Sometimes the simplest sentiments make the greatest love songs.
Such is the case with Billy Joel’s 1977 ballad “Just the Way You Are,” a tender declaration of unconditional love that became the singer-songwriter’s first Top 10 hit and helped propel him to an entirely new level of fame.
Written by Joel for his then-wife and manager, Elizabeth Weber, “Just the Way You Are” almost didn’t make the record. While working on his fifth studio album,The Stranger, Joel wasn’t super keen on the “mushy” ballad and was considering leaving it off entirely. Luckily, fellow singer Linda Ronstadt heard his recording and set him straight.
“Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow were in the studio, and we played the song for them,” Joel told Rick Beato in a recent interview. “I said, ‘I don’t like this song that much.’ Linda Ronstadt goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? That’s a hit record. You got to put that on the album. That’s a great song.’ ‘Really?’ She talked me into it. So I have to thank Linda Ronstadt for that song.”
And it’s lucky for us he listened.
Released as a single in November 1977, “Just the Way You Are” climbed all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming Joel’s first U.S. Top 10 single. In the U.K., it reached No. 19. The song would go on to win both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1979 Grammy Awards—Joel’s first two Grammys.
But someone else heard something special in Joel’s romantic ballad.
Just one year after its release, musical giant Barry White boldly recorded “Just the Way You Are” for his 1978 album, The Man. With his unmistakably deep and velvety voice, a new spoken preamble, and lush R&B treatment, White took Joel’s epic composition and moved it squarely into his own musical world.
The move was an inspired one.
Released as a single in the U.K. in December 1978, White’s version entered the chart at No. 61 before steadily climbing to No. 12. It remained on the chart for 12 weeks, making it the second-longest-running U.K. hit of White’s career at the time, and, remarkably, giving his cover a higher British peak than Joel’s original.
Back home, however, the story was very different. White’s version reached No. 45 on Billboard’s R&B chart and stopped at No. 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, never reaching the Hot 100 itself. Nonetheless, White’s sensual soul rendition of Joel’s heartfelt soft rock song was a giant international success. Even today, the question of whose version reigns superior is still hotly debated.
Of course White was not alone in seeing the song’s possibilities. At least 15 artists covered “Just the Way You Are” in 1978 alone, including Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Isaac Hayes and Grover Washington Jr.. Frank Sinatra added his own interpretation in 1980, and Willie Nelson followed in 2017.
The song was recently endorsed by another major legend. In an interview for the HBO Max documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, Paul McCartney shares that he “Just the Way You Are” is the one song he wishes he had written, which landed as a huge honor for an ever- humble Joel.
“That blew me away,” Joel told Beato. “I mean, he’s like the melodic king. He he can do no wrong with melody, Paul. His melodic sense is incredible.”
Nearly five decades later, Amazon Music ranks “Just the Way You Are” among its 100 Greatest Soft Rock Songs of all time. It is still blasting out of car speakers, playing on bar jukeboxes and making ultimate love song playlists. No one sings the song quite like Billy Joel.
But that hasn’t stopped the rest of the world from singing along.
Related: 1971 Hit, Written by Bernie Taupin, Ranked Among ‘Greatest’ Soft Rock Songs of All Time
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