Thanks For the Support by Roy Zimmerman
Our regular readers know that Roy is the bard for us vets, active GIs and Constructive Anarchy.This new tune may be his best…Received a standing ovation the last time we saw him in LA.
Christmas in Fallujah- Cass Dillon with backup singer Billy Joel
You may be right, I may be crazy…but I love this song!On a tip from Austin Moran
Long Island’s Cass Dillon to debut Billy Joel song
BY STEPHEN WILLIAMS November 30, 2007For young, aspiring musicians, the big break can translate to a healthy career nudge; for Cass Dillon, the big break may send him into orbit in the pop music universe.
The 21-year-old Long Island singer/songwriter, who says he has made records but never approached a breakthough, was invited by no less a singer/songwriter than Billy Joel to record a new, unreleased song.
“Christmas in Fallujah,” penned by Joel over the past few weeks, will debut as a single exclusively on the Apple iTunes Webstore Tuesday, according to young Dillon’s MySpace online journal. Proceeds from the song are to benefit Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization established to help returning wounded or disabled service men and women.
“I didn’t feel I was the person to sing this song,” Joel said in a recent interview in the Allentown Morning Call, which was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of Joel’s hit, “Allentown.”
“I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier’s age,” he said. “I wanted to help somebody else’s career. I’ve had plenty of hits. I’ve had plenty of airplay. I’ve had my time in the sun. I think it’s time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience.”
Did we mention, big break?
Joel told the Morning Call in the interview this past Tuesday that the song is “based on letters I got from servicemen who were over in Iraq. It’s similar to when I wrote ‘Goodnight Saigon.’” That ode to the U.S. soldier in Vietnam was on Joel’s 1982 album, “The Nylon Curtain.”
Neither Joel nor Dillon could be reached yesterday, but the young singer says in his online bio he’s played drums and guitar and has been musically influenced by Green Day, Nirvana and the like, and that he landed his first job with BMG Publishing’s Zomba division at 19. Calls to that company yesterday were not returned. Dillon also writes that he has collaborated on demo tunes with guitarist Tommy Byrnes, Joel’s former musical director.
Published by Greg at 07:36 PM on December 4, 2007