do direct quotes count? We studied and discussed Billy Joel quiet a bit in an advanced theory seminar course i took towards the end of our basics sequence, this song's chorus uses the melody from mov 2 of Beethoven's pathetique sonata,
Billy Joel has quite the compositional chops, a lot of harmonic devices in his works we see in Beethoven and co and that would have felt at home in some of his works too
his Schirmer album of modern classically composed piano solos Fantasies and Delusions should be explored, fun listen , good music to perform on stage, albeit very difficult, but well done
ex
on an inspired by , the song from an American Tale Somwhere out there which won a grammy that year (1987 i think) follows it more or less w/ a few deviations to great effect