Classic Pop Icons

Billy Joel’s signature song “Piano Man” is “Song of the Week on Classic Pop Icons. “Piano Man” was released on single in November 1973, backed with “You’re My Home,” and was also the title track of Joel’s second solo album.

“Piano Man” is a fictionalised account of Billy Joel’s stint as a pianist/lounge singer at the Executive Room bar on Wiltshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. After the commercial failure of his debut album, “Cold Spring Harbor,” (which was inexplicably released at the wrong speed), and legal wranglings with his label, Joel left New York for Los Angeles and took the gig at the Executive Room using the stage name Bill Martin. In 1980, Joel recalled this period in an interview with Rolling Stone (Issue 325, Sep 4, 1980):

“Piano Man” tells us about a number of characters who frequent or work in the bar, including the barman John, the real estate broker Paul, and the sailor Davey – so named to allow for the pleasing rhyme “He’s talking to Davey, who’s still in the Navy and probably will be for life.”

The characters are connected by the theme of unfulfilled ambition. The barman John is “quick with a joke” but we soon find out that the happy-go-lucky persona is a facade. John has big dreams of being a movie star and is very disappointed in his relatively humdrum existence. Similarly, Paul is dubbed the “real estate novelist” in recognition of his preferred career path. The characters have descended on the bar to listen to the piano man and “forget about life for a while.” They all share in the sentiment of the 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 feeling all right.”

Joel has said that the characters in the song were based on real people that he encountered at the Executive Room. In a 1980 interview with ABC’s 20/20, he said:

“Piano Man” is one of Joel’s most successful “story songs.” When you listen to the track, you are transformed to the bar and by the end of it you feel as if you know the various characters that Joel introduces. One of the reasons the lyrics work so well is that most people can identify with one or more of the characters in the song.

Billy Joel – Piano Man

Joel signed with Columbia Records in 1972 and “Piano Man” became the title track of his first album for the company. It would go on to become one of Joel’s best loved songs and a real crowd pleaser in concert, where it is often used as the finale.

Authorship

The words and music for “Piano Man” were written by Billy Joel.

Recording date/location

“Piano Man” was recorded at the Record Plant Studios and Devonshire Sound, Los Angeles, California in September 1973.

Musicians

The “Piano Man” sessions featured the following musicians:

• Billy Joel – harmonica, piano, Vocals
• Larry Carlton – guitar
• Richard Bennett – guitar
• Dean Parks – guitar
• Wilton Felder – bass
• Emory Gordy, Jr. – bass
• Michael Omartian – accordion
• Ronnie Tutt – drums.

Chart performance

“Piano Man” peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1974.

There will be a new Song of the Week on October 31.

A two-disc Legacy Edition of Billy Joels’ “Piano Man” will be released on November 8. The set will include a remastered edition of the album and, for the first time ever, Billy’s performance at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studio on April 15, 1972, as originally broadcast on WMMR. A single disc edition of “Piano Man” will also be available as part of the forthcoming 15-disc “Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection” box set.

“Piano Man – Legacy Edition” is available for pre-order now:

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