Billy Joel again, the name of the song is, uh,

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Speaker 1: turn the light back on, Turn the lights back on anyway.

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Speaker 1: So to be able to give that to you today,

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Speaker 1: it was just a great gift and so it's an

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Speaker 1: honor to be here to do it. So thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, we gotta go.

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Speaker 1: Elvis Duran in the Morning Show