Isn't Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young" not only anti-Catholic but anti-Christian also?

Question

I heard about the whole controversy about the "Only Good Die Young" song being anti-Catholic, but wouldn't it also be anti-Christian with lyrics such as "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints" and since most Christian denominations believe in no premartial sex?

By the way, was Billy Joel anti-Catholic or anti-Christian? I know he tried to "spin" it saying that it was NOT anti-catholic but rather pro-lust (according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_the_good_die_young ),
but the lyrics seem too strong to not be anti-Catholic with an example I mentioned above.

Are there other Christians who still listen to other music of his? With songs like "Tell Her About It", "Uptown Girl", and "River of Dreams"? Or have other Christians just banned listening to him because of that song? I know it would too much to expect a musician to agree to a listener's particular spiritual/religious views, but....being confrontational is a whole other thing...

Thanks for the help and responses!

Answer 1

*sigh*...here we go:

This song was written about a woman he really liked back in High School (her name was Virginia Callahan) he was too shy to approach her. Yes, the song IS pro lust, Billy has stated that many, many times. He is an athiest. When he wrote the song, he was nervous about the lyrics - and he ran them by his drummer Liberty DeVito - because he was a devout Catholic. Liberty thought it was a good song. Also - the only song he had ever dreamed and then written was "River of Dreams". He wrote "Lullabye" not only to explain what happens when people die, but to explain his divorce to his little girl. I think you are taking the song a little seriously..

Answer 2

I'm a Catholic convert to. I was Methodist, which usually is not of the evangelical type. But I never experienced anti-Christianity when I was a Protestant like I experience anti-Catholicism. Since becoming Catholic I find myself often defending the faith against, mostly, ignorance. Ignorance with venom. I wish I knew why the anti-Catholicism is so strong and just what drives it. Most of the posted questions are not really questions but statements. They are inaccurate statements about Catholic beliefs, the answers posted are good and informative and yet the poster does not wish to know the truth. Good question; but I believe that those who could answer it will not have the insight nor respect to do so.

Answer 3

Billy Joel Religion

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Isn't Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young" not only anti-Catholic but anti-Christian also?

I heard about the whole controversy about the "Only Good Die Young" song being anti-Catholic, but wouldn't it also be anti-Christian with lyrics such as "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints" and since most Christian denominations believe in no...

Answer 5

You are free to interpret art any way you would like. Try to remember however that Joel probably didn't write it in order for it to be a discussion of religion, or anti-religious sentiments...it's just a personal interpretation of music and lyrics. Did you ever think it was written because he may have had a good friend who died young, that friend may have had no religious background whatsoever, and he was simply sad about the whole situation?

Answer 6

The song is about a young man from "the wrong side of the tracks" trying to seduce a pristine Catholic girl. That's all. No hidden meaning. No ulterior motive to the lyrics. Just a song about a guy lusting after a girl.



Billy Joel isn't anti-Christian, but he is an atheist. His song "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" is the result of him trying to explain to his daughter what he, as an atheist, believes happens when we die.

Answer 7

Given that it sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, I suspect that Billy Joel is laughing all the way to the bank.



You do know that it's more than 30 years old, right (released in 1977)?



In any case, if you don't like it, don't listen to it; you have a choice.

Answer 8

Wow confrontational? You guys started it. Some day I hope you all get your asses beat .



Edit: Wow I was harsh last night. Either way had to come back and comment because I read the lyrics to this song .I mean you Christians don't get the same benefits as other groups when it comes to discrimination because people say blacks are this and Jews are that and they are ignorant but all the things people say about you guys are dead on accurate. why don't you just look in the mirror and shut up. And you should not listen to Billy Joel. maybe you should go prey to nothing. Your spiritual beliefs are the personification of your emptiness mixed with the brain washing your parents did early on

Answer 9

LOVE Billy Joel! I can see how you might see that song as 'anti Christian' since is promotes pre marital sex and as 'anti catholic' since he's lusting after a catholic girl and telling her that her religion is no fun, but I still love that song, awesome!

Answer 10

What's the difference between being anti-Catholic and anti-Christian again?



If you are anti-Christian wouldn't it logically follow that you are anti-Catholic as well since Catholicism is a denomination of Christianity?

Answer 11

Of course it was anti-Catholic and anti-Christian. You cannot watch television or listen to contemporary music or watch movies or any other form of media without continually running across anti-Christian bias. This is the plain teaching of the Bible.





"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."



I John 2:15-17



1"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."



I John 5:19



"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."



James 4:4



"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."



Romans 12:1-2



Anyone who watches the Simpsons or Family Guy or South Park or anything similar is bombarded by scoffing and blasphemy and irreverence and contempt for anything Christian or the Christian God.

Unfortunately, most Christians have no qualms about eating horse manure so long as someone sprinkles enough sugar on it.

Answer 12

I don't know. I'm much more concerned about Billy Joel being anti-good music.

Answer 13

Billy Joel is a professed Atheist, so, his lyrics do not surprise me.



By the way; do you know that Billy Joel would dream his songs and then get up and write them down. This happens and he still dosen't believe in God.



Truth anyway

Answer 14

No. "Only the good die young!" is an anti old person statement! I'm old and I resent the bias of this statement. It means I'm not good or that all old people are bad. Not so!

Answer 15

Billy Joel makes a song in his right mind with those words??? He's a lunatic.

Answer 16

Heed well the word of Easter Bunny.





Torg

Answer 17

All this time, I thought it was just a "song".........boys will say anything to sway the girls.



If we must dissect it.............it still comes down to his personal choice and understanding.

Answer 18

I think a lot of people are taking a song way to seriously.

Answer 19

I love those catholic school girl skirts

Answer 20

dont like that song, my pastor says it is eveil