Billy Joel: Summer, Highland Falls
[purchase]
Halfway between Yonkers and Poughkeepsie, just an hour from the bustling crowds of New York City, the Hudson narrows to a narrow ribbon. And there on the river's west side lies the small town of Highland Falls, gateway to the West Point area and points north. It's a quiet hamlet, practically a pass-through, known for little save as the origin of actor Charles Durning, and only recognizable to most folks outside the region as a setting for this Billy Joel song, written about his summer there in the mid-seventies, and the fleeting sentiment that plagues the tiny towns and the peak-and-valley moments of our lives and hearts.
Today, it serves as another pass-through blip on the radar, as we transition from our Summertime theme to a week of songs framed around the various hamlets, cities, towns and landmarks of New York State.