JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum My anecdotal story surrounding "The Piano Man".

I want to tell a little story. In 1972, I got my very first bartending job at the Executive Room Lounge on Wilshire Blvd ( it's no longer there).
I wasn't even being paid, I was a punk kid of 21 years, and the bartender took a liking to me, and decided not to use against me that a was a 'bartending school graduate' and allow me to work behind the bar with him in order to learn the trade, so I could go out later and claim I had 'experience'. I thanked him for this as it did eventually lead to my first real job as a bartender, which was a trade I plied throughout the 70s in my younger years.

Now then, the bartender told me a story, that 3 months prior, the piano guy, named 'Billy Martin" had just gotten a record contract. I thought nothing of it, and I didn't see anyone of that name being famous at all, so I figured the guy probably was given a shot and flopped.

Fast forward to the year 1981, I was watching a popular morning show in L.A. called "Two On The Town" which about this man and woman couple who would go about town and interview various vendors with interesting stories to tell. So, I turn on the and I see the host and hostess ( I forgot their names) standing in front of the lounge I worked at, "The Executive Room", where they said this was where Billy Joel was working when he got the recording contract, then I put it together, THAT was the guy the bar manager was talking about! He was just using a stage name, "Billy Martin" at the lounge. I had just missed him by a couple of months.

Now then, according to a web page devoted to this anecdote, https://www.popspotsnyc.com/billy_joel_piano_man/ Billy Joel wrote the song "The Piano Man" at that bar.


Anyway, I have always loved this song, it touches us in so many ways as there are so many characters in the song we can relate to.

My question is this: What do you think is the basic meaning of this song?

To me, it means that we are really, when the rubber hits the road, despite all of our beliefs about the universe, that we are really all lost souls.


It's a dark song.

I've performed solo in lounges myself, and that's the kind of feeling I got from looking out at the crowd. I hope we are not all lost, that providence has something good in store for us, I can really relate to the song.

Also, that he was so good, getting a recording contract, would explain the line in the song where a customer tells him "What are you doing here?". I wouldn't doubt that that actually happened to him.


Anyway, what does the song mean to you?

Well first off im a huge Billy Joel fan. And that line...man what are you doing here, any musician who is halfway decent has heard that. I've played at company picnics, unrehearsed, pass the beat up guitar down to fd, and let's hear him sing. Pats on the backs from veeps, and somebody will usually say that....most people aren't use to anyone being remotely capable, lol

For some reason Billy Joel never gets mentioned in great songwriters of all time. Musically and melodically, he's better than most. Perhaps it's the commercial nature, he's a money songwriter , hits are the name of the game, where it's not for Neil Young or Springsteen.

To me his stuff is so tasteful, so hard to not like.

But to me piano man is about community. It's about how we all need to connect with other people, and that's why we go to bars. Maybe not now as much, people connect online. But it's about being social, only right now we practice social distacing.

But stripped down, it's just describing the scene at the bar. Music is perfect t oo, 3/4 time, piano heavy harmonica, it's just very karaoke sit around the bar ish...

That's an odd take on that song. I've played it many times and believe it is anything BUT dark. It's simply a sing along describing people at the bar who are singing along. Billy sort of wrote it over a few months or years. It described all the scenes he had and he would insert different people's names and occupations as they sat around the piano and came in and out during the night. A lot of it was written off the cuff, as the night progressed. I've done the same thing hundreds of times. Just a way to keep the customers happy and drinking. Big singable chorus that comes around about every thirty seconds describing the scene. Most everyone identifies with the characters and can sing along pretty much after the first chorus. Instant sing along. It;s called ENTERTAINMENT. Which is why his first really big album was THE ENTERTAINER.

Also, it was a way to keep himself from getting bored as those last hours would drag on with three of four people in the bar, but he had to keep going because of his contract times. I've read that he never really intended to record it or release it. It was just a way to kill five of six minutes during a long set. And yes, I believe his name was originally Billy Martin, but changed it to keep from being confused by his beloved Yankees Manager, Billy Martin. It's been a while since I read any of his biographies, but I believe that is the story.

Billy's a classic story, with bad record deals, managers that stole money, endless lawsuits, bad wives, and a lot of missplaced spending. But he rises above it all and still continues. Anyone who wants to read a story about the light and dark of the music business, Billy is a classic one to study.

MAB

I believe he used to perform under the name William Joel too, lol

Yeah he was married, and divorced a woman and still kept the brother in law from that marriage as his manager lol. The guy swindled him out of millions.

Hes still going but his Madison Square Garden record streak was broken due to corona.

Says he can't write any more though.

As far as pop songwriters, I defy anyone to find anyone better, Beatles aside.

Musically, his stuff was genious. Solid lyrically, great voice and when younger, a great performer. I put him in my top 5, def top 10

He was last seen wondering why somebody was throwing out a piano lol

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S7gR5sVm_ZY