You’re the Piano Man
One of Billy Joel’s most famous songs – his first big hit, “Piano Man” – was released when he was twenty-four years old. It was based on his real-life experiences:
“Piano Man” is a fictionalized retelling of Joel’s own experience as a piano-lounge singer for six months in 1972–73 at the now defunct Executive Room bar in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles. In a talk on Inside the Actors Studio, Joel said that he had to get away from New York due to a conflict with his then recording company and hence lived in Los Angeles for three years with his first wife. Since he needed work to pay the bills, but could not use his common name, he worked at the Executive Room bar as a piano player using the name “Bill Martin” (Joel’s full name is William Martin Joel).
Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people. …
The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player who focuses mainly on the “regular crowd” that “shuffles” into the bar at nine o’clock on a Saturday: an old man, John the bartender, the waitress, businessmen, and bar regulars like “real estate novelist” Paul and naval serviceman Davy. Most of these characters have broken or unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist’s job is to help them “forget about life for a while”, as the lyrics state …
I’ve noticed that quite a few people seem to find the song annoying. It does have a repetitive (and even earwormy) quality, as Joel himself said in an interview I saw about it (can’t find it at the moment). In that interview, he said it’s a very simple tune, which then repeats an octave higher – which, although he didn’t mention it in that interview, is something that highlights the strength and beauty of his upper range.
But I think the power of the song – which I happen to like, by the way – is in the simplicity and nostalgia of the tune coupled with the surprising depth of some of the lyrics. “Broken or unfulfilled dreams” is something to which many people can relate. And almost every stanza ends with a lyrical “punch” in its last line or its two last lines.
For example, right at the beginning, look at the last line of the first stanza. The first three lines are ordinary; the last is not:
It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin.
He’s not just drinking; he’s “making love” to his drink.
Next stanza:
He says, “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.”
Not the pedestrian “when I was young;” the much more interesting and evocative “When I wore a younger man’s clothes.” As we age we’re the same person – or very much the same, anyway – on the inside. But the outside changes.
It goes on and on like that, with poignant last lines for most of the story-telling character-driven stanzas. One of the best and most well-known 2-line stanza endings is this:
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone.
The last stanza prior to the final chorus reaches a crescendo, and the lyrics include Billy Joel himself in the category of people with unfulfilled dreams – reflecting the fact that, at the time, he hadn’t made a success of things:
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?”
What was Billy Joel doing in the piano bar? Playing for all the lonely people. Observing their lives and interactions. Storing it all up to create the song that would catapault him from that bar into lifelong fame.
Not a bad gig.
The song is called “Piano Man”, yet the most prominent musical instrument in that song is a harmonica.
Not a huge fan but I always liked that song.
Music and lyrics really mesh well together…
And yeah, it’s a pop tune but it tells a story and there is a rare wistful sincerity, to my ear, at least.
Kinda reminds me of C&W, actually…(“the only two kinds a’ music worth listening to…”).
Jeff Cox:
The piano is very prominent as well.
I think it’s Joel on the harmonica too, by the way.
‘Piano Man’ is definitely overexposed but that ‘Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness but it’s better than drinkin’ alone’ line is just perfect for the song.
So many great early (pre ‘The Stranger’ in ’77) Billy Joel songs. ‘Captain Jack’, ‘The Entertainer’, ‘The Ballad Of Billy The Kid’, ‘Miami 2017’, ‘New York State Of Mind’. Just so much great stuff.
He is one of those artists that I have come to appreciate more as I have gotten older. Tremendous songwriter. One of the best in the rock era for sure.
Neo,
The piano is not nearly as prominent as the harmonica. The harmonica gets the solos. The song has never made sense to me for that reason. A song called the “Piano Man” featuring a harmonica is kind of dishonest.
Like starting a cruise line and calling it “Viking Cruises” when at your ports of call you don’t actually kill all the townspeople, plunder their gold and other valuables, and burn the town. That’s what Vikings did.
Or calling your country the “People’s Republic of China” when the people don’t actually rule the country and it’s not actually a republic.
‘The Entertainer’ really is like the same character only a few years down the line with a lot more professional struggles.
Never cared for the song.
==
Had a pair of sisters who were Joel aficionados, so blaring in our house a great deal ca. 1978. Some agreeable songs.
==
His best efforts: “Movin’ Out”, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, “The Stranger”, “Allentown”, and “All about Soul”. Don’t always care for the semantic content of the lyrics, but the whole package works.
==
We had a co-worker from the South Shaw of Long Island. I used to raz her that she’d known Brender and Eddie. She later admitted to me she’d never heard the song all the way through.
Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people
==
Used to follow a pseudonymous Catholic columnist who signed himself ‘Diogenes’. He’d have told you Joel forgot the lavender priest humming along to Les Miz.
The piano sets the tempo like striking the keys
“Real estate novelist” was also a nice touch. Billy gets a lot of grief from critics and wannabe critics, but he’s better than they give him credit for. Some of his songs are what people nowadays would disparage as “basic” but sometimes he really rose to the occasion with something very much worthwhile. “New York State of Mind” has become something of an American standard.
BTW, it occurs to me now that “Piano Man” has much in common with the songs of another Long Island recording artist, Harry Chapin. “Taxi,” “Cat’s in the Cradle,” and “WOLD” have a similar melancholy. The “I” in Chapin’s songs looks back on his own past with regret, while in Billy Joel’s songs it’s the people around him who look back and have regrets.
Jeff Cox:
I strongly disagree.
It’s probably a figure/ground perception thing, though. I hear the piano more than the harmonica, especially in the piano solo part.
But there’s certainly no deception. Joel is sitting at the piano, playing. And the lyrics – which are very important in the song – are describing a guy in a piano bar. It could not be more clear.
Abraxas:
See also this:
Neo, please pay attention to Jeff’s last name and proceed at your own risk
The depth of the song lyrics center upon one theme.
There but for the grace of God, go I….
The run of studio albums Joel produced from “Turnstiles” through to “An Innocent Man- a shockingly short 8 years, but 6 albums is, in my opinion, unmatched in the history of rock and roll.
Good song, and I agree with neo, good poetry. Darn good for a pop song. It is a bit repetitive, and it is very long – bad combo.
Yancey+Ward, it is an impressive accomplishment, but I think Beatles fans would disagree with the unmatched thing.
It’s a pretty clever song for a 24 year old to write. I wouldn’t say it’s even one of my top five favorites of his, but I enjoy it.
And most of what’s been on the radio over the past 10-20 years doesn’t measure up.
Abraxas mentions Harry Chapin as sharing a similar touch to Billy Joel.
I agree and note that both Chapin and Joel come under similar withering fire from rock connoisseurs who consider themselves far above catchy melodies and understandable emotional sentiments.
I remember playing a Harry Chapin album for friends who were into the Rolling Stones, Traffic and Pink Floyd and the response was … let us say, underwhelming.
Here’s a classic example from Ron Rosenbaum, a writer who was once allied with PJ Media:
__________________________________________
Which brings me to Billy Joel—the Andrew Wyeth of contemporary pop music—and the continuing irritation I feel whenever I hear his tunes, whether in the original or in the multitude of elevator-Muzak versions. It is a kind of mystery: Why does his music make my skin crawl in a way that other bad music doesn’t? Why is it that so many of us feel it is possible to say Billy Joel is—well—just bad, a blight upon pop music, a plague upon the airwaves more contagious than West Nile virus, a dire threat to the peacefulness of any given elevator ride, not rock ’n’ roll but schlock ‘n’ roll?
https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/01/the-awfulness-of-billy-joel-explained.html
__________________________________________
There’s much music I don’t like at all, but I don’t feel obliged to drive a stake through its heart.
BTW, Andrew Wyeth is the American painter who created the iconic “Christina’s World” (1948).
https://www.thoughtco.com/andrew-wyeth-quick-facts-182673
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%27s_World
Too easy. The average American could like it and did.
I believe what resonated with me about “Piano Man” was my growing up in an alcohol sodden area. Imagine this area (white) with more than a dozen taverns. Stockyards and beer joints.
There’s an air to the melody/lyrics that feels very “Armourdale”.
I happen to be one of those people who think “The Piano Man” is almost pure poetry. I cannot rave positively about it enough.
Perhaps because I really, really like Billy Joel.
Another one of his songs that I love is “Don’t go Changing”.
———
I saw somewhere that unlike most rock stars he never lets the first couple of rows of seats be sold at all. Let alone for huge amounts.
Why?
His roadies go into “the cheap seats” and find his real fans. Those fans get moved to the front rows because Billy loves to play for people who really appreciate his music.
I’ll put Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” up there with any topical song Bob Dylan wrote.
The video is brilliant too.
–Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (Official HD Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g
Much like Oligonicella, there is a ring of truth about that song that is downright unnerving. My dad had a brother and a crew of friends who were all, pretty darn good, amateur singers. They’d hang out at wherever Freddie George was playing – a local Louisville legend, a piano man. When I hit 21, I’d go sometimes. And what I saw was almost exactly what you hear in the song. A dark, depressing, bar/lounge populated by old (my age now) men and women who drank too much and were clearly very lonely, despite most of them being married.
huxley:
Well, the point of someone like Rosenbaum and his cronies letting us know how much they hate, hate, HATE Billy Joel is a snob thing rather than a mere music critic thing.
The Piano Has Been Drinking
Vikings did NOT kill everyone. That would interfere with selling them as slaves. Captives to enslave were a major part of the booty.
I love this song! Causes me heartache, but along side a “we’re not alone” ache.
Joel has been one of my faves, from my youth.
Too bad he’s got bad Hollywood politics.
Thanks for bringing him here, neo.
DEEBEE,
Third grade called. It wants its insults back.
I like it, and have sung it and many Billy Joel songs at karaoke, where We Didn’t Start The Fire is probably most popular. Because Piano Man is overplayed, I prefer Captain Jack (“you’re 21 and still your mother makes your bed.
And that’s too long.” Opioid problems before the epidemic.)
He’s great, and fun, and entertaining, often with depth in his lyrics. My Slovak wife was surprised that he sings “Uptown Girl”.
Fall Out Boy has a new version, modern, of We Didn’t Start The Fire. I’d have sung it except for my slow healing Achilles Tendon tear, at a Karaoke bar.
The bar has regulars that I was getting to know, but they’re younger, hornier, and also sad. A lot like my old man, an alcoholic.
Tom Waits is just a bit below my singing range, so my Billy Joel songs are an octave lower, more or much more or off key. (Lousy but with good rhythm and enthusiasm.)
is a snob thing rather than a mere music critic thing
==
There isn’t much difference between the two. I suppose it’s possible to produce criticism of the arts that is not self-aggrandizing.
That would be radosh rosenbaum is being too much of a jerk
I’m a fan of Billy Joel. I like this song but it wouldn’t make my top 10 list of his songs. The piano is played through out the whole song. Joel is the one playing the harmonica. The harmonica is only played when he isn’t singing. The piano play is just as prominent while the harmonica is played.
I’m curious what people here think of his new song that we have waited a long time for. I was disappointed. I thought the lyrics were good but I didn’t care for the rest of it.
I’ve always had the ability, which doesn’t seem to be universal, to separate appreciation from personal taste, “it’s good” from “I like it.” I think “Piano Man” is a very well-crafted song, brilliant even. But I don’t much like it. I can name specific things that I don’t much like, but it still pretty much comes down to personal taste. That’s true of Billy Joel’s work in general, of which I’ve only heard the songs that were radio hits, back in ancient times when I heard the radio pretty often.
I do remember liking the one admitting that “you may be right, I may be crazy.”
There isn’t much difference between the two.
Sadly true.
I would suggest that more than Joel’s harmonica, the second most prominent instrument to the piano in this unusual arrangement is the accordion – which was played by the brilliant session musician and producer extraordinaire Michael Omartian. Omartian wrote the charts for this track.
It is a wonderfully written song, beautifully executed by Joel. The combination of piano, accordion, and harmonica in the arrangement is odd, but perfect. The late Michael Stewart produced the track – his story is an interesting one as well.
Songs that are still enjoyed fifty years after being released do so for a reason.
I’m astounded by the criticism of the song aside from simply not liking it, especially the contention that the harmonica is the prominent instrument. (Huh??) The claim that the song is opening is…wait for it…the piano. The piano takes a solo as well as harmonica in the song.
Another point to consider is that the song is “Piano Man” not “Piano.” It’s about his experience, which included playing harmonica as part of his performances in the bar.
You don’t like the song? So what? But making up ridiculous, petty excuses to justify not liking it is pathetic.
Would he prefer james taylor
I’m a big Billy Joel fan, love this song. In fact it was playing in my head this morning while walking the terrorists. Growing up in the greater NY area in the 1970s & 80s helped.
It’s weird, I haven’t sat down and listened to music in well over a decade.
I remember the first time I heard “Piano Man” and the last time, which at this moment is almost six years ago, unlikely though that seems. (At least that’s the last time I remember hearing it in association with where I was.) This is one of those songs that is, for me, strongly associated with certain places and circumstances, none of which, oddly, have anything to do with bars.
There have, of course, been several other times in between when I’ve heard it, it being well-nigh inescapable on the rotations. I tired of the song some years ago, but it does have a certain compelling quality, to be sure.
AD – “I suppose it’s possible to produce criticism of the arts that is not self-aggrandizing.”
It’s like criticism of Israel that isn’t antisemitic. It’s possible, but doesn’t happen very often.
Another delight from neo’s readers, we have a commenter calling him-(or her)self “windbag” who takes down a windbag.
@huxley
I remember that article, though I couldn’t have told you who wrote it or where it was published. It touched off quite a controversy at the time. I suspect Rosenbaum had Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen (or Randy Newman or Paul Simon) in mind and found that Billy Joel fell short.
It was something of a compliment to Billy Joel to attack him for not rising to that level, but it was ulimately misguided. If you compare Joel to the boy and girl groups of the early 60s he comes off looking very good (not that they were terrible). Billy wasn’t trying to be a poet, mystic or seer. And, yes there was a certain amount of snobbery in the attacks on him. He owned up to his suburban middle class origins. Those trying to escape their own similar origins will be irritated by that.
Snobbery, or whatever one wants to call it, has been a theme in Billy’s life. His father’s family had been wealthy in Germany, and Billy’s father, a cultured and artistically inclined man, had grown disgusted with America, and returned to Europe in the fifties. He had another son there, who became a conductor of classical music in Austria and Germany. I would be surprised if Billy Joel didn’t have a complicated and conflicted relationship with the highbrow world and his status outside of it.
Billy is often pitted against Elton John. They toured together and had some kind of falling out. What I took away from the discussions is that even if you preferred Elton’s songs (and I do), Billy’s a better pianist and someone who did it all — music and lyrics. Would we have heard of Elton if he had to write his own words?
A consummate singer-singwriter and entertainer, Billy Joel has more talent and provided more gifts to the world through music than all his critics combined.
Repeated often, but worth noting here, is TR’s famous truth: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Cold timid souls indeed.
windbag,
I should not have to say this, but a “Piano Man” should play, you know, the piano, not the harmonica. Yes, he does play the piano in the song, but to me it’s the harmonica and especially the introductory harmonica solo that stands out the most and signals to me that it’s time to change the channel. The piano mostly backs up Joel’s vocals and sets up the harmonica solo.
It’s a little like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which were actually in Nineveh. Or Rod Stewart’s song “Young Turks”, whose lyrics, rather notoriously, do not mention the word “Turks” even once and have nothing to do with “Young Turks” either literally or figuratively. Or Katy Perry’s song “California Gurlz”, which, though the song is indeed about California “gurlz”, has a video with absolutely nothing to do with California.
Yes, I know Neo disagrees. But would a ballerina who says she’s going to do a grand jete be marked down for doing a saut de chat instead? I know we get scolded if we do that in my adult ballet class, and we are not professional dancers. If the playbill says “Pas de deux” (Spellcheck does not do well with ballet terms), would Neo object if the two principal dancers indeed dance the pas de deux in the proper sections, but only while immersed in a distracting combination by the corps de ballet?
well harmonica man, is not going to work as well, it was a hit and the combination of chords and lyrics made it so,
Artists get to name their creation (song, poem, painting, …..). Sad but true.
Thanks for proving my point Jeff:)
I am a Billy Joel fan from long ago. I am also a big fan of Mark Rivera, his sax player who has been in the business 50 years. He is still playing with Billy Joel as they both get old. His best gig is with “Scenes from an Italian restaurant,” the original version.
crazy right, we like what we like, as times go by one finds the older tunes have more appeal,
Ah, music critics. A friend who knows a whole lot about music talks about being in a discussion with those who claim to have never listened to such corporate music whores as the Bee Gees and Prince. “Oh, we never listen to that top 40 crap.”
Came the day when the Grateful Dead had a couple of near hits with “Truckin'” and “Touch of Grey.” His friends were raving about the songs, and he savored being able to say, “Oh, the Dead? I don’t listen to that top 40 shit.”
