Remarkable Billy Joel takes back seat for elementary school kids

Remarkable history of things he does just got more remarkable. Billy Joel attended a concert at Deasy Elementary because the students were singing his songs. He didn't sit on stage or in the front row. He sat behind parents several rows back. He was asked if he wanted to sit closer but said he didn't want to make the kids nervous.

As soon as I read this story, the song Goodnight Saigon started to play in my head. It is a haunting song about Marines fighting for their lives in Vietnam. I found this online from a concert he did. Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon (Live at Shea Stadium)

Goodnight Saigon Lyrics
We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives

We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight

We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might

We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island

We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Billy Joel doesn't know it but he has helped to heal thousands of Vietnam Veterans.
I used this song a long time ago because of how powerful it is.


Nam Nights Of PTSD Still from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.