Billy Joel's Piano Man

Cafe Society
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      • "- Now Paul is a real estate novelist,
      • " -who never had time for a wife, ,"
      • What the hell did Paul do for a living, and why didn’t he have time for a wife? - MC
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Well, since the theme of the entire song is the bitter contrast between what people DREAM of doing with their lives as compared to what they’re ACTUALLY TRAPPED doing, I always thought that “Paul” was working in “real estate” while wishing he could be a “novelist.”

I have no idea why he “never had time for a wife,” however…

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I always interpreted the “novelist” part as meaning that he sold real estate but wished he were a novelist. You know, one of those people who has a half-finished book in his file cabinet, but can’t work up the initiative to get it published.

I think it also implies that he spends all his time on his job and so has no family and no life outside it.

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I think what he’s talking about are those people who say, I’ll settle down when I’m successful at… whatever they want to be. Then they never are so they are alone forever. It’s a great song though.

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Aaaugh! My brain is preparing to sing that song to me for a while now. Thanks a bunch.

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I thought Paul was one of those people who wrote misleading descriptions of real estate. You know, stuff like"Unique fixer upper" which really means “ready to be condemned any minute.” Or the realator who sold my house, who put “hard wood floors” in the description. Well, yes, there were hard wood floors, but they were buried under carpeting and needed lots of work before they would look good.

Don’t know what made me think that, though.

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Why is it so complicated? Steven King writes horror novels, John Grisham writes about lawyers, and Paul writes about real estate agents.

Great song, it’s incredible what detailed pictures he draws with those words. “…sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone…”

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“…when I wore a younger man’s clothes…”
What the hell is that about?

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How 'bout a poetic way of saying “When I was younger” to fit in with the melody.

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Gotta love that song!! I always got the idea that Paul sold real estate but dreamed of writing novels.

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I’ve got one of his collections where he explains the song was based on his own experiences playing in a particular bar, and some of the individuals were real or slight abstractions, while others were made up. I forget which ones, though. I’ll have to listen to it again if I can get around to it.

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That’s “he” as in Billy Joel, not Paul…

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Actually, the old man was a jerk. Three days previous he’d killed a young man for calling him “You dumbass old fart” and stole his clothes, then that night he got drunk, and heard a song he didn’t remember too well.

I don’t know about paul, though. I always assumed he wrote books on the skin of real-estate agents who’d failed him…

I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.

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Great song.

"He said “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.”

"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 doing here?”
What a great song and wonderful use imagery.

Does the noise in my head bother you?

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I have the video to Piano Man recorded from VH1 about 15 years ago. Very odd to see poeple you only imagined in your mind when you heard the song.

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“carnival”
Ah, another good song, by Natalie Merchant.
Oh, wrong artist. Sorry, It’s just that I love that song. :confused:
Peace,
mangeorge

I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000

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The entire song is about the people who work at or frequent a piano bar. All of them are doing jobs they hate, while hoping to do something better.

John, the bartender, is an aspiring actor. Like most would-be actors, he hates his job, and is only doing it to pay the bills until he can land the role that will make him a star.

The waitress is a law student, and is only putting up with this lousy job until she gets her degree and moves into politics.

“Paul” is a high-powered real estate salesman who kids himself that he’s going to write the Great American Novel some day.

The narrator is Billy Joel himself, who, in his younger days, really did work at cheap piano bars (under the stage name Billy Martin), taking requests and playing “Misty” or “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” for tiny crowds… all the while, dreaming of the big break that would make him a pop star some day.

The whole song paints a portrait of a crowd of losers, deluding themselves with dreams that (except for Joel’s) probably won’t ever come true.

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You can’t call them losers just becaue their dreams won’t come true. That casts 98% of the world as losers, then.

-PIGEONMAN-

The Legend Of PigeonMan - Shadow of the Pigeon
Weirdo of the Night

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      • "I’ve got drive I’m a winner, , ,
      • " , , -things are gonna change I can feel it." - MC (w/2 turntables & a microphone)

“It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others” - despair.com

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Astorian, I seem to recall that Billy Joel had actually started to become known, with several LP’s released. But he then dropped out for a number of years, and that is the period where he played at the piano bars under a nondeplume.

>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<

—The dragon observes