I really, really struggled to find a song to play today for my birthday. Suggestions of Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday, Kool and the Gang’s Celebration and many others didn’t seem to work. I even tried Uptown Funk on the piano but it doesn’t quite cut it either. If I had decided to play one of my favourite songs, I realise I’ve already played pretty much most of them in the 475+ songs I’ve played this year and back in 2010.

I’ve decided therefore to play a song which did appear in 2010 but was recorded live with my Apple colleague Joe Moretti on sax. It is one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite performers: Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are. The song was released in 1977 and was written for his then wife and manager Elizabeth Weber. After their 1982 divorce, Billy rarely played the song live, but has since started playing it again and he did a cracking job last year in the London and Birmingham concerts where I saw him live.

I hope you enjoy this song and indeed that you’ve enjoyed all the songs I’ve played so far this year. Thanks for listening. There are more Billy Joel songs in my Piano Man album and if it’s your first time on the site, find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of my April songs here.