“Don’t Ask Me Why” appears on Billy Joel’s hit 1980 album Glass Houses. The song features a lighter, folkier sound, reminiscent of Joel’s earlier work, and is in contrast with the heavier, rockier sound of the rest of the album.

Lyrically, the song follows the same thread of thought as “My Life” where there is a resentment to the oddities of modern life. Whereas the earlier song takes the risky stance of creating your own path rather than the path of others, here Billy Joel succumbs to the humor of its irony.

The background track contains all acoustic and Latin percussion instruments performing in an Afro-Cuban rhythmic style. An eclectic, instrumental “Latin Ballroom” piano solo, played over the bridge section after the second verse, is also featured in part of the song. The instrumentation strategically hides the oblique references to the pop song craft of The Beatles.