Perhaps Joel was alluding to the medieval doctrine of “benefit of clergy.”
Aw, that was beautiful, man. Well said. Rational, even-keeled and succinct.
Well, it depends. If the hard-nosed, cutthroat businessman is on your side, you call him prudent. If he’s on the other side, you call him a bastard, or a son of a bitch, or whatever.
Billy Joel was singing about a specific woman. I don’t see anything in the lyrics that even hints that’s the way he thinks about all women.
And it was the 1970’s. Applying current mores to historical times is called “presentism.” And it’s wrong.
I think he was being metaphorical. And more importantly, he needed another word to rhyme with “me.”
This is a point that needs to be made.
Nasty people of both sexes deserve to be put down, and can be, depending on how it’s done.
It always torqued me when the two songs from the Stones’ album Aftermath, “Stupid Girl” and “Under My Thumb,” were mentioned in the same breath as being sexist.
The girl in “Stupid Girl” really is stupid, and the song enumerates the specific reasons why she is. It’s not sexist to do this.
On the other hand, there’s no getting around the sexism of “Under My Thumb” (“her eyes are just kept to herself/I can still look at someone else,” etc.).
Unfortunately, “Under My Thumb” is also a great song musically…so the trick is to just not pay much attention to the lyrics when it plays!
Dr. Dre raps about “Bitches ain’t shit!” and the OP has a problem with Billy Joel in the 80’s. :smack:
Works for “Brown Sugar” too.
Brown Sugar is on a whole other level of bad taste. Its a good thing I couldn’t make out what was being said until I was well into adulthood.
Billy Joel sings a lot of angsty songs.
He should hook up with Helen Reddy. They’d be perfect soul-mates.
One of my all-time favorites!
And it’s just as true today as it was 30 years ago! 
Boys are Stupid!
