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Billy Joel not motivated to write pop songs

NEW YORK (Billboard) -- Despite the recent digital release of "All My Life," Billy Joel's first new pop song in 14 years, the singer/songwriter says he doesn't foresee a re-opening of the creative floodgates that led to 33 Top 40 hits.

"I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing songs again," Joel tells Billboard.com. "I suppose if I had the motivation to write a song, I'm not gonna stop myself from doing it. I just haven't felt the compulsion to write songs in pop form. I guess these days I just think of myself as a composer."

Joel's last album of original material, "River of Dreams," came out in 1993 and concluded with, appropriately, a track called "Famous Last Words." He released a classical album, "Fantasies & Delusions," in 2001.

He says he has "lots of thematic pieces" that he's composed in the Long Island, New York, home he shares with his third wife, culinary journalist Katie Lee Joel.

"All My Life" was something of a surprise. Joel composed it in 2005 as a first anniversary gift for his wife, with hopes that Tony Bennett would record it. He decided to make his own version for their second anniversary -- "Call me a cheapskate," he cracks -- and was surprised when Columbia Records executives campaigned to release it as a digital single.

And if nothing else, he notes, it's given him at least one new song to perform at his shows, although he wraps up his current road trek May 9 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has no definite plans ahead of him.

"Look," Joel says, "I still love rock 'n' roll. I still love pop music. I haven't divorced myself from the material I wrote before. That's why I'm out here on the road playing this stuff. I still believe in it."

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posted by mhai @ 9:40 AM