There is a restaurant in Mesa that has one of the largest Mighty Wurlitzer theater organs. What makes it so much more fun is that the various components are all visible and light up when they are in use. The pizza is not great, but it’s definitely worth it to watch and hear a real expert play the thing, taking requests with ease.
My claim to fame is requesting “Touch of Grey” as a twit to someone in our party. The guy had never heard of the song, but looked up sheet music on his phone and after a couple of minutes played a respectable version of it.
I’ve always liked the song…lyrically compelling, a pleasing melody, and a great singer.
We were at a jazz restaurant with a pretty good band. They played Piano Man and had the whole place singing along.
They played Piano Man and had the whole place singing along.
==
My one visit to Denver was for a cousin’s wedding in 1991. About the last time I ever set foot in a bar. Yes they played “Piano Man” and yes the crowd swayed and sang along.
I”ve never gone to a bar to go to a bar, at least by myself. When I did, which has been very rare, it was with somebody or to get a good-sized cheeseburger. No cheeseburger of similar fare, no interest.
However, Joel’s song seems to set a tone such that, as with some of Sinatra’s songs, you can practically smell the cigarette smoke in the air. I think I get it.
Don’t know why, probably a matter of getting pretty dehydrated here and there, small sips of anything more palatable than…I dunno, used transmission fluid…takes a good deal of attention and…then it’s gone.
So a bar isn’t the place for me.
But…I like the song.
miguel cervantes; Jeff Cox; et al.:
I seem to recall that “Mr. Tambourine Man” did rather well for himself.
And, if I’m not mistaken, the original song (Dylan version, the one I knew best) heavily featured a harmonica and no tambourine at all. Go figure. Very few complaints on that.
Looking it up just now, it seems I’m right about the lack of tambourine in Dylan’s rendition:
I’ll voice no opinion on what music should resonate with others; inasmuch as my own impression of certain songs has varied wildly over the years, and one’s emotional state at the time of first hearing it, probably has some impact on one’s attitude.
Not that there are not some songs or performers one finds so grating or unsympathetic that nothing can change your attitude toward either.
When I first saw The Piano Man song mentioned, my first reaction was, “Is that the name of that song I really despise?”
Eventually I remembered it was “Mr. Bojangles”. Or maybe it was Margaritaville, or The Candyman, or …
Anyway everyone has their own list. Though this guy back in 2006, has it almost nailed.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/04/worst-songs-of-all-time.html
DNW:
I had to stop scrolling down that list of the worst songs because, although there were quite a few I don’t even know, there were many I do know but which I hadn’t thought of in ages, and that latter group threatened to start up some terrible earworms. Just reading the titles was enough.
yes those do seem painful, although curious choices, barry sadler isn’t that bad,
DNW:
Ken Levine proves he doesn’t like pop or rock and he doesn’t know how to have a good time!
“Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen in 7th place? Oh, the humanity.
Here’s a two-fer, chock full of brilliant birdy goodness.
–“Larry Bird is the Word” to “Surfin’ Bird”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwUeiwgoDE0
Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow! Boy’s got a corncob up his…
Oh, but Mr. Tambourine Man was very controversial. When Dylan first played the song in a concert, his crew set up amplifiers and speakers for the new electric tambourine. The crowd of folk traditionalists kicked off a full-blown riot, later known as the Stoned Wall Riot.
Dylan was so angry with the crowd that he rerecorded the song without the tambourine, and it was left to the Byrds to be the first to feature the instrument. Had this ever happened, which it didn’t, Joan Baez would have been so shocked that she would have considered not begging Dylan for permission to record his songs.
A bootleg copy of the original recording would sell for millions, if one existed.
he knows about scripts, but I don’t think he knows much about music
Re. Harry Chapin: Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas.
Re. Ear worms: I Fooled Around and Fell In Love. Looking at you Neo.
jerry:
Yes, “Fooled Around and Fell In Love” is a very powerful earworm. But it’s such a great song that it’s not such an annoying earworm. The worst earworms are BAD songs that also act as earworms. I’ll not mention any, out of kindness. Just don’t follow that link DNW gave; you’ll regret it.
I dunno, I have never, ever really considered it to have any earworm quality of any kind. Not saying it has none, just that the strengths of the song readily overcome any such “flaws”, if they exist.
