Billy Joel's meticulous approach to songwriting was rooted in his admiration for Beethoven, whom he regarded as the composer who achieved musical perfection. Rather than filling albums with filler tracks, Joel treated every song as worthy of the same care, pushing himself across different styles and genres throughout his career, much as The Beatles did once they took creative control in the studio.

Joel once said he had "never forgiven himself for not being Beethoven", praising the composer for never writing a wrong note across his nine symphonies, unlike Mozart, whom he compared to "a talented athlete". This reverence shaped Joel's melodic writing, evident in albums ranging from the pop of The Stranger to the jazz-inflected 52nd Street and the new wave-leaning Glass Houses. He also experimented directly with classical composition on Fantasies and Delusions, though he remained more at home with conventional pop song structures than with matching his idol's symphonic achievements.