JUST THE WAY YOU ARE ~ BILLY JOEL

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Grammy Song Of the Year 1979
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Just the Way You Are" is a love song from Billy Joel's 1977 pop rock album, The Stranger. It was written as a birthday gift to Joel's first wife, Elizabeth Weber. After they divorced, Joel said that when performing the song, he would imagine what he would eat for dinner or what he would do after the show, or even accidentally sing alternate lyrics written by Liberty DeVitto ("She took the dog, the house, the car"). "Just the Way You Are" was Joel's first US Top 10 (reaching #3) and UK Top 20 single, as well as Joel's first Gold single in the US. "Just the Way You Are" won the 1978 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Joel has gone on record stating that he personally dislikes the song and was originally going to leave it off the album.[citation needed] However, at the request of both Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow (both were recording in other studios in the same building at the time), Joel and Ramone agreed to leave it on the album. Since its initial release, the song has been covered by such notable performers as Barry White, Diana Krall, Ahmad Jamal, Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra, Isaac Hayes, Will Martin, and Harry Connick, Jr..