I was recently listening to Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” and I realized I still don’t know what “pink sidewinders” are. Anyone out there have any ideas?
Suspenders, I would guess. You know–to hold up the orange pants.
It is a little-known fact that Jackie Chan is one of the premier Billy Joel scholars. So Ask Jackie and scroll to the second question from the bottom.
I’m sorry, is it just me or is Jackie Chan the coolest person on Earth? That link almost killed me. Thanks, hooligan!
waiiit a minit… I should be more careful believing everything I read on the internet. (another innocent dream… shattered)
I don’t think that’s actually Jackie Chan answering the questions. Go to the home page and check out who the authors are.
But the page is funny and Jackie Chan is pretty cool.
Oh Jesus, the Jackie Chan link was priceless! I am still laughing at the “Stupid American Girls with Silver Spoons and Wangs in their Mouths” comment!
But I think it was shoes.
Do you think everyone knows what these Piano Man lyrics mean now?
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”
I know for a fact that the bread-in-the-jar thing has become a mystery to some people.
Isn’t “bread” for “money” in common usage? Or am I missing something?
Nope, you aren’t missing a thing. A lot of piano bar players have a big glass jar on the piano for tips.
Now for a tougher question - can anyone explain the lyrics to “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”?
Are they allegorical, or are they meant to be taken literally?
The last time I heard anyone use the word “bread” for “money” was in a 1967 episode of Mod Squad. But may be it’s a time warp thing. Is it?
You should be careful. If I was you I wouldn’t ask too many people these days to “put bread in your jar” - you’ll end up with your name on a quilt.
The liner notes on Songs in the Attic seem to explain this one. I don’t have the album right in front of me, but the song is a response to the 1975 fiscal crisis in New York City, in which President Gerald Ford’s refused to consider a federal bailout. The New York Daily News ran a famous headline: “FORD TO NEW YORK: DROP DEAD,” which led to a lot of New Yorkers to think that the City was doomed.
“Miami 2017” was written sometime in the late 70s. (It first appeared on 1980’s Turnstiles.) It’s a sort of fantasy about the eventual collapse of the City from fiscal and other pressures. “The lights go out on Broadway,” (which incorporates a reference to the 25-hour blackout in NYC in 1977-- see also “they turned our power down”), “the mighty skyline fall[s],” etc. The narrator of the story is one of the former residents who fled to Miami and is telling the story of the last days of the City he used to live in to people forty years in the future. It’s allegorical, but has a sort of protest song-y kind of feel to it.
Plus, it rocks better than just about any other song Billy Joel ever did.
I thought it meant they were giving him food, being so nice as to place it in a jar so it would keep longer. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
I’m glad I didn’t say I was listening to a “record” or “an album.” It’s sad that my kids won’t ever know what “you sound like a broken record” means. They also won’t know what those funny round black plastic things in the basement are either.
G. Nome, I want you to explain exactly, precisely what you mean by this remark. Choose your words more carefully than you have ever done.
I think that I am furious right now, but I want to give you a chance to explain.
Whooosh!
**G nome’s ** comment went right over my head and judging by Manhatton’s reaction I’m probably glad it has.
Thanks, Nurlman. A minor correction, though - Turnstiles was released in 1976, one year before Joel hit it big with The Stranger. Many songs from this underappreciated album were re-released on Songs in the Attic.
BTW, manhatan - I second casdave. Are you just angry at G. Nomes willful incoherence, or do you actually understand what she’s trying to say?
Once, back in the late 70’s a co worker of mine at the correction center kept telling me that some ‘dude’ had been by for his paycheck. I insisted to her that there were no males expecting to pick up a paycheck at that local and she must have gotten something wrong. She kept on, eventally adding the info that it was a black male named Bill, to which I replied:
“the only man named Bill that I know who would be coming here for anything is Bill so and so, and the only thing he would be looking for are the loaves of bread in the freezer”.
she said, of course “well, bread means money, doesn’t it?”
I didn’t hire her, honest.
Well, not to speak for manny, but it appears to me that G. Nome is drawing a reference to anal sex, and the “AIDS Quilt”. Which is why I would get upset too.