Talk:The Downeaster "Alexa"

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the The Downeaster "Alexa" article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Songs

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of songs on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SongsWikipedia:WikiProject SongsTemplate:WikiProject Songssong articles

Rock music Stub‑class Low‑importance

	Rock music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rock music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rock music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Rock musicWikipedia:WikiProject Rock musicTemplate:WikiProject Rock musicRock music articles
Stub	This article has been given a rating which conflicts with the project-independent quality rating in the banner shell. Please resolve this conflict if possible.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Eggert, Maureen A. (April 2006). "The Downeaster Alexa: Iconic Male v. a Perfect Storm of Regulations". Touro Law Review. 32 (1): 189–224. Retrieved October 15, 2021. {{cite journal}}: line feed character in |title= at position 60 (help)
Jones, Morgan (2020). "The Downeaster "Alexa"". “We Didn’t Start the Fire”: Billy Joel and Popular Music Studies. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 89–99. Retrieved October 15, 2021.

Song title[edit]

Anyone know why Billy Joel called his fictitious boat the Downeaster Alexa? As far as I can tell, all Downeasters (made by Down East Yachts) were cruising vessels. Or was it a reference to Down East, an geographical location in New England. And who was Alexa?

--Legis (talk - contributions) 15:02, 21 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Alexa is Billy Joel's daughter. AJD 16:59, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Recent Move to The Downeaster 'Alexa[edit]

Are you sure that shouldn't be The Downeaster 'Alexa', like it says on the album cover? 'Alexa just looks wrong. AJD 16:59, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Moved it. It was probably a failed move to remove the 's on both sides. We could alternatively also move it back to using two 's... Ingolfson 08:46, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

So, wait a minute. What's the official title of the song? CarpetCrawler (talk) 07:30, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like this has been stagnant for a while...This needs to be fixed. Somebody fix it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.140.145.55 (talk) 21:33, 26 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Itzhak Perlman[edit]

The Itzhak Perlman article says that Perlman played the violin solo in this song, and names a radio program that included this information. That seems worth noting.

Link to article "Down Easter (ship)"[edit]

The word "downeaster" in the second and fourth paragraphs under Content is linked to the Wikipedia article "Down Easter (ship)." This link is misleading; the linked article describes a type of large (~300') square-rigged cargo-carrying sailing vessel, while the song (as stated in the fourth paragraph under Content) refers to a much smaller (36 - 46') powered commercial fishing boat. I'm not a sufficiently well-versed Wikipedian to know if this should be fixed simply by removing the links, or if a section should be added to the linked article noting that the term "downeaster" has been used, at least in this song, to refer to a completely different type of vessel. I also don't know if "downeaster" is commonly used in New England to refer to small vessels like Maine lobster boats, or if Billy Joel just got the word wrong in the song. Woody832 (talk) 18:44, 22 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

add to Music Video section[edit]

Melissa Leo appeared as Billy Havens' (wife/other) (waiting for his return from the sea) because her father Arnold Leo III, an editor at Grove Press, fisherman, and former spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen's Association. Billy Havens is also a real fisherman there. sources ... https://www.easthamptonstar.com/archive/billy-havens-longtime-bayman-finest-kind ... https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/melissa-leo/bio/3030218972/.... I was going to try to edit but I cant do it 2602:306:8B24:4610:447D:2935:8DFD:F7CA (talk) 04:33, 4 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]