Song #22: Billy Joel - "Piano Man"

Song #22: Billy Joel - "Piano Man" (1973)

Piano Man

"He said, 'son, can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad and it's sweet, and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger man's clothes.'"

"And a waitress is practicing politics as a businessman slowly gets stoned; yeah, they're sharing a drink they call 'loneliness,' cause it's better than drinking 'alone.'"  

"And the piano it sounds like a carnival and the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say, 'man, what are you doin' here?'"

Billy Joel's "Piano Man" is a song I've heard an upwards of about twenty-five times and I'm pretty sure I've cried each time. I need to brace myself before listening to the song, as it generates compelling and unthinkably potent emotions that seem to have been suppressed inside myself for a great deal of time. Many love the song, but I'm not sure how many know the meanings and ideas behind it. Many cite the song as one their favorites by Joel, but I wonder if they have lived it. I'm here to try and say, in a manner lacking pompousness, I can adequately define a meaning of the song and am currently living as the piano player and one of the lounge customers mentioned in the song.

The song concerns a successful, night-time lounge from the point of view of Billy Joel, who was a piano player there for quite some time in his younger years. Joel got to know the clientele and claims that the song is comprised of the kinds of people he knew and saw on a regular basis. One commonality between all of the clientele is their disillusionment and lack of satisfaction in life. Some of the regulars are Paul, a real-estate novelist who never had time for a wife (mentioned in a line that usually ignites my tears), Davy, who's still in the Navy and probably will be for life, and even John, the bartender, who gets Joel his drinks for free but would rather be working as an actor.

As I said, the common ground with all these souls is they are functioning in a reality they don't want to be in, and have lost sight and track of their ambitions and are just trying to get by and survive now. This is the kind of song that proves to other countries that America isn't flawless and its people wealthy and automatically born to lives of greatness. As someone who works at a liquor store, I'm constantly told by the recurring customers how good of a writer I am and that college will be a place where I will find great success. Much like Joel, working as the talented and charismatic piano man, I'm recognized and appreciated by loyal customers for my talent. 

However, I can't help but occasionally feel like I'll soon be one of the customers, working tirelessly at a job I don't like because my ambitions are too far out of reach for me. Combine that with Joel's amazing, descriptive lyrics and his detailed accounts of numerous busy-bodies in a lounge, all of whom sound like wonderful souls that would be great to converse with, and I break down in a fit of tears. 

"Piano Man" is a song about when ambitions pass you by, and when life catches up and reminds you that many of your personal dreams will tragically go unfulfilled because of here-and-now obligations like food, rent, and necessities. As someone going into English in college in just another month, this fact hits me harder and harder whenever I think of it, and I can't help but feel like I'll cry harder and harder in my later years as this song's descriptions of disillusioned customers may prove prophetic for me.

For right now, though, get me a gin and tonic and crank this one up loud.

Give "Piano Man" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaUyJyPekJE