What’s so difficult to understand?
It’s a fine song, And that’s why it gets played so often.
The only thing about the song that irritates me is Davy. Sure, I get that he’s a lifer,who joined the military for a stint but can’t find something better in life. That’s what the song is all about–people with sad goals.
Yeah, sometimes a songwriter needs a rhyme.
Leaffan
September 4, 2018, 5:30am
45
Tonic and gin also sucks.
I might start a thread on this very topic.
j666:
Watering holes don’t have in tune pianos. They have juke boxes. This isn’t a neighborhood bar, it’s a lounge in a suburban chain hotel that now a reputation as a good place to stop off on the way home because John mixes a good drink, that leggy waitress is an eyeful, and the manager gets you home safe if you’ve had one too many.
They used to go into they city or to a local dive to dance all night or listen to hot blues, but now they have jobs and kids and mortgages, and that’s good, but they don’t want this kid getting stuck here too just because the tips are good (which won’t happen, because he doesn’t like playing those old songs for the G&T guys.)
The song is about dreams deferred too long.
If it’s got regulars, it’s a watering hole, even if it’s in the Airport Hilton.
j666:
This isn’t a neighborhood bar, it’s a lounge in a suburban chain hotel that now a reputation as a good place to stop off on the way home because John mixes a good drink, that leggy waitress is an eyeful, and the manager gets you home safe if you’ve had one too many.
No, they’re not driving home from work. It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday, and they’re the regular crowd. Drinks and music aside, they come here because they have nowhere else to go.
I don’t think the waitress is young and leggy, either. She’s probably a middle-aged divorcee in orthopedic shoes who’s been waiting tables at this place for years. She stays because she has no other marketable skills and can’t be bothered to declare the tips she makes as taxable income.
Yes, it’s a great song, but it’s also depressing as hell.
Leaffan
September 4, 2018, 6:42am
48
chappachula:
What’s so difficult to understand?
It’s a fine song, And that’s why it gets played so often.
The only thing about the song that irritates me is Davy. Sure, I get that he’s a lifer,who joined the military for a stint but can’t find something better in life. That’s what the song is all about–people with sad goals.
Yeah, sometimes a songwriter needs a rhyme.
So, why do some men still go by Bobby, or Jimmy, or Johnny, or Ricky, or…?
Leaffan:
So, why do some men still go by Bobby, or Jimmy, or Johnny, or Ricky, or…?
'Cause, for some reason, those names are acceptable for adults… (Bobby Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson)
Yeah, okay…so there was Davy Jones of The Monkees.
One of the hallmarks of a great song is the first time you hear it, you end up singing along with the last refrain.
If you didn’t do that the first time you heard “Piano Man” I don’t want to know you.
Was he the same Davy Jones with the locker - the one forever linked with sailors?
chappachula:
What’s so difficult to understand?
It’s a fine song, And that’s why it gets played so often.
The only thing about the song that irritates me is Davy. Sure, I get that he’s a lifer,who joined the military for a stint but can’t find something better in life. That’s what the song is all about–people with sad goals.
Yeah, sometimes a songwriter needs a rhyme.
What did you want: Dave whose still a knave? David who’s still an aphid? Not a big fan of Billy but he has some leeway here. Billy…hm
Modern life, 21th century updated lyrics and ideas:
And he’s talking to Carmy*
*It’s ambiguous whether “Carmy” is male or female.
And Paul is a real estate novelist
“He’s talking to David, who looks like an aphid
Bryan_Ekers:
“The wind blew coldly, whispering of a hard rain as I hammered the ‘For Sale’ sign down next to the walkway leading to the comfortable two-bedroom bungalow (with detached garage on a shady tree-lined lot near area schools) that was now filled with the stench of old lies, dark secrets and broken dreams.”
And then the murders began.
Annie-Xmas:
Modern life, 21th century updated lyrics and ideas:
And he’s talking to Carmy*
If you want modern, go modern.
*He’s talking to Chase Morse,
He’s talking to a right louse
IIRC, she turned out to be the piano player’s future ex-wife.
Cayuga
September 12, 2018, 11:22pm
59
chappachula:
The only thing about the song that irritates me is Davy. Sure, I get that he’s a lifer,who joined the military for a stint but can’t find something better in life. That’s what the song is all about–people with sad goals.
I know two different men in their 60s who go by “Davey.”
Just sayin’
What, he married a middle-aged divorcee in orthopedic shoes?!? :eek: :dubious:
The line “Bu there’s some place that he’d really be” sums up the theme of the song perfectly.
Indeed, we all have some place that we’d rather be.
You know, I must have heard that song a hundred times, and it never occurred to me that it was Davey, to rhyme with Navy. Billy kind of mumbles the second syllable and I always heard it as David, without giving it a second thought.
