Billy Joel: Piano Man Meaning

Song Released: 1973

Piano Man Lyrics

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The Regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I...

1. anonymous

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   Mar 23rd 2007 !⃝

   I'm pretty sure that Billy Joel was having a dispute with his current record company and they would not let them record anything or play live. So he went "undercover" as Bill Martin (Martin is his middle name). This song is about his experiences while playing at a bar under that name.
2. anonymous

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   Mar 2nd 2007 !⃝

   Think of this song as a poem. It's talking about how everyone in this bar is lonely and disappointed with their lives. However a shift comes at the end of the peom/song.
   "And say, man, what are you doin here? "
   Bill realizes that he just as lonely as the other people he plays songs for.
3. anonymous

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   Nov 18th 2006 !⃝

   WOW YOU GUYS ARE ALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG.
   The Piano Man IS Billy Joel.
   "Its nine oclock on a saturday
   The regular crowd shuffles in
   Theres an old man sitting next to me
   Makin love to his tonic and gin"
   
   This sets the scene, This is what is going on in the bar and he goes on to say...
   
   "He says, son, can you play me a memory?
   Im not really sure how it goes
   But its sad and its sweet and I knew it complete
   When I wore a younger mans clothes"
   
   This is what the man says to Billy. He wants him to remind him of his earlier years by playing him a song from his earlier years.
   
   "Sing us a song, you're the piano man
   Sing us a song tonight
   Well, were all in the mood for a melody
   And youve got us feelin alright"
   
   Everyone in the bar wants to hear him play and everyone is anxious to hear what Billy has to play next
   
   "Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
   He gets me my drinks for free
   And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke"
   
   Tis explains some of the people here and how nice and welcoming they are to Billy. This also foreshadows what is going to happen in Billy's career.
   
   "But there's someplace that hed rather be
   He says, bill, I believe this is killing me.
   As the smile ran away from his face
   Well Im sure that I could be a movie star
   If I could get out of this place"
   
   This sets up the fact that Billy is too good for this bar scene, as many people are.
   
   "Now Paul is a real estate novelist
   Who never had time for a wife
   And he's talkin with davy whos still in the navy
   And probably will be for life
   
   And the waitress is practicing politics
   As the businessmen slowly get stoned
   Yes, theyre sharing a drink they call loneliness
   But its better than drinkin alone"
   
   Just like Paul wants more from his life but can't have a wife because of his career. Just like Davy. All Davy knows is Navy life and can't get more out of it. Just like the waitress practicing politics. Who by the way was his girlfriend. She obviously wants to be a politician but can't be because of her waitressing. The businessmen, they want to be with their kids and actually get something at life but are obviously stuck at work.
   
   "Its a pretty good crowd for a saturday
   And the manager gives me a smile
   cause he knows that its me theyve been comin to see
   To forget about life for a while
   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 doin here? "
   
   He sets the scene again. It's a great crowd. The manager knows the reason people are coming to the bar is to hear Billy play. Everyone comes to get rid of the fact that they're stuck unhappily without their dreams being fufilled. Everyone knows Billy is too good for it and that's why they tip him and ask him why he still works there.
   
   It is also so climatic at a live performance when the band stops playing and the crowd starts singing. Dead silent except for hundreds of thousands of fans singing along. It really symbolizes how far Billy has come in his career and how he started playing bars and really knew he was better than that but never got it and now he has it which is just amazing.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 27th 2006 !⃝

   "I did take offense to the 'waitress is practicing politics'"
   
   "what billy joel means is that the waitress is fending off the unwanted advances of drunk customers without losing her temper" - jonah falcon
   
   i agree with jonah falcon's interpretation.. Only that waitress invited the unwanted advances in the first place (probably while sharing a drink with the businessmen) and then fends them off with political tactfulness.. Thats why the waitress is "practicing politics".. Just fending off drunk customers would not qualify as politics.
5. anonymous

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   Jun 23rd 2006 !⃝

   okay, well. I think this song is about a bar fly who got liver cancer and the doctor told him if he drinks anymore he will die. That's why he said "bill, this is killing me/as the smile ran away from his face." He has been coming to the bar every night his whole life, hanging out with the same crowd, this is the only life he knows. he doesn't have any other friends.. & being at the bar & with his friends makes him happy until he thinks about losing his life & not being able to drink anymore. he could become a movie star if he could get out of this place. He looks at his friend john, & davy. how davy is in the navy & will be all his life. how people waste there lives away. & you shouldnt spend every night doing the same thing such as going to the bar. you shouldnt spend your life in the navy. that waitress has had that job for many years, the business man has been a business man for years. I dunno ... That's just what I get out of it. I love this song tho :)

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. JonahFalcon

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   May 18th 2006 !⃝

   "I did take offense to the "waitress is practicing Politics"
   
   What Billy Joel means is that the waitress is fending off the unwanted advances of drunk customers without losing her temper.
7. anonymous

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   May 16th 2006 !⃝

   This song is about life in general! The piano man was just like every one of us witnessing all the different kind of people who walk in and walk out of the restaurant where he plays.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 28th 2006 !⃝

   The meaning of this song is twofold. First, Billy is a big fan of Bob Dylan and uses his influence in this song this is proven in the use of the harmonica. Billy will often marvel how cool it was to see and hear Dylan play two instruments at the same time.
   
   Second of all it appears Billy has a misconception of bars that are located on the west cost of america, partically LA

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Mar 29th 2006 !⃝

   When Billy Joel's "Captain Jack" first got released to radio stations, he moved to Los Angeles and took the name Bill Martin to keep low key. He regularly played in a small bar in Los Angeles until record lables finally found him and he signed to Columbia Records. A few years later, Joel took the experience and characters from that bar that he played in for a few months and wrote "Piano Man." According to Joel, all of those characters that he talks a bout (the waitress, the bartender etc) are all real people who he knew in that bar.
10. tinkerhell

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    Feb 2nd 2006 !⃝

    I never really noticed this song until a man that plays the piano where I work brutally killed it. He not only killed he, he kicked it several times after it was dead. He isn't a great piano player, and he's an even worse singer. He likes to think of himself as "The Piano Man."
    
    Here is what I think of this song. I think it's about a local bar. I work in a place like this, so I know what I am talking about. The people that are regulars don't sit there sulking about how crappy their lives turned out, but we all see it. How no one is really happy, and how the masses are stuck in the rut of life. They don't do anything new and then regret it.
    
    I did take offense to the "waitress is practicing Politics" Why wouldn't a waitress be able to discuss things like politics? They aren't all mindless bimbos, chewing gum, and flirting with customers. I would hope any person would be able to have an open conversation about politics.
    
    If you don't want to sit in the "bar" or whatever "rut" you are in, maybe you should make some changes.
    
    Maybe that's what Billy Joel what trying to say.

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