Last night my roommate and I had a ten-minute discussion about whether "She's Always A Woman" is satire or sincere. Karaoke will do that to you.

 

My position--and it might have to do with my own croaky crooning, which gave the song a bitter, Judy-Garland-singing-"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" flair--is that Billy Joel could be mocking the woman as she tries to make most of the statements in the song about herself. Don't they sound defensive? "I take care of myself. I can wait if I want. I'm ahead of my time. I never give in, I just change my mind." Self-justifying, much?

 

Q points to lines like "she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding" to support her position that this woman's a self-gratifying bitch and Joel just likes it that way. She's probably right.