A Matter Of Trust

Album

Bridge, The

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Hard rock

Composer(s)

Billy Joel

Entered Chart

Aug 9, 1986

Peak Date

Oct 18, 1986

Released

1986

Recorded

1985

Catalog #

Columbia 38-06108

B-Side

Getting Closer

In this song, Joel sings about what it takes to make a relationship last. Once the wave of passion subsides, it becomes a partnership where the couple has to trust each other and be there in times of need. Joel married model Christie Brinkley the year before this was released. While Joel is known as "The Piano Man," this is the only song he regularly plays guitar on in concert, giving him a chance to step out from behind the piano. >> Joel said he wanted this to be a song that was empathetic towards women but also kind of rough. "Like, I know you had it rough," he told Sirius XM. "It's similar in the intention as 'An Innocent Man' where the lyrics say, I know you've been betrayed, I know you've had lovers who've let you down. I'm not that guy. It was the same thing with 'A Matter Of Trust' - I want you to trust me, I know you've had it rough. I'll do my best to prove it to you." Christie Brinkley appears in the music video holding the couple's baby daughter, Alexa. In the clip, Joel and his band are performing in a stuffy basement studio in New York City's East Village. Joel opens the windows and draws an enthusiastic crowd - except for one angry woman who yells at him to shut up. Joel sings of illusory forms of love that are lies of the heart, mind and soul. The sentiment was inspired by Sam Shepard's 1985 off-Broadway play A Lie Of The Mind, which follows the aftermath of an abusive relationship. Report an ad Joel told Sirius XM he was trying to sound like "Addicted To Love" singer Robert Palmer. "He hardly opens his lips when he sings," he said in the 2016 interview. "I like his singing style. He doesn't really pronounce his words, but he kinda grunts 'em." This song plays at the end of the 2015 movie Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. Billy Joel is a plot point in the film, as Hader plays a surgeon who always listens to "Uptown Girl" when he operates. By the time he made The Bridge, Joel was tired of the process of writing, recording, and touring, and wanted to settle into a life with his wife and baby. "I wanted to be home," he told Sirius XM in 2016, "and I hear in the writing on The Bridge a certain reluctance to continue... I was in a hurry to get it over with." This was Joel's last album with his longtime producer Phil Ramone - the first was The Stranger, Joel's breakthrough 1977 album.

One, two
One, two, three, four

Some love is just a lie of the heart
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start
And they may not want it to end
But it will it's just a question of when

I've lived long enough to have learned
The closer you get to the fire the more you get burned
But that won't happen to us
'Cause it's always been a matter of trust

Now I know you're an emotional girl
It took a lot for you to not lose your faith in this world
But I can't offer you proof
But you're going to face a moment of truth

It's hard when you're always afraid
You just recover when another belief is betrayed
So break my heart if you must
It's a matter of trust

You can't go the distance
With too much resistance
I know you have doubts
But for God's sake don't shut me out

This time you've got nothing to lose
You can take it, you can leave it, whatever you choose
I won't hold back anything
And I'll walk away a fool or a king

Some love is just a lie of the mind
It's make believe until it's only a matter of time
And some might have learned to adjust
But then it never was a matter of trust

I'm sure you're aware love
We've both had our share of
Believing too long
When the whole situation was wrong

Some love is just a lie of the soul
A constant battle for the ultimate state of control
After you've heard lie upon lie
There can hardly be a question of why

Some love is just a lie of the heart
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start
But that can't happen to us
'Cause it's always been a matter of trust

It's a matter of trust
It's always been a matter of trust
It's a matter of trust
'Cause it's always been a matter of trust