Billy Joel - the great wall of china

이 곡은 친구와의 관계에서 발생한 상처와 실망, 그리고 아쉬움을 표현한다
지나간 관계에서 얻은 교훈과 믿음의 중요성을 강조하며, 만약 서로를 믿고 지켰다면 더 나은 길을 함께 걸어갈 수 있었을 것이라는 이야기를 담고 있다
결국 상대방의 삶에 대한 후회와 그로 인한 상실감을 드러낸다

Advice is cheap you can take it from me
It's yours to keep 'cause opinions are free
Nobody knows about the trouble I've seen
Nobody's perfect, mister, nobody's clean
It costs too much and takes too long to find out too late
Some words are not heard 'til after they're spoken
Your role was protective, your soul was too defective
Some people just don't have a heart to be broken

We could have gone
all the way to the Great Wall of China
If you'd only had a little more faith in me
In lieu of diamonds,
gold and platinum reminders will still shine bright
All the king's men and all the king's horses
Can't put you together the way you used to be
We could have been standing
on the Great Wall of China

You take a piece of whatever you touch
Too many pieces means you're touching too much
You never win if you can't play it straight
You only beat me if you get me to hate
It must be so lonely to think that you have only
Somebody else's life to live if they let you
I ain't too selective, but it don't take no detective
To find out how fast your friends will forget you

We could have gone
all the way to the Great Wall of China
Now all you're going to be is history
Help yourself,
it's all you can eat at the Empire Diner tonight
You coulda had class, you coulda been a contender
Charlie, you shoulda looked out for me
You could have been standing,
standing on the Great Wall of China

This was not your calling,
just look how far you've fallen
I heard your story, man, you've got to be joking
Keep things in perspective, this is my true objective
Why tear this heart out if it's only been broken?