Billy Joel to drop 'Turn the Lights Back On,' his 1st new song in 17 years

Billy Joel will debut his first new song in nearly 17 years on Feb. 1.

After he teased the possibility this weekend with a cryptic social media message, his music label, Columbia Records, on Monday announced Joel’s upcoming “Turn the Lights Back On.” Unlike singer-songwriter Joel’s previous work, the new song is not a solo composition, but co-written by him, Fred Wexler, who produced the single, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector.

It will be available on all standard music online stores and streaming services, as well as on a 7-inch vinyl record. No information was given regarding the physical record’s B-side, if any. The new single will be accompanied by a lyric video on Joel’s YouTube channel.

According to the record company: "He delivers a classic Billy Joel-style tune, embodying the hallmarks of his signature sound and ushering in the next chapter of his story. In the lyrics, he asks, “Did I wait too long … to turn the lights back on?”

The Hicksville-raised Rock & Roll Hall of Famer on Sunday had changed the banners on his Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts to a black screen with white words in a style evoking a schoolroom blackboard: “Did I wait Too long. ….”

This followed a 26-second video posted on Joel’s TikTok on Dec. 20. Shot at an unspecified concert, it shows Joel, 74, sitting at the piano, playfully telling the audience, “I have good news, I have bad news. I’ll give you the bad news first. We don’t have anything new to play for you. The good news is you don’t have to sit through something you have no idea what it is.”

And then, he adds, “Although we got a little something we’re working on you might hear some time.”

Joel’s representative, who is with him in Japan for his concert Wednesday at the Tokyo Dome, also provided Newsday a copy of the news release and had no additional comment.

Joel’s last single as both songwriter and performer was the well-received “All My Life,” backed with a live version of 1973’s “You’re My Home.” Released Feb. 27, 2007, it was a promotional record not meant for retail sale. A companion four-song CD, which additionally contained live versions of his previously released “Honesty” and “Stiletto,” was designed as a giveaway to purchasers of a Joel album, but nonetheless was illicitly sold by some retailers.

Following this, Joel composed but did not perform on another single, “Christmas in Fallujah,” released online only on Dec. 4, 2007. The ballad, done as a benefit for the military veterans organization Homes for Our Troops, is told from the point of view of a combat soldier and was sung by Cass Dillon, a protégé of Joel’s longtime musical director, Tommy Byrnes.

Joel explained at the time, “When I wrote this song, and I heard a 58-year-old man singing it, in my voice, I said, ‘That doesn't sound right to me. I think it should be somebody of that age, the age of a soldier or a Marine.’”

Following the 1993 album “River of Dreams,” which concluded with the nearly 7½-minute “Famous Last Words,” Joel has released only live LPs of his songs. He did compose new solo piano pieces for the all-instrumental “Fantasies & Delusions” (2001), performed by Richard Joo.

Joel told The New Yorker in 2014 he did not plan on releasing new albums of original songs.

“I’m not crazy about going into a recording studio and doing that kind of life again,” he said. “Or taking on another project where there’s other people involved — arrangers and orchestrators and conductors and producers. I don’t want to deal with it. It’s a megillah. You have to have a certain amount of ambition to want to do all that.”

He added: “Some people think it’s because I’m lazy or I’m just being contrary. But, no, I think it’s just — I’ve had my say. If I put out an album now, it would probably sell pretty well, because of who I am, but that’s no reason to do it. I’d want it to be good. And I’ve seen artists on that treadmill, putting out albums year after year, and the albums get worse and worse, less and less interesting, and it’s, like, maybe you should stop.”

Joel’s next Madison Square Garden residency concert is set for Feb. 9.