Billy Joel is setting the record straight on why it took him 17 years to write new music.

比利·乔尔直截了当地解释了为什么他花了17年时间创作新歌。

The Piano Man singer, 74, revealed that he is often very critical of himself when creating songs and credited Freddy Wexler, his songwriting partner on “Turn the Lights Back On,” as the person who got the ball rolling bringing him back into the music scene.

这位74岁的《钢琴人》歌手透露，他在创作歌曲时经常对自己非常挑剔，并把他在《Turn The Lights Back on》中的作曲伙伴弗雷迪·韦克斯勒归功于让他重新回到音乐舞台的人。

“I have this high bar that I set for myself. If I don't reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punch myself and I hate myself. So I stopped doing [music] because I got tired of feeling like that,” Joel admitted on the Audacy Check-In podcast.

“我为自己设定了一个很高的标准。如果我达不到那个标准，我就会痛打自己，打自己，我恨自己。所以我停止了做音乐，因为我厌倦了那种感觉，”乔尔在Audacy check播客上承认。

He also noted that the songwriting process often feels “lonely” when you “do it on your own,” which was the opposite of how he wanted the music creation process to be. 

他还指出，当你“独自创作”时，歌曲创作过程往往会感到“孤独”，这与他想要的音乐创作过程正好相反。

“The whole point of why I got into music in the first place — same reason [Wexler] did — it was fun,” the singer explained. “Music is fun. Rock N’ Roll was fun.” 

这位歌手解释说:“我最初进入音乐行业的全部原因——和韦克斯勒一样——是为了好玩。”“音乐很有趣。摇滚很有趣。”

“It was all about having fun — and I kind of lost that,” he added. “And I turned the lights off because it wasn't fun anymore." 

他补充说:“这一切都是为了娱乐，而我有点失去了乐趣。”“我把灯关掉了，因为它不再有趣了。”

However, Joel said that all changed when he had a chance meeting with Wexler thanks to his family doctor who set the pair up. The singer said he felt his love of songwriting return and “turn(ed) the lights back on” when he heard Wexler’s work — thus inspiring the title of their new song.

然而，乔尔说，多亏了他的家庭医生，他和韦克斯勒有了一次偶然的会面，这一切都改变了。这位歌手说，当他听到韦克斯勒的作品时，他感觉自己对歌曲创作的热爱又回来了，“灯亮了”，从而激发了他们新歌的名字。

“The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that’s how I relate to music,” Joel said of the tune for his new single “Turn the Lights Back On.

“旋律、和弦、和弦进程，甚至节拍都能立刻打动我，这就是我与音乐的关系，”乔尔谈到他的新单曲《Turn The Lights Back On》的曲调时说。

He added that the lyrics also came naturally to him once he heard the melody. “This particular lyric in this song, I’ve had these thoughts, I could have written these lyrics verbatim. I’ve chewed on these words and I’ve thought of these words, and I’ve said these words before. It was all kind of falling into place — and who am I to fight that?”

他补充说，当他听到旋律时，歌词也自然而然地出现了。“这首歌里的歌词，我有过这样的想法，我可以一字不差地写出来。我反复琢磨这些话，反复思考这些话，以前也说过这些话。一切都自然而然地发生了——我凭什么要反抗呢?”

Joel dropped the track, which he first teased on Instagram on Jan. 22 — on Thursday. The lyrics of the song appear to be a love ballad and a message to the hitmaker's loyal fans, who have been awaiting a song from him for a long time.

乔尔于1月22日在Instagram上发布了这首歌，并于周四发布了这首歌。这首歌的歌词似乎是一首情歌，也是给这位热门歌手的忠实粉丝的信息，他们一直在等待他的歌曲。

The “She’s Got a Way” singer is set to perform the song for the first time live at the Grammys.

这位演唱了《She’s Got a Way》的歌手将在格莱美颁奖典礼上首次现场演唱这首歌。