I have a medium level of feeling for Joel — his first few albums were excellent, but then he kinda sold out — the best example of this is the actual earworm, “Uptown Girl”. UG is both an Earworm and “Repetomusic”** (mindless repetition of a limited, uninspired lyrical set) — prime examples of this are crud like “Sarah” by Starshi* (it is a sad thing that this band claims descent from Jefferson Airplane) — the word sarah occurs something like 31 f^&*^&* times. Then there is “Oh, Cherie” by Journey — “oh Cherie”, IIRC, is like 13x, and “holds/hold/holding on” is like 9x.
Contrast this with almost ANY song on “The Stranger”.
All of the songs on the latter feel to have much the same “life experience” feeling that makes Piano Man so damned good. Uptown Girl has life experience, but it’s so sappy that it drains the life out of the song. Add to this that the music of The Stranger is as good as the lyrics, and supports that same “this is someone’s life” feel of the album. He mixes up a lot of instrumentation in it, too, so no song sounds too much like another.
))) Jerry: Earworms.
Not even close to the worst of the lot — The Lion Sleeps Tonight. And Come On, Eileen. Those are two of the worst in all history. You don’t even have to hear the words to the song, just a few notes of the PoS. Open to other arguments, but FAaFIL is not a particularly BAD earworm, even though it is one. 😉
For all of the above, yeah, it’s all opinions, YMMV.
====
** Repetomusic is, by the way, not even necessarily horrid in and of itself. The really bad part of Repetomusic is the tendency to try and sing it *soulfully*, like it actually means something. As though the craptastic “artists” who wrote it and sang it gave a shit about anything other than scoring some money.
Contrast with almost anything by Hall And Oates — their stuff is all repetomusic, too, but it’s pretty much FUN. You know they aren’t serious, or even trying to be serious about their music. They’re there to enjoy it. And that is why THEY work, but Starshi* and 80s Journey (contrast with actually good 70s Journey) all suck balls.
Jeff, I should not have to say this but the Piano Man does play the piano, all 5:39 of the song’s length. There are 9 harmonica parts, totaling :55 of the song. Take the L.
}}} Jeff+Cox: Or calling your country the “People’s Republic of China” when the people don’t actually rule the country and it’s not actually a republic.
Yeah, this is a typical Marxist (and hence PostModern Liberal) technique.
Claim something that is false and keep repeating it. So you get to appropriate the words so they can’t be used against you, and you get to claim a falsehood.
Even better than the PRC was East Germany, AKA the GDR, the “German Democratic Republic”. There’s ONE word in that trio that is vaguely correct. 😛
Note that North Korea pulls the exact same trick, but kudos to the GDR for pulling it off, first.
NoKo is the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. It is, of course, neither Democratic nor a Republic.
I like some of those earworms ohn
Dexys and journey
Not even close to the worst of the lot — The Lion Sleeps Tonight. And Come On, Eileen. Those are two of the worst in all history.
ObloodyHell:
Do you have a meter that measures such things? I think both are fun songs and still bring a smile when I hear them now and then.
Regarding Billy Joel and harmonica, I know a thing or two about harmonica, having invented the Harmonicaster electric harmonica (http://www.harmonicaster.com). Even though Hohner has sold a Billy Joel signature harmonica, do not mention his name around actual harmonica players. He’s a very rudimentary player.
Joel’s playing fits the song, but as far as guys who play harmonica who are known for other things, he’s not even in the class of Jack Bruce in Cream, Mick Jagger in the Stones, and Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin, no virtuosos but they didn’t hurt the music in bands with genuine virtuosos on other instruments. Joel is more like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, but probably better than Springsteen, Neil Young, two guys who never really learned how to play the harp and get by faking Bob Dylan’s 1st position style.
As for Bob, a lot of harp players dis Dylan as well, but they’re wrong. I’ve heard him play straight up 2nd position blues harp live pretty well. He has his own idiomatic style. The guy’s been playing guitar, piano, and harmonica for over 60 years, and has had some great musicians in his bands. He knows his way around his instruments by now.
FWIW, Hohner has also issued an Ozzy Osborne signature harmonica, in a coffin shaped case.
Back in the day, Hohner sold a ton of Beatles endorsed harmonicas because of its use on Love Me Do.
Hehehe eeevilll.
You should do another of your 1960/70s white musical groups everyone thought were black.
You can’t do Spencer Davis because you covered it I think, and everyone has ” I’m a Man” figured by now and it is in young African American reaction videos everywhere on YouTube
Nor Spiral Staircase, More Today Than Yesterday, nor Steam, Na Na Hey Hey.
