This song reflects his surprise at his ability to attract such beautiful, glamorous women. Joel is from Long Island, New York, and always considered himself a working-class, regular guy.His first attempt at the song had the lyrics, "Uptown girls, I've been around the world." The music was more of a classical piece when it started. Joel thanked his creator for his good fortune, and began dating Elle. All these women were going to go out with me."Īs he explained to Howard Stern, Billy Joel was on vacation in the Caribbean when he was playing the piano, looked up, and saw Elle McPherson, Christie Brinkley and Whitney Houston (who was more a model than a musician at that point) standing over his piano in wonderment watching him play.
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On Australian TV in 2006, Joel said: "The song was originally called 'Uptown Girls' not 'Uptown Girl.' I know its associated with Christie but when I started to write that song I had recently divorced prior to meeting her, all the sudden I'm a rock star and divorced.He reworked the lyrics, and by the time he finished the song, it was about Brinkley. Joel went on to explain that he and Elle parted ways when she went off to Europe, which is around the time he started dating Brinkley. Asked about his relationship with Elle on The Howard Stern Show in 2010, Joel explained: "We dated on and off. Billy Joel married the supermodel Christie Brinkley less than two years after this song was released, but he wasn't even dating her when he started writing the song - he was actually dating another supermodel: Elle McPherson.Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group She'll understand what kind of guy I've been You know I can't afford to buy her pearls She's getting tired of her high class toysĪnd all her presents from her uptown boys You know I've seen her in her uptown world She's been living in her white bread world Billy Joel - Uptown Girl Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics