Piano Man (5:34)
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“Piano Man” was Billy Joel’s first major hit and is considered Joel’s signature song. The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player who focuses mainly on everyone else at the bar: John the bartender, the waitress, and bar regulars like Paul and Davy. Most of these characters have unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist’s job, it seems, is to help them “forget about life for a while”. The chorus, in bar-room sing-along style, comes from the bar patrons themselves, who plead, “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 alright.”
“Piano Man” has been released as a single and on several albums.
“Piano Man” is a fictionalized retelling of real people Joel met during his days as a piano-lounge singer in Los Angeles, after the failure of his first album, Cold Spring Harbor. Joel’s own personal feelings about this failure are expressed in the failed dreams of the characters in his song. At the time, Joel was trying to get out of a bad deal with the record company Family Productions, so, according to Joel, he was “hiding out” at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin while Columbia Records tried to get him out of the deal.
“Piano Man” has been released as a single and on several albums.
“Piano Man” is a fictionalized retelling of real people Joel met during his days as a piano-lounge singer in Los Angeles, after the failure of his first album, Cold Spring Harbor. Joel’s own personal feelings about this failure are expressed in the failed dreams of the characters in his song. At the time, Joel was trying to get out of a bad deal with the record company Family Productions, so, according to Joel, he was “hiding out” at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin while Columbia Records tried to get him out of the deal.
Video
Added by pianojohn113
My voice had not fully recovered yet, so the high notes were a little rough. But if you're interested in learning the piano solo in the middle, check my "how to" video.
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Shouts
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SelenaSweety wrote:
just got this Artist's ringtones at www.itsflycell.com. Piano Man is my favorite, love it!
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oldandbold wrote:
I think this is one of Billy Joel best songs.
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tryxee wrote:
Masterpiece
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lalapeepers wrote:
Just saw Elton and Billy sing this song live......CHILLS!!
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buckaroo69 wrote:
John at the bar......someplace that he'd rather be.......bill I believe this is killing me............WOW All around one of the best songs ever written! Saw him once alone and again with Elton John.....simply one of the best performers of all time!
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happygonutty wrote:
... and so it goes ....
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q0439339 wrote:
Pretty nice !
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stanko72 wrote:
beautiful
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Soyerz wrote:
Just hit 1 million. Woo hoo!
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ABM1708 wrote:
Saw him do this in Cape Town and he is the piano man. What a song & the microphone smells like a beer. .
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steamboat58 wrote:
Yep
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psychochristoph wrote:
Klassic.
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kxelfm wrote:
Sing us a song..........
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Dora117 wrote:
John at the bar is a friend of mine........he gets me my drinks for free.........play us a song tonight........and the waitress is practicing politics....... I once sang that song with a guy in a Toronto bar true true true :)
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Mineira wrote:
" they´re sharing a drink they call loneliness But its better than drinkin alone"
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GrizzlyMike wrote:
I saw him before I married my wife who was at the same concert as I at the Oakland Collisium Arena.
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GrizzlyMike wrote:
It's an okay but I like is traditional song Songs in an Italian Restaurant a nice almost 12 minute song that tells the whole story.
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oldfolkshome wrote:
MAN, REMEMBER "CHEERS"? DUDE, I LOVED THAT SHOW.
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RAGGLEMAN wrote:
Great track. Shame he didn't continue down this path rather than reaping the big bucks and supermodels by releasing guff like Uptown Girl. He has a terrific back catalogue but dammit, the early stuff is so much better. Oh god, what have I done??!
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Soyerz wrote:
This is a great song. Just heard it again for the first time in years. Lovely song.
Billy Joel
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