They are all too famous. But there are others.
Jeff Cox,
As someone who messes around with harmonica and piano (and plays harmonica well enough to get paid to do it), I assure you, the piano is the much more prominent instrument in that song. As long as someone has a rudimentary sense of rhythm and isn’t completely tone deaf I could teach them to play the harmonica part in that song in five minutes. There is nothing to it, which, I think, is part of Joel’s point. He plays it hands free, on a wire around his neck.
It’s a fitting part. Joel is a great musician. But the song is about a piano player, playing piano (very well) and singer (who sings very well), who uses very basic harmonica to add some color.
I always assumed Joel was intentionally writing a sea shanty type song with “Piano Man.” Whether that was his intention, or not, that adds to its sing along quality.
In the late ’80s friends took me to a piano bar near UCLA where a blind woman played piano and sang drinking songs, opening for a man called, “The Fox,” who played piano and sang drinking songs. He was also a world record beer chugger and would chug liter glasses of beer in about 1 second, between songs.
Both pianists sung songs with a format like “Piano Man.” A verse about a new character or situation, then a repeated chorus that was easy to learn, almost always featuring a ribald joke and/or obscene language. After one or two verses in each song the audience would have the chorus figured out and join in. Then another verse, on and on, just like “Piano Man.” It was great fun!
Speaking of slight surprises in pop music listening and doing our best to annoy Huxley, we offer up …
This famous 1950s classic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Z6HhS9Lec&list=PLy-gU0qoUYrk2BfBrxoF_X3GCn7Rcq9Fl&index=8&pp=iAQB8AUB
And then this tune too, which is obviously the product of a California and possibly Hispanic group.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1CEQ640sHr8&pp=ygUXQ29uY3JldGUgYyBhbmQgYyBMTUsgYXk%3D
Then there is that “Call Me” song we heard on our parent’s radio; and sung by an obviously youngish woman who was probably the blond counterpart to an early days Cher. Or a younger hipper version of Petula whatshername.
Except … wasn’t and wasn’t.
I don’t dislike the song. I think Joel is a very talented songwriter and I think this song is very well done. But I prefer not to listen to it and generally change the channel when it comes on the radio.
Billy Joel did a very good job of capturing the mood of the eras he performed in and a lot of his songs featured deeper insights than what is typically found in pop music. Yet, when the ’70s led into the ’80s and bubble gum pop was the thing, he showed he could do that too, and doo wop. He wrote a lot of great music that will continue to be played long after a lot of other rock composers’ songs fade away.
Somehow he was always on a different wavelength from what I was interested in when he was releasing his albums. I never bought one and rarely listened to his music. But I admire his talent immensely. A truly gifted musician and composer who had a rare talent for connecting with the zeitgeist.
I note there are no Bee Gees songs on that list but also there are none from Barry Manilow.
And for huxley
Neo, good advice on opening links to lists. Thanks!
I remember “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens when it it was on the radio, I was about 9 or 10. I liked it then and still like it.
Those two songs just offered up by DNW:
The first is a remake in Spanish of the Jackie Wilson hit “Lonely Teardrops”
The second was from a British group called Unit 4+2, I remember hearing it on the radio in 1965.
Is a song an “earworm” if you think it’s good? There are songs I’ve heard hundreds of times, maybe even over a thousand, that I still enjoy. Eg “Honky Tonk” by Bill Doggett and “Shotgun” by Jr. Walker.
Dangit, Neo, you did it to me again. I watched your video, and YouTube took me down a rabbit hole of 80’s music: Billy Joel, Survivor, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Modern English, the Cure. Now it’s 4:30 in the morning, and I’m still lost in the nostalgia.
The music, the movies, the optimism of that era have never been equalled. It’s been 40 years now, but I still can’t shake the feeling that I came of age at the height of civilization. I’m grateful for having experienced it, but I weep for what we have become. It didn’t have to be this way.
It is a great song but it is so melancholy. Billy Joel has a great repertoire of wonderful songs. I thik the songs from 1964 – 86 were the best era of music (at least for me).
This thread is long but I am a life-long Billy Joel fan.
I agree with all that has been said here about snobbish dismissal of his work.
Joel and Paul Simon were my heroes growing up in Jew York at that time.
Ben David,
Don’t forget Simon’s friend, Carole King. An incredible composer and talent!
