Sleeping With The Television On

Album: Glass Houses (1980)
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Songfacts®:

  • Billy Joel talked about the meaning of this album cut from Glass Houses in a 2016 Sirius XM interview, saying, "It's about a guy who's putting a girl down, but he's putting her down because he knows she's going to reject him if he comes onto her. So it's sorta like sour grapes."

    The jilted guy tells her if she keeps being so choosy with her companions, she'll end up alone at night with just her TV to keep her company.
  • The song starts with "The Star-Spangled Banner" fading out and segueing into a channel tone, which used to be the norm when TV stations would sign off for the night and transmit static until morning ("you'll wake up with the white noise"). If Diane, the woman in the song, really did fall asleep with her television on, that's what she would hear.
  • Glass Houses was not only a #1 album in the US, but also boasted Joel's first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me."

Comments: 1

  • Annabelle from Eugene, OrI wonder which TV station that Star-Spangled Banner and channel tone come from. It sounds familiar to me.
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