In what has come to be one of his trademark songs, “Piano Man” draws upon Joel’s experience as a bar pianist at The Executive Room in LA to tell the story of a typical night at the bar, and all of the loneliness which that entails.
Written after his first album Cold Spring Harbor tanked (it did not...
[Verse 1]
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sittin' next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin
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"
[Refrain]
La, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum
[Chorus]
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
[Verse 2]
Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke, or to light up your smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me"
As the smile ran away from his face
"Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"
[Refrain]
Oh, la, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum
[Verse 3]
Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the navy
And probably will be for life
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone
[Piano Solo]
[Chorus]
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
[Verse 4]
It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about life for a while
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?"
[Refrain]
Oh, la, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum
[Chorus]
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
Piano Man was written by Billy Joel.
Piano Man was produced by Mike Stewart.
Billy Joel released Piano Man on Fri Nov 02 1973.
Billy Joel spoke to Rolling Stone about writing the song:
It was all right, I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.
In 2005, Joel shared on the Today Show:
That was a real gig. I did that for about six months, and while I was doing the gig, I g...
The term in itself means nothing. Billy Joel said in an interview that the people in the song were real people he met. Paul was a real estate agent who wanted to write the great American novel. So in “real estate novelist”, Joel combines Paul’s real profession and the profession he dreamed of.