“King began kindergarten when she was four, and after her first year she was promoted directly to second grade, showing an exceptional facility with words and numbers.”
This thread has caused me once again to reflect on the profoundly puzzling – or maybe not so profound or puzzling – differences in musical tastes among people who otherwise might agree in broad outline on, or in analytical approach to, any number of social questions.
The role of emotional identification and resonance probably should not be underestimated: be it with the song’s message, the listener’s historically lived era, or social context and personal situation at the point of encounter. And I think the comments here pretty much illustrate that point.
“Context” may not be everything, but it obviously counts for a lot.
One man’s unselfconscious report of appreciation for, and experience of, a musical reverie upon recollecting an emotionally significant piece, is observed by another as being cringe worthy, and provoking in the same observer feelings of vicarious embarassment for his fellow man.
But then, on the other hand, some songs and performers, really do stink. But that said most of us will put some time in in-company, patiently pretending to listen to wretched music for the sake of a friend …. or more probably, a really good looking woman. Not that a good looking woman could ever like the stuff on that list.
Well, time to split. Indiana Wants Me, but I can’t go back there … after so many Seasons in the Sun. Nothing there but Gypsies, Tramps & Theives. Which Way You Goin Billy?
Understandable. But if you can, try and imagine what it is like listening to story songs, or “generational anthems”, to crappy songs of solidarity, or novelty songs – for those of us whose appreciation for, or tolerance of, maudlin or vainglorious lyrical emoting, or poetry of any kind for that matter, is somewhat limited.
The repetition, the stupefying pathos, the whiny sing song autism [ using that term in the philosophical sense, folks] of these pieces is felt as unbearable.
Hence, I find myself well able to listen to and even enjoy Joel’s Just The Way You Are, [one of his lesser regarded pieces apparently] whereas I want to crash though a plastered stud wall to escape the noise of The Piano Man.
And were I ever trapped among a crowd of swaying, smiling singers-along, chanting the same in a crowded venue, I’d probably shrivel up and disappear in a puff of smoke.
But then that’s just human difference I guess. LOL
Doen’t mean I am a bad person. Now, yes, I am a bad person of course. But it is not that that entails it. At least I don’t think so.
DNW,
My band plays, “Just the Way You Are.” There’s a lot to it. It’s a very well composed song.
Puff of smoke or will he be mist?
Not the same as “Nacht und nebel.”
DNW:
You might be interested in Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia if you haven’t read it already.
Neo,
I’ll look it up.
Thanks
A list of worse songs that DOESN’T include ‘MacArthur Park’ is just silly.
“Someone left the cake out in the rain” has got to be the stupidest lyric in any genre ever written.
The role of emotional identification and resonance probably should not be underestimated: be it with the song’s message, the listener’s historically lived era, or social context and personal situation at the point of encounter. And I think the comments here pretty much illustrate that point.
DNW:
As Frank Zappa once toid his hippie audience:
____________________________________
You think we’re talking about someone else.
____________________________________
You seem to think you’re talking about someone else.
All San Francisco Hippies hated Billy Joel …. !! Still do … !!
kimo:
I dunno. My hippie Haight-Ashbury aunt who baby sat for Big Brother and the Holding Company loved Jackson Browne. She might have liked Billy Joel. I never asked.
Hippies covered a lot of ground.
Huxley says,
Not sure what you are talking about.
I started by reflecting on my own evolving history of music “appreciation” and the role of affect and context.
The comments of others then seemed to reinforce the notion.
So ….
@ Tuvea “A list of worse songs that DOESN’T include ‘MacArthur Park’ is just silly.
“Someone left the cake out in the rain” has got to be the stupidest lyric in any genre ever written.”
Gee, I always kinda liked it – mostly for what came next in the lyrics.
It was a striking metaphor, very unusual — and I have left a lot of things out in the rain, by mistake or carelessness and sometimes by design, and had them ruined.
I second the recommendation for “Musicophilia” by Sacks.
When I was in high school in the early 80s, my parents and I would frequent a restaurant near my neighborhood where they had a bar that served sandwiches and drinks, as well as a performer who would sing and play the piano. One piece he always played was “The Piano Man,” and people would invariably sing along with the chorus. My parents (who were in their mid-50s at the time) had no idea who Billy Joel was, but they always enjoyed hearing the song in the bar and joining in on the chorus.