Honesty

Album

52nd Street

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Soft Rock

Entered Chart

Apr 21, 1979

Peak Date

May 26, 1979

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Columbia 10959

B-Side

N/A

This song makes the case that truth is harder to find than love. Joel sings about how he can find someone to comfort him with promises, but honesty is far more rare. You can be in love with someone, but it doesn't mean you're going to have truth. It was the third single released from Joel's sixth album, 52nd Street. When Joel started writing this song, he started with the title "Home Again," but was looking for something more appropriate. At his Howard Stern town hall appearance in 2014, he explained: "I didn't have a lyric for it, so my drummer started to sing 'sodomy' - 'sodomy... such a lonely word.' So I had to come up with some lyrics fast." The new lyrics worked, but they made Joel feel a bit hypocritical. "'Honesty' is the most bulls--t song I ever wrote," he admitted to SiriusXM in 2016. "I mean, who am I to preach to people, 'You gotta be honest with me.' I haven't always been honest in my life." Beyoncé recorded this song in 2008. It appears on the Platinum Edition of her album I Am... Sasha Fierce. The album was named after the famous street in Manhattan that served as the center of New York City's jazz scene in the '40s and '50s. Joel and his band recorded the album at A&R Recording Inc. on 52nd Street in the summer of 1978. "We didn't realize at the time but we were really leaning more into a jazzy style," he told SiriusXM in 2016. "And the studio was on 52nd Street, just off of 7th Avenue. So we decided, 'Well, hey, The Beatles could call an album Abbey Road, we can call an album 52nd Street." In the 2021 "Too Much Birthday" episode of Succession, Kendall Roy sings a very cringe-y version of "Honesty" at a lavish birthday party he throws for himself while also conniving against his family. This version was included on the season 3 soundtrack of the show. According to Phil Ramone, the album's producer, Chinese food helped him get the sound he wanted. Joel's band loved to eat, and Ramone quickly learned he could use food to keep them in line. "The hands-down favorite among band members was Chinese food, and our debates over which sounded best - the pre-or post-Chinese food take - are legendary," the producer recalled in his 2007 book, Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music. When their delivery order arrived, Ramone would open the control room door and let the aroma fill the studio where the guys were doing takes. After they came out and scarfed down their food, he would immediately send them back to work before they got too comfortable. "Everyone would grumble, but they'd go out and pick up where they'd left off. Many songs - 'Honesty' for instance - sounded better after everyone had eaten. The food slowed their metabolism and curbed their aggression, which is exactly what the tempo of certain songs needed."

If you search for tenderness
It isn't hard to find
You can have the love you need to live
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind
It always seems to be so hard to give

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can always find someone
To say they sympathize
If I wear my heart out on my sleeve
But I don't want some pretty face
To tell me pretty lies
All I want is someone to believe

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can find a lover
I can find a friend
I can have security until the bitter end
Anyone can comfort me
With promises again
I know, I know

When I'm deep inside of me
Don't be too concerned
I won't ask for nothin' while I'm gone
But when I want sincerity
Tell me where else can I turn
'Cause you're the one I depend upon

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you