About The Song
“My Life” is a song by Billy Joel that first appeared on his 1978 album 52nd Street. A single version was released in the fall of 1978 and reached No. 2 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart. Early the next year, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This song about asserting your independence was the theme to the 1980 television sitcom Bosom Buddies – the one that introduced many of us to Tom Hanks (in a dress!). However, because of licensing issues, the title theme was not Joel’s version and was sung by a soundalike singer.
Even by ’80s standards, the show had a very long opening sequence, with the song playing for about a minute at the beginning of the broadcast. When the series was released on DVD, the song had to be purged for legal reasons (this is very common – before they got the music cleared, the WKRP in Cincinnati DVD episodes sounded ridiculous with most of the music expunged). It was replaced with a song called “Shake Me Loose” by Stephanie Mills.
Allegedly, the verse “closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the west coast; now he gives them a stand up routine in LA” refers to comedian Richard Lewis. Lewis is indeed native to Joel’s stomping ground, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey.
This was Joel’s seventh Billboard Top 40 hit. And a bit of trivia, since Elton John is the other famous piano-playing rocker, let it be known that of the two, Elton was the first with a Top-40 single. Elton’s “Your Song” in 1970 beat out Joel’s “Piano Man” in 1974.
More about Bosom Buddies: Originally conceived by producers as the male counterpart to Laverne & Shirley, it had Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as a pair of roommates whose apartment burns down, so they decide to go stay at a women-only hotel because the rent is cheap. They dodge the women-only requirement by dressing in drag.
As if that doesn’t sound contrived enough, the hotel in Bosom Buddies is named the “Susan B. Anthony Hotel,” named after the famous women’s-rights activist. Susan B. Anthony was also the subject of the famous Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, which was actively being minted in the years 1979-1981 right when Bosom Buddies was airing, with a revival mintage in 1999. Aspiring coin collectors take note: The coin was unpopular due to its size, making it often mistaken for a quarter by vending machines. In fact, it was so unpopular that it never saw much circulation. To this day it isn’t very profitable to collect even mint specimens of Susan Bs, as every collector has rolls of them which are still worth about a dollar.
Phil Ramone, who produced Joel’s previous album, The Stranger, also produced 52nd Street and continued working with the singer throughout the rest of the ’70s and ’80s. He typically got along well with Joel’s band, but “My Life” marked a rare moment of conflict with drummer Liberty DeVitto.
“One of the few arguments I ever had with Phil occurred when we were recording ‘My Life,’ but it was funny, not tense,” he shared in Ramone’s 2007 book, Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music. “He wanted me to play a very straight beat, and I bucked him. ‘I ain’t playin’ that disco bulls–t!’ I said. Phil got up, slammed something on the console, and scolded me like he was my father. ‘You’ve been in this business for what, 12 minutes? And you’re gonna tell me how you’re gonna play? Just get the hell out there and play it the way I told you to play!’
I grumbled about it then, but every time I see the gold record I received for ‘My Life’ on the wall, I mutter, ‘F–king guy was right.'”
Video
Lyrics
Got a call from an old friend we’d used to be real close
Said he couldn’t go on the American way
Closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the west coast
Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A.
I don’t need you to worry for me ’cause I’m alright
I don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home
I don’t care what you say anymore this is my life
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone
I never said you had to offer me a second chance
I never said I was a victim of circumstance
I still belong
Don’t get me wrong
And you can speak your mind
But not on my time
They will tell you you can’t sleep alone in a strange place
Then they’ll tell you can’t sleep with somebody else
Ah but sooner or later you sleep in your own space
Either way it’s O.K. you wake up with yourself
I don’t need you to worry for me ’cause I’m alright
I don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home
I don’t care what you say anymore this is my life
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone
I never said you had to offer me a second chance
I never said I was a victim of circumstance
I still belong
Don’t get me wrong
And you can speak your mind
But not on my time
I don’t care what you say anymore this is my life
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone