Peak
3
Weeks
22
Score
4,105
Chart Year
1983
The video depicts Joel and his backup singers working as auto mechanics. Brinkley arrives in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce as Joel and the mechanics dance with her. A poster of Brinkley can be seen in the garage as well as on a billboard above the garage advertising "Uptown Cosmetics". At the end of the video Joel and Brinkley ride off on a motorcycle. Before the song starts, footage from the music video "Tell Her About It" is seen playing on a Portable TV. Joel said, ""Uptown Girl" I wasn't too crazy about, because they wanted me to dance. I sort of said, OK, you know, I'll give it a try. We shot it on the two hottest days of the year. We were down on the Bowery, and all these bums kept butting in with 'A-a-ay Cri-i-ist-a-ay!
Billy Joel married the supermodel Christie Brinkley less than two years after this song was released, but he wasn't even dating her when he started writing the song - he was actually dating another supermodel: Elle Macpherson. Asked about his relationship with Elle on The Howard Stern Show in 2010, Joel explained: "We dated on and off. We weren't like engaged or anything. We just kind of dated. She was 19." Joel went on to explain that he and Elle parted ways when she went off to Europe, which is around the time he started dating Brinkley. He reworked the lyrics, and by the time he finished the song, it was about Brinkley. On Australian TV in 2006, Billy Joel said: "The song was originally called 'Uptown Girls' not 'Uptown Girl.' I know its associated with Christie but when I started to write that song I had recently divorced prior to meeting her, all of the sudden I'm a rock star and divorced. All these women were going to go out with me." As he explained to Howard Stern, Joel was on vacation in the Caribbean when he was playing the piano, looked up, and saw Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley and Whitney Houston (who was more a model than a musician at that point) standing over his piano in wonderment watching him play. Joel thanked his creator for his good fortune, and began dating Elle. His first attempt at the song had the lyrics, "Uptown girls, I've been around the world." The music was more of a classical piece when it started. Joel is from Long Island, New York, and always considered himself a working-class, regular guy. This song reflects his surprise at his ability to attract such beautiful, glamorous women. In a 1987 interview with Q magazine, Joel said: "The fact that I can attract such a beautiful woman as Christie should give hope to every ugly guy in the world!" The whole album, especially this song, was a musical tribute to '60s pop music. Specifically, this one is done in the style of The Four Seasons, with Joel trying to sound like Frankie Valli. He had their song "Rag Doll" in mind both musically and lyrically; on that track Valli sings about a poor girl that he loves anyway. In fact, he loves her "just the way she is." Christie Brinkley is in the video, playing the Uptown Girl. Joel portrays a mechanic working on her car. The clip was directed by Jay Dubin, who also helmed Joel's videos for "Tell Her About It" and "The Longest Time." In 1985, Bruce Springsteen borrowed this idea for his "I'm On Fire" video, where his mechanic character has it bad for a woman who is clearly out of his league. Report this ad Brinkley and Joel remained married for nine years. She drew the cover art for his 1993 album River of Dreams. They eventually separated due to Joel's busy schedule. This was Joel's only #1 single in the UK. It's also one of his best-selling in the US. In an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer decides to hang out with the band of hippies his mother was once part of in the 1960s, Homer breaks into singing a fragment of this song at one point. >> In 2001 the Irish boy band Westlife covered "Uptown Girl," topping the UK charts for a week. It was recorded as the official song for the 2001 BBC Comic Relief charity appeal. Screenwriter Richard Curtis, one of the founders of the Comic Relief campaign, knew supermodel Claudia Schiffer's agent and obtained her cooperation to be the Uptown Girl in the video, which mimicked Billy Joel's original that featured his model wife Christie Brinkley. In addition to Schiffer and Westife themselves, the video also featured the actors Tim McInnery, James Wilby, Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Bathurst and Crispin Bonham Carter as a chorus of city workers. The owner of the Rolls Royce in this video tried to pull a fast one on Jay Dubin's team. The director said in our interview: "The guy who owned the car was a little crazy. His radiator went out. His radiator had a leak in it and he was trying to shake us down. He said he needed a new radiator, and a Rolls Royce radiator was $2,000. So I remember my guy, Bruce, that handled that went up to him and said, 'Hey, no problem at all. I'll give you $2,000, but before I give you money, you've got to take the old radiator out of the car and give it to me.' And he goes, 'What do you mean?' Bruce said, 'I'm buying a $2,000 radiator for you, I'm taking the old one.' And suddenly the problem with the car went away." This song is a topic of discussion in the 2015 movie Trainwreck, where Bill Hader plays a surgeon who is dating Amy Schumer's character. When Hader operates, he listens to this song; the two have this exchange: Schumer: Why Billy Joel? Why "Uptown Girl"? Hader: I love that song. Schumer: That's probably the worst Billy Joel song. I'm pretty sure even Billy Joel hates that song. Hader: He shouldn't, it's great. Later in the film, Hader is stitching up Schumer's equally churlish father, played by Colin Quinn, who wonders why he is humming this song. They share Billy Joel stories: Quinn: That's the only thing that'll save you. I like Billy Joel. I saw him at Nassau Coliseum. Nylon Curtain tour. Hader: That's awesome. I saw him with Elton John at Shea Stadium. It was great. Quinn: Of course you did. Nothing better than down-to-earth blue-collar Billy Joel with Elton John, the Queen of England. At the end of the film, after a dance number that brings Hader and Schumer back together, another Billy Joel song plays: "A Matter Of Trust." In December 1985, Princess Diana surprised her husband, Prince Charles, by appearing on stage with Wayne Sleep of the Royal Ballet and doing a sassy choreographed dance to "Uptown Girl" at a charity gala. There is no video, but it's portrayed in the 2020 season 4 episode of the Netflix series The Crown, "Avalanche." Apparently, Prince Charles found it undignified, but the crowd loved it. Diana clearly loved the song; she was living the story with the roles reversed, married to a prince despite her humble origins. In The Crown, we see Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip discussing the dance. "Who is Billy Jo-el?" she asks.
Uptown girl She's been living in her uptown world I bet she's never had a backstreet guy I bet her mama never told her why I'm gonna try for an uptown girl She's been living in her white bread world As long as anyone with hot blood can And now she's looking for a downtown man That's what I am And when she knows What she wants from her time And when she wakes up And makes up her mind She'll see I'm not so tough Just because I'm in love with an uptown girl You know I've seen her in her uptown world She's getting tired of her high class toys And all the presents from her uptown boys She's got a choice Oh Oh Uptown girl You know I can't afford to buy her pearls But maybe someday when my ship comes in She'll understand what kind of guy I've been And then I'll win And when she's walking She's looking so fine And when she's talking She'll say that she's mine She'll say I'm not so tough Just because I'm in love With an uptown girl She's been living in her white bread world As long as anyone with hot blood can And now she's looking for a downtown man That's what I am Oh Oh Uptown girl She's my uptown girl You know I'm in love With an uptown girl My uptown girl You know I'm in love With an uptown girl My uptown girl You know I'm in love With an uptown girl My uptown girl You know I'm in love With an uptown girl
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 24, 1983 | 70 | 56 |
| 2 | Oct 1, 1983 | 51 | 75 |
| 3 | Oct 8, 1983 | 32 | 94 |
| 4 | Oct 15, 1983 | 24 | 102 |
| 5 | Oct 22, 1983 | 15 | 111 |
| 6 | Oct 29, 1983 | 10 | 116 |
| 7 | Nov 5, 1983 | 5 | 121 |
| 8 | Nov 12, 1983 | 3 | 123 |
| 9 | Nov 19, 1983 | 3 | 123 |
| 10 | Nov 26, 1983 | 3 | 123 |
| 11 | Dec 3, 1983 | 3 | 123 |
| 12 | Dec 10, 1983 | 3 | 123 |
| 13 | Dec 17, 1983 | 4 | 122 |
| 14 | Dec 24, 1983 | 6 | 120 |
| 15 | Dec 31, 1983 | 6 | 120 |
| 16 | Jan 7, 1984 | 11 | 115 |
| 17 | Jan 14, 1984 | 14 | 112 |
| 18 | Jan 21, 1984 | 40 | 86 |
| 19 | Jan 28, 1984 | 63 | 63 |
| 20 | Feb 4, 1984 | 71 | 55 |