Billy Joel announced today that he’ll release his first single in 17 years: “Turn the Lights Back On,” a piano-based ballad judging by the brief snippet included in Joel’s Instagram post, will hit streaming platforms on February 1.
The single will be released by Columbia Records, and marks Joel’s first new material since 2007, when the Piano Man released “All My Life” and “Christmas in Fallujah.”
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In addition to digital, “Turn the Lights Back On” also will be available in a limited edition 7″ vinyl release, expected to ship January 31. A lyric video will be posted on Joel’s YouTube channel when the track is released.
Joel’s Instagram post does not indicate whether the song will be part of an album, or whether it will be followed by other single releases. His last pop album was River of Dreams in 1993.
According to Billboard, Joel teased the possibility of the new song at a Madison Square Garden concert on December 19, when he told 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. Although we’ve got a little something we’ve been working on you might hear sometime.”
Joel has played the Garden once a month since January 2014 and will end the 10-year residency with the 150th performance set for July. Outside of the residency, he continues to tour both domestically and internationally. Upcoming dates include Tokyo, Tampa, San Diego, Seattle and Chicago, among others.
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