About The Song
“Just the Way You Are” is a song by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album The Stranger (1977), released as the album’s second single in early November 1977.
Joel wrote this song about his first wife, Elizabeth. A pure expression of unconditional love, he gave it to her as a birthday present.
After Joel recorded this, he didn’t think much of it, considering it a “gloppy ballad” that would only get played at weddings. He credits his producer, Phil Ramone, with convincing him that it was a great song. Ramone brought Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow into the recording studio to hear the song, and of course they loved it, which was good enough for Billy. On Australian TV in 2006, Joel confirmed: “We almost didn’t put it on an album. We were sitting around listening to it going naaah, that’s a chick song.”
“Just The Way You Are” won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 1979 ceremony. It was a breakthrough for Joel, whose biggest hit to this point was “Piano Man,” which reached #25 in the US.
Joel told USA Today July 9, 2008: “I was absolutely surprised it won a Grammy. It wasn’t even rock ‘n’ roll, it was like a standard with a little bit of R&B in it. It reminded me of an old Stevie Wonder recording.”
It became both Joel’s first US Top 10 and UK Top 20 single (reaching No. 3 and No. 19 respectively), as well as Joel’s first gold single in the US. The song also topped the Billboard Easy Listening Chart for the entire month of January 1978.
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Lyrics
Don’t go changing to try and please me
You never let me down before, mmm
Don’t imagine you’re too familiar
And I don’t see you anymore
I would not leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far, mmm
I took the good times, I’ll take the bad times
I’ll take you just the way you are
Don’t go trying some new fashion
Don’t change the color of your hair, mmm
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care
I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard, mmm
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are
I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
Oh, but what will it take till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you?
I said I love you, that’s forever
And this I promise from the heart, mmm
I couldn’t love you any better
I love you just the way you are, right
I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard, mmm
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are