Synopsis

Billy Joel performs "The River of Dreams" against a striking Connecticut landscape, standing with three backing singers on a railroad bridge over the Connecticut River. The video moves between wide river views, a ferry crossing, rural roads, and intimate scenes of Joel playing piano inside a tobacco barn. Christie Brinkley appears painting the artwork associated with the album, while family imagery and the journey through changing locations give the performance a reflective, dreamlike quality that matches the song's spiritual themes.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed on and around the Connecticut River in Connecticut, including the Providence & Worcester railroad bridge and locations near Portland, East Haddam, and Old Saybrook.

• Some of the piano scenes were filmed inside a working tobacco barn on Horton Farm in South Glastonbury, Connecticut.

• Christie Brinkley, then Billy Joel's wife, painted the artwork for the *River of Dreams* album. The video incorporates her painting process, linking the visual identity of the record with the song's imagery.

• Joel's daughter Alexa Ray Joel and Christie Brinkley were both present during the shoot, and they appear in behind-the-scenes material from the production.

• Cinematographer Joseph Yacoe and producer Warren Hewlett are identified in the official behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot.

• The song became Joel's best-charting US and UK single of the 1990s, reaching No. 3 in both countries.

• "The River of Dreams" was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1994 Grammy Awards. During his televised performance of the song at that ceremony, Joel stopped to protest the earlier interruption of Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech.