Released July 28, 1983 Genre doo-wop Label Columbia | Format 7" vinyl Length 3:52 Writer(s) Billy Joel | |
"Tell Her About It" is a 1983 hit song performed by Billy Joel, from the album An Innocent Man. An apparent homage to the Motown Sound, the song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for one week on September 24, 1983, replacing the Phil Ramone-produced song, "Maniac" by Michael Sembello. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA for US sales of over 500,000 copies. In interviews, Joel has indicated that the song, heard out of context of the An Innocent Man album, sounds more like a Tony Orlando and Dawn record than the Motown sound he intended.
Contents
Single
A 'special version' mixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez was also released as a 12" maxi single. The cover art varied depending on the country of release. The remixed version was a different mix from the album and was longer: it was approximately 5 min 35 in duration. On the B-side, featured Billy Joel's song "Easy Money" (also from the album "An Innocent Man") and a live recording of the cover "You Got Me Hummin'" (written by Isaac Hayes & David Porter). This song has been recorded, amongst others by Sam & Dave, Cold Blood and The Hassles (one of Billy Joel's first bands). In fact, The Hassles released their version as a single in 1967 with Billy Joel on keyboard.
In the lyrics of the song, the singer exhorts a young man to tell the woman he loves how he feels about her before he misses his chance.
Music video
The video for the song shows Joel singing the song as if he were on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. The cover shot for the UK release of the song was taken from the video, as seen below. An Ed Sullivan imitator (Will Jordan) introduces Joel (as "B.J. and the Affordables") after Topo Gigio, the talking mouse, finishes his skit. During the song there are different scenes of teenagers watching Joel on TV at home, crowding around appliance store windows watching him, dancing to his song. There is even a brief scene of a Soviet cosmonaut in space listening to the song, with the lyrics displayed at the bottom in the Russian language and in Cyrillic script. At the end of the song, comedian Rodney Dangerfield is there preparing to go on "stage" thanking Joel for warming up the crowd.
Side A
- "Tell Her About It" - 3:35
Side B
- "Easy Money" - 4:02
- "Keeping the Faith" - 4:40