Temptation

Album: The Bridge (1986)
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Songfacts®:

  • Billy Joel became a father for the first time when his wife Christie Brinkley gave birth to their daughter, Alexa Ray, on December 29, 1985. He was in the midst of working on his 10th studio album, The Bridge, and constantly fighting temptation to stay at home with his baby, which inspired this wistful piano tune.

    "Some people think it's about a love affair, but it's really about being a new dad and seeing my baby and not wanting to live the life I'd been living before," he told Sirius XM in 2016. "I wanted to just stay home and be with my baby. She's such a temptation. I don't wanna go anywhere. I don't wanna do anything. I don't wanna go on the road. I don't wanna leave her, I wanna be with her. That's the essence of what the song is - she's a temptation."
  • The Bridge yielded two Top 10 hits on the Hot 100: "Modern Woman" (from the movie Ruthless People) and "A Matter Of Trust."

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