Piano Man by jomel77

jomel77 - Piano Man

jomel77

Jul 19, 2024 10:29pm

"Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billy Joel</a>. First released as a single in the US on November 2, 1973, it was included on Joel's 1973 album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(Billy_Joel_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Piano Man</a>. The song is sung from the point of view of a piano player at a bar, describing the patrons. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue to escape his contracted New York City-based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of his debut album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Spring_Harbor_(album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cold Spring Harbor</a> (1971).Joel's first major hit and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_song" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signature song</a>, "Piano Man," peaked at number 25 on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billboard Hot 100</a> chart in April 1974.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> Following Joel's breakthrough as a popular musician with the release of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Stranger</a>, it became one of his most well-known songs.In 2013, the song was inducted into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Hall_of_Fame" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grammy Hall of Fame</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> In 2015, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Library of Congress</a> selected "Piano Man" for preservation in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recording_Registry" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Recording Registry</a> for its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a>"Piano Man" is a fictionalized retelling of Joel's 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a> In a talk on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Actors_Studio" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Inside the Actors Studio</a>, Joel said he had to escape from New York due to a conflict with his then recording company and 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 "Bill Martin" (Joel's full name is William Martin Joel).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a>Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[10]</a> Joel had moved from New York to L.A. to record his first album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Spring_Harbor_(album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cold Spring Harbor</a>, which was marred by a mastering error by the album's producers at Family Productions, the first label that signed Joel. After this bad experience, Joel wanted to leave his contract with Family Productions for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Columbia Records</a>, but the agreement that he had signed made this very difficult. So Joel stated that he was "hiding out" at the bar while lawyers at Columbia Records tried to get him out of his first record deal.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[11]</a>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. The pianist makes money when the patrons "sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say, 'Man, what are you doin' here?'" The bar-room sing-along chorus comes from the bar patrons, who say, "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 feeling all right." As for the lyrics, Joel has observed that with their five-line grouping, they were more in the form of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">limerick</a> than a typical poem.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[12]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Box" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cash Box</a> said that the "soft, tender narrative tune, reminiscent of that material being spun by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Chapin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Chapin</a>, is going to attract a ton of folks looking to sink their teeth into an equal blend of music and lyric".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[13]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_World" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Record World</a> described it as "a lengthy (4:30) story song reminiscent of Harry Chapin's '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_(Harry_Chapin_song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Taxi</a>' in style and sound".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Man_(song)#cite_note-rw-14" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[14]</a>