The classic that Billy Joel thought would never work

That’s not to say the musician isn’t good at what he does when it counts: There’s a reason he’s become one of the world’s most beloved artists and remains a significant muse for many screenwriters and the characters they create. Joel isn’t just a timeless auteur; he remains a significant cultural benchmark, and that’s even harder to match.

Of course, when most people think of Joel, it’s hard not to think of the different ways he reinterprets and uses important historical events. Whether it’s in subtle ways like how he incorporates classical music into his own work, or by directly referencing specific moments that changed the world forever. “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” for example, remains one of the most enduring songs of all time.

‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ wasn’t just ambitious in nature; it showed everything Joel was willing to put on the line for great art. Even better is the fact that it wasn’t the first time the singer had put history in the firing line to create a great piece of music; he took this approach for ‘Two Thousand Years’ as well, which, considering that required a more condensed overview of history, the Storm front affected by a very significant proportion.

Following the end of the Cold War, Joel felt a particular sentimentality when writing for his 1993 album River Of Dreams. “Two Thousand Years” followed a long, hard chapter of human history where nations struggled to restore peace and quell hostilities. Joel channeled this into the song, creating an anthem that he hoped would give people something to hold on to. Of course, hindsight shows that what followed was anything but peace, but Joel recognized the innocence in his ambition.

“I was very hopeful when I wrote that song,” the musician told Sirius XM in 2016. “Hopeful to the point that it was extremely naive.” Although he admitted to making “all these great predictions” about science and poetry, his optimism was short-lived. “Boom, what happened? 9/11,” he said. “It really got me down, and that’s how optimistic I was before all this happened, and then I realized things really aren’t going to change that much. It was a wake-up call.”

Discussion about the song for The Tapes PodcastJoel explained how the passage of time has clouded his relationship with the song. “I don’t know how crazy I am about (‘Two Thousand Years’),” he said. “It’s a little ambitious. I don’t know if I succeeded. It was too far-fetched. You know, I’m summing up the entire history of mankind in three verses. That’s a little far-fetched.”

Despite its dated nature, the song undeniably strikes a nerve, whether it’s sadness about what could have been or hope about where humanity could potentially go in the future. As Joel sings about how “only true love endures” and the power of sticking together, it somehow seems impossible to ignore the beauty of humanity’s resilience in the face of war and suffering. “This is our moment,” Joel sings, remaining as consistent as ever with his emotional position, regardless of the accuracy of his delivery.

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