Billy Joel - Tell Her About It (1983)

"Tell Her About It" is a 1983 hit song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the album An Innocent Man. Written in homage ...

"Tell Her About It" is a 1983 hit song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the album An Innocent Man. Written in homage to the Motown Sound and specifically, The Supremes, 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.

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 under the false impression that he is next, thanks Joel for warming up the crowd. "Patriska the Dancing Bear" is instead called to the stage, much to Dangerfield's disbelief.