“Baby Grand” is a bluesy jazz ballad that is an ode to the piano itself, as well as an homage to Billy’s idol, Ray Charles. The song is a duet between the two piano men and was written specifically for this purpose. While it did not quite become the classic that “New York State of Mind” or Charles’ own “Georgia on My Mind” have become, it is still a worthy and satisfying composition.
Watch Richard Goodall’s cover below.
Billy discusses his admiration for Ray Charles and how “Baby Grand” came about in this article from The New York Times in 1986:
“Ray Charles was my hero when I was growing up,” recalled Mr. Joel, who for years has done an affectionate concert impersonation of the soul music giant. ”As good a pianist or as big a star as I could ever become, I could never be Ray Charles, who is a total natural and one of the greatest singers of all time. I’ve never had much confidence in my own singing. The collaboration came about because I named my baby daughter, Alexa Ray, after him. Ray heard about it from Quincy Jones, who is a friend of my producer, Phil Ramone, and sent word that he would love to record with me if I had the right song. I was so excited that that very night I sat down and wrote ‘Baby Grand,’ and polished it up the next morning. It was one of the those rare songs, like ‘New York State of Mind,’ that seem to come all at once – it seemed almost as though I had heard it before.