Today's topic is Billy Joel and the inconsistent appearance of the New York accent in his music. Billy Joel, being born and raised in New York City, has some New York-ish features in his speech, such as a COT-CAUGHT distinction. Noticeably, his interviews don't seem to show any non-rhoticism.
- The beatles for a l[ɔ]ng time (source)
- Paul McC[ɑɹ]tney specifically, as a melody writ[ɚ] (source)
- Who th[ɔ]ght (source)
On his own music, he tends to use the non-rhotic accent that was typical of working-class New Yorkers. The stressed 'er' vowel, as in 'bird', is always rhotic, but other cases of Vr have the r dropped.
-
Anthony's Song (Movin' Out)
- "Ah but workin' too h[ɑ]d can give you a h[ɑ]t attack
- S[ɑ]geant O'Leary is walkin' the beat
- At night he becomes a bartend[ə]
-
"We didn't start the fire"
- M[ɑ]rciano
-
"Still Rock and Roll To Me"
- What's the matt[ə] with the c[ɑ] I'm driving?
He has some other features typical of New York English in his songs, such as the MARRY-MERRY distinction and using the LOT vowel for words like orange. He avoids using a diphthongized THOUGHT vowel in his music despite using it in his own speech. This suggests to me that some features to him are automatic. He probably doesn't think that the MARRY-MERRY distinction is an 'accent' thing. He is probably aware that the diphthongized THOUGHT vowel is viewed negatively outside of New York. Non-rhoticism seems to walk a middle ground between recognizably New York but not stigmatized, so he plays them up as part of a working-class-but-not-too-working-class New Yorker persona.
- And a bright [ɑ]range pair of pants?
- M[æ]rilyn Monroe
- "H[æ]rry Truman, D[ɑ]ris Day"
A major exception to his non-rhotic vowels is the song "Uptown Girl", where he uses rhoticized vowels basically every chance he gets. This song is an homage to Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. Frankie uses rhoticized vowels, but he never uses this degree of rhoticism that he does. He is coming in hard and really lengthening the 'errrr' more than he does in his own speech. It's curious to me since he sounds more like a 'downtown boy' with his usual sung accent than he does here, but perhaps he associated exaggerated rhoticism with the music of his youth.
-
Uptown Girl
- Uptown g[ɚ]l
- I bet h[ɚ] mamma never told her why
- I bet she's nev[ɚ] had a backstreet guy
- She's been living in h[ɚ] white-bread w[ɚ]ld
