HBO’s "Billy Joel: And So It Goes" Lifts the Curtain On His Life And Legacy

Feature Photo: Anthony Correia / Shutterstock.com

For decades, Billy Joel has stood at the heart of American pop music, his story both intensely personal and universally resonant. In July 2025, HBO’s two-part, five-hour documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes offered one of the most comprehensive portraits yet of the man behind the songs, his creative process, his triumphs and setbacks, and the enduring impact of his music. The first part premiered on July 18, with the second arriving on July 25.

Joel’s agreement to participate in the project was hard-won. Long wary of letting outsiders tell his story, he relented only after years of urging by close collaborators, including longtime lighting designer Steve Cohen. From the outset, Joel’s only stipulation was that the filmmakers tell the unvarnished truth.

Directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin took him at his word, interviewing Joel and those closest to him over three years at his homes in New York and Florida. They also gathered a vast archive of family footage, performance reels, and behind-the-scenes glimpses that gave the documentary an unusually personal scope.

The documentary traces Joel’s journey from his childhood in Hicksville, Long Island, shaped by his parents’ divorce and his father’s move to Europe, through his early struggles to find a voice in the music industry. Early on, Joel’s classical piano training and love for doo-wop, jazz, and the sounds of New York gave him a unique foundation. He began playing in local bands in the 1960s before striking out on his own as a solo artist.

His first breakthrough came with the release of “Piano Man” in 1973, a song inspired by his time working in a Los Angeles bar while trying to escape a bad record contract. The song’s vivid character sketches and memorable melody turned it into an enduring classic, and it remains Joel’s signature to this day.

From there, Joel’s career unfolded as a series of remarkable highs. With the release of The Stranger in 1977, Joel achieved multi-platinum success, delivering hits like “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” and “Only the Good Die Young.” The album marked the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership with producer Phil Ramone. Its single “Just the Way You Are” earned Joel Grammy Awards for both Record and Song of the Year in 1979.

The follow-up album, 52nd Street, topped the charts and won the Grammy for Album of the Year at the 1980 Grammy Awards, propelled by jazz-infused tracks like “My Life” and “Honesty.”

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Joel proved to be a master of reinvention, moving easily between styles, from the rock-driven Glass Houses with “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” and “You May Be Right” to the nostalgic, doo-wop inspired An Innocent Man with “Uptown Girl” and “The Longest Time.” His lyrics chronicled the humor, heartbreak, and humanity of American life, resonating with listeners across generations. The 1989 release of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” became an instant pop culture touchstone, blending rapid-fire historical references with a hook that defined the end of the decade.

Beyond the charts, Joel’s career has been marked by historic performances and milestones. He was one of the first American rock acts to tour the Soviet Union, breaking new ground with his 1987 concerts in Moscow and Leningrad. In 2014, Joel launched an unprecedented monthly residency at Madison Square Garden.

The residency concluded on July 25, 2024 after 104 consecutive residency performances and 150 lifetime shows at the Garden. The run sold more than 1.9 million tickets and set venue records for both consecutive performances and lifetime appearances by an artist. Even as trends shifted, Joel’s catalog continued to grow in stature, with his songs covered by artists across the musical map and embraced by Broadway in the Tony-winning musical Movin’ Out.

The documentary does not shy away from Joel’s personal and professional challenges. It chronicles his battles with depression, substance use, and health issues, as well as the toll that relentless touring and the pressures of fame took on his relationships and his sense of self. In May 2025, Joel canceled all scheduled concerts after being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition his official site said had affected his hearing, vision, and balance.

Under his doctors’ direction, Joel began physical therapy and stepped away from performing while prioritizing his health. As of October 2026, his official tour page listed no current concert dates. The timing gave And So It Goes added historical weight, arriving during a period when one of rock’s most durable live performers had been forced to pause his touring career.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes features candid interviews with Joel, his family, his children, and a host of famous friends and collaborators, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Pink, and Garth Brooks. But the deepest insights come from Joel himself, who narrates much of his own journey at the piano, reflecting on the stories and struggles that shaped his songwriting.

For all its revelations, the film is above all a celebration of the music: the soundtracks to countless lives, the anthems sung at piano bars, ballparks, and wedding halls around the world. Whether reflecting on his earliest hits or his 2024 single “Turn the Lights Back On,” Joel’s songs continue to speak to the experience of love, loss, hope, and perseverance.

The documentary’s release was followed by a 100-track digital companion collection, also titled Billy Joel: And So It Goes, featuring hits, alternate versions, live recordings, and previously unreleased material highlighted in the film. In 2026, the documentary received additional recognition when its sound team won the Emmy for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program.

Seen in retrospect, HBO’s documentary arrived at a pivotal moment in Joel’s life and career, offering longtime fans and new listeners an honest and moving portrait of an artist whose influence and popularity have endured for more than half a century. And So It Goes ultimately stands not as a preview of what was about to happen, but as a detailed historical record of the experiences, relationships, achievements, and setbacks that shaped Billy Joel and the songs that became part of American popular culture.