 " Honesty " was solely written by Billy Joel while production was handled by Phil Ramone . It is the second song from his sixth studio album 52nd Street ( 1978 ) . The song was also included on South Korean and Japanese edition of Joel 's 1985 compilation Greatest Hits Volume 2 as one of the bonus tracks . The song wasn 't included on any of Joel 's US released compilation packages ; however , it appears on the Dutch edition as well as the aforementioned Japanese edition of Greatest Hits Volume 2 , instead of " Don 't Ask Me Why " ( 1980 ) . David Spinozza plays the acoustic guitar in the song , Liberty DeVitto plays the drums and Robert Freedman the horn and string orchestration . 
