Schruers attributes some of the effect of the song to the way Joel sings the final word of the final phrase "I don't know what it is/But there doesn't have to be a reason anyway." Schruers describes the last word "anyway" as hanging in the air, "trailing off" and "disrupting the tempo" and thus "seemingly giving in to the emotion" of love.
In a 1981 interview, Joel expressed mixed feelings about the song: "I thought it was cornball for years. I had trouble singing it at first. Then I got into it and decided everybody has a corny side, I suppose".
Joel originally included "She's Got a Way" on a five-song demo tape that included other songs that would appear on Cold Spring Harbor, such as "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Tomorrow Is Today". Joel made the tape in an unsuccessful attempt to secure his first solo recording contract with Paramount Records.
Critical reception
AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the studio version as being "lovely" and rated it as one of Joel's "finest songs." Bego described it as a "beautiful love ballad" and one of Joel's "most serious and adult compositions." Joel biographer Hank Bordowitz called it a "remarkable composition that, while not great, at least indicate[d] a rising talent." Billboard Magazine's Roy Waddell similarly described it as a "chestnut" that didn't get its "proper due" until the live version was released on Songs in the Attic. Joel biographer Fred Schruers described it as the one "gem" from Cold Spring Harbor. According to Rolling Stone Album Guide critic Paul Evans, "She's Got a Way" "set the pattern for the ballads Joel would soon turn out effortlessly.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu