Wit & Attitude Quote by Billy Joel

Billy Joel’s jab lands because it’s equal parts self-defense and status claim, delivered with the gruff pragmatism of a working musician who’s watched the industry turn into a personality contest. “In an age of incompetence” isn’t just cranky nostalgia; it’s a pointed critique of a business that often rewards hype, branding, and spectacle over craft. He’s not arguing that talent disappeared. He’s saying the machinery that once filtered for musicianship has gotten noisier, and survival now requires outlasting the churn.

The phrase “this crazy business” does double duty. It acknowledges how arbitrary success can be while quietly positioning Joel as someone who endured without needing to reinvent himself as a product. Then he drops the blunt credential: “I actually know how to play my ax and write a song.” “Ax” keeps it street-level, anti-pretension, signaling he belongs to the lineage of bar bands and piano rooms rather than conservatories or corporate pop pipelines. “Actually” is the dagger: it implies a room full of peers who don’t.

The closer - “That’s my job” - is the real flex. It’s not romantic artist mythmaking; it’s labor talk. Joel frames songwriting as a trade with standards, not a vibe. Coming from a hitmaker who’s often been treated as middlebrow compared to more “auteur” rock icons, the subtext is clear: call me uncool if you want, but I can do the work. And the work lasts.