Explain Billy Joel's "Miami 2017" for me

[Subway_Prophet]

Never mind! Thank the Lords of Kobol for the internet.

I found songfacts.com while looking for this song’s lyrics as I composed this post. That website might just chew up the rest of my day.

Um, I guess that’s all.

[astorian]

Back in the early 1970s, when I was a kid in Queens, New York City seemed to be a dying city. We had skyrocketing crime rates, pollution, white flight, and (as if that weren’t bad enough), the city government was on the verge of bankruptcy.

When New York mayor Abe Beame asked the federal government for financial assistance, we got a flat “no” from then-President Ford. This was immortalized in the New York Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Since New York SEEMED to be collapsing, Billy Joel wrote a fantasy song. Basically, “Miami 2017” imagines that the rest of the country just decided to depopulate New York and demolish it. And decades later, some old-timers in Florida are reminiscing about their old home town.

[Cartooniverse]

I’ve been a huge Billy Joel fan ever since Turnstiles came out, and Miami 2017 is on that LP. Always dug this song.

Now, many years ( ahem…decades…god… ) later, the song makes me cry. Seriously. When I hear it, I tear up. Now, to me, it’s connected to the 9/11 attacks. It speaks about the demolition of a great city, of towing things out and letting them fall away. I also have the live version that Billy and the band did just after 9/11 at that famous concert at Madison Square Garden.

He says very clearly, " When I wrote that song, it was a science fiction story. Who knew? But unlike in that song, WE AIN’T GOIN’ ANYWHERE ! " The crowd- all Firefighters, Cops , EMT’s and Paramedics, then roar approval.

It gives me chills. It’s also a very catch tune. I’m listening to that live cut as I write this.

-sniffle-

Astorian, I didn’t know any of that backstory. Makes the song a lot more sensical !!

Cartooniverse

[Rilchiam]

I love that song, but I always flip BJ off, physically or mentally, depending on circumstances, when I get to the line where he evacuates the Yankees, presumably leaving the Mets to rot. Diehard Yankee fans…sheesh.

[cckerberos]

@astorian

When New York mayor Abe Beame asked the federal government for financial assistance, we got a flat “no” from then-President Ford. This was immortalized in the New York Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Great answer, but I’ll nitpick and mention that Ford didn’t refuse all financial assistance (the city got a large federal loan that prevented bankruptcy). The headline was caused by his refusal of an outright grant to the city.

[Cartooniverse]

Yeah well, I am not a native New Yorker but I’ve been here for 25 years. Look at it from their point of view. NYC is, to be fair, the center of much business in the United States of America, and for many overseas companies, they have “arrived” when they have offices in New York. In fact, since that time this has changed but in the early to mid 1970’s? New York was it.

The city built the World Trade Centers, poured billions into its own infrastructure and whatnot to be the center of the universe. Then, when things get rough, the national government says, " Welllllllllllllllll, now. We’ll float you guys a loan, but we want it repaid with interest. We’re not gonna just give you money, even though the entire nation regards you as one of the flagship cities. So, suck it up and sign the note".

That stinks, IMHO.

[nvad]

@Rilchiam

I love that song, but I always flip BJ off, physically or mentally, depending on circumstances, when I get to the line where he evacuates the Yankees, presumably leaving the Mets to rot. Diehard Yankee fans…sheesh.

Well, in fairness to Billy, the lyrics mentioned that “They said the Queens could stay / They blew the Bronx away.” Maybe the Mets were out of harm’s way at Shea…

[flodnak]

But there’s still one phrase that doesn’t make any sense to me:

They burned the churches up in Harlem
Like in that Spanish Civil War

Burning churches as a sign of the city collapsing, I get, but what does the Spanish Civil War have to do with it?

[Eve]

@flodnak

But there’s still one phrase that doesn’t make any sense to me:Burning churches as a sign of the city collapsing, I get, but what does the Spanish Civil War have to do with it?

Hmmm. “Spanish?” I wonder if he meant the American Civil War, when there were race riots and arson. I’ve been in New York since '81, so I remember some of the end of the economic crisis, and I have to say, I can’t listen to this song since 9/11, either.

[RealityChuck]

The Spanish Civil War was fought between the communists and the loyalists. The communists hated the Catholic church and has a program that urged church burnings.

Billy Joes wrote “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Don’t you think he’d get a historical reference correct?

[Cartooniverse]

From the [

Joel said after releasing “We Didn’t Start The Fire” that if he wasn’t a musician, he would have liked to have been a history teacher. In “Miami 2017” he showed his historical knowledge by referring to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930’s, where government troops would burn churches that were hiding rebel soldiers (“They burned the churches up in Harlem/Like in that Spanish Civil War”).

Confirmed by another [url=“http://joelfan.orlowski.com/who-is-billy-joel.html”]Billy Joel site](Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) by Billy Joel - Songfacts"Songfacts site on Miami 2017[/url)

The song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” lists historical events from his birth in 1949 through the mid-1980’s—the first thirty-five years of Joel’s life, reflecting his fascination with culture and history. The song “Leningrad” shows Joel’s appreciation for the history of the Soviet Union and his feelings about the Cold War in which he was raised. Before Joel went into the music business,** he always wanted to become a history teacher; later in his career, he earned a New York state teaching license.**

( my bolding )