I Love You Just The Way You Are 2/9/2013

Did You Know? - The song, which Billy Joel had written for his first wife (and also his business manager at the time) Elizabeth Weber, was not liked by either Joel or his band, and Joel had originally decided against making the track a part of the album. But Joel has stated that, at the request of both Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow (both were recording in other studios in the same building at the time), Joel agreed to put the song on the final mix. However, the album's producer, Phil Ramone, later contradicted Joel's claim, stating in an interview that they could not afford to exclude the song because Joel did not have that much material to choose from for the album.

When "Just the Way You Are" was released as a single, it was shortened by over a minute. The differences are the removal of the second verse and an earlier fade. A live performance of the song was also used as a music video. On February 18, 1978, the song peaked at #3, and Joel performed a shorter version of the song as the musical guest that day on Saturday Night Live (along with "Only the Good Die Young"). The single version was included in the first release of Greatest Hits Volume I, but the full album version was restored for the remastered release of that compilation.

Did You Know? - The teddy bear is soft toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the US and Richard Steiff in Germany in the early years of the 20th century, and named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, the teddy bear became an iconic children's toy, celebrated in story, song and film.

Since the creation of the first teddy bears which sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs, "teddies" have greatly varied in form, style and material. They have become collector's items, with older and rarer "teddies" appearing at public auctions. Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children and are often given to adults to signify love, congratulations or sympathy.

Did You Know? - The name Teddy Bear comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy". The name originated from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal.

A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collie, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it.

He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery,] and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.

While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.

Did You Know? - The word Cummerband which entered English vocabulary in 1616 via Afghanistan and the use of cummerbands by tribal warriors and later adopted by the languages of the Indian subcontinent such as Hindi and Urdu, is originally a Persian genitive phrase (Persian: کمربند‎) comprising kamar (waist) + band (band).

The word cummerband (see below), and less commonly the German spelling kummerbund (a phonetic translation of the English word), are often used synonymously with cummerbund in English. Today, the word kamarband in Persian simply refers to anything which is or works like a typical clothing belt.