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Songfacts:  You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

This song is about how when we think we know somebody, we often hardly know that person at all. "The Stranger" is the collective for the unknown things about people we know: "Although we share so many secrets, there are some we never tell." (thanks, Adrian - London, England)

Joel told USA Today July 9, 2008: "After we recorded the song, I remember thinking, 'it needs some sort of introduction. It needs a prelude or a theme, and then it should slam into the song.' I played the theme on the piano to show Phil (Ramone, the album's producer) and whistled along with it, and I said, 'What instrument do you think should do that?' And Phil said, 'You just did it.' I heard it played back and went, 'That's kind of cool, I like that.' It was really the theme to the album because it was born in the studio during the process, and it just kind of captured the mood."

Comments:

Elements of this song were introduced to a whole new audience when the whistling intro was sampled by rapper Xzibit for his track "The Foundation" (At the Speed of Life, 1996)
- jstroker, Calgary, AB

Billy's interview with "20/20" (ABC) in 1980: "I wrote the main portion of the song, but at the end I thought the stranger,the stranger, hmmm....something's missing, something's missing. I imagined this guy walking down a lonely street with a trench coat over her shoulder, with fog, whistling... and..."
- J.B., San Jose, CA

Great song. Not my favorite piano piece from Billy, but it is relitivly unknown to the modern world. I do like the message and lyrics. The whistling is cool, I know I could never hit those notes whistling.
- Deo, Annandale, VA

Magnificent, under-appreciated song about the masks we all wear, and how we often don't know what is underneath.
- Chris, Seattle, WA

Lol, I was reading in his biography that one day, he was peforming live, whistling the intro. When the spotlight shone accross the other band members, they each turned to face him. Turned out, they were all wearing black eye patches and had blackened their teeth. Billy was caught off guard, and he blew the sensitive whistling in front of the whole crowd. Humiliated, he proceeded to play the piano. When his fingers hit the keys, he realized the guys had lined every single one with adhesive tape!! :P:P
- Leyna, SP

The piano intro to this song is used in an independent film called The Carlson Complex.
- pete, Providence, RI

Sounds like a sadomasochist to me. lets put on a steel leather mask and show our lover. lol
- Melissa Mandall, Long Branch, NJ

Billy Joel told producer Phil Ramone that he thought the song needed an jazz-oriented "into" and "ending" to offset the rocking guitar lead-in and play-out. When Ramone asked Joel if he had any ideas, Joel whistled it to him. He then asked Ramone what instrument should play it and Ramone said he liked it as a whistle, so that's how Joel recorded it.
- Ken, Louisville, KY