I met someone for a date one August day in 1997 (it was actually the Sunday after Princess Diana died) and we eventually made it back to my place to fool around a little. This song came on the radio as we were…uh doing whatever and for some reason I started to cry…during sex. With someone who I had only been on one date with. Incredibly, we continued dating for about six months after that and are still very good friends today. Come to think about it, maybe I should cry more often during sex.

This is one of those songs that grow more poignant with experiences. When this song came out my parents just announced they were divorcing after 21 years of marriage. To this day I cannot listen to it without thinking back to that time. But it does not remind me of my sadness, but of the sadness both my parents must have felt. Sadness I could not relate to as a 21 year old in a great new relationship. But it is sadness that became all too real when Phil and I hit a rough patch 7 years into our own marriage. I always wonder if Joel was talking about the demise of his own marriage because those words are from the heart of and not the strict product of a songwriter.