| "Shameless" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byBilly Joel | ||||
| from the albumStorm Front | ||||
| B-side | "Stormfront" (live) | |||
| Released | January 1991 | |||
| Recorded | 1988–89 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:26 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter | Billy Joel | |||
| Producer | Mick Jones | |||
| Billy Joel singles chronology | ||||
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| "Shameless" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byGarth Brooks | ||||
| from the albumRopin' the Wind | ||||
| B-side | "The Dance"/"Rodeo"/"The Thunder Rolls" | |||
| Released | October 21, 1991 | |||
| Studio | Jack's Tracks (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 4:20 | |||
| Label | Liberty | |||
| Songwriter | Billy Joel | |||
| Producer | Allen Reynolds | |||
| Garth Brooks singles chronology | ||||
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"Shameless" is a song written by American singerBilly Joel and recorded on his 1989 albumStorm Front. His version peaked at No. 40 on theHot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. Two years later, the song was covered bycountry music artistGarth Brooks on his third studio album, 1991'sRopin' the Wind. Brooks' rendering of the song was his seventh No. 1 hit on theBillboard country charts in late 1991. It also reached No. 71 on theUK Singles Chart.
In 1993, on stage in Boston, Joel introduced the song by saying, "I want[ed] to write a song, like aJimi Hendrix song, you know. Back in the sixties, he was one of my idols, Jimi Hendrix."[1] Joel also mentioned the Hendrix inspiration at a talk in Nuremberg, in 1995.[2]
The song features harmony vocals byTrisha Yearwood, Brooks's later wife. Brooks provided the following background information on the song in the booklet liner notes from his compilation,The Hits:
"Shameless" was the longest shot we took with a song. I was talked into becoming a member of a CD club...you know, the 40,000 CD's for a penny deal. With those clubs, they write you with the selection of the month. If you don't write back and cancel, then they send it to you and charge you for it. I was on the road for six months with no one to check the mail and came home to find six compact discs in my mailbox.Storm Front by Billy Joel was one of them. I hadn't listened to Billy Joel since the late seventies, probably sinceGlass Houses. I fell in love with the album and fell back in love with Billy Joel's music. One of his songs really captured me, a song called "Shameless." I kept watching it, and when he did not release it as a single, we contacted his people in the hopes that we could cut it. His people sent us a letter acknowledging that he knew who I was and was very honored that I was cutting it. That was quite a compliment for me then, as it is now. My hope is that Billy, as writer, hears this cut and says, "Yeah, man, the guy's got balls."[3]
Brooks performed "Shameless" with Joel during Joel'sLast Play at Shea concerts in 2008, and after Brooks performed it in his Central Park concert in 1997, Joel came out on stage and they sang a duet of "New York State of Mind." In 2011, Joel and Brooks performed the song together again when Brooks was inducted to theSongwriters Hall of Fame by Joel.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllmusic described Brooks' rendering of the song favorably in his review of the album, saying that Brooks "made his '70s rock influences more explicit" by "transform[ing] the song from a rockpower ballad into contemporary country."[4]
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[5] | 133 |
| USAdult Contemporary (Billboard)[6] | 40 |
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[7] | 103 |
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[8] | 23 |
| Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[9] | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[10] | 43 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 71 |
| USHot Country Songs (Billboard)[12] | 1 |
"Shameless" entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on October 19, 1991.[13]
| Chart (1991) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[14] | 38 |
