Billy Joel’s Piano Man is one of the best in the way of sentimental songs. It tells the story of a bar full of lonely people who have given up on their dreams, using some of the best examples of show-don’t-tell lyrics.

He describes each person, from the “real-estate novelist” who’s clearly 3 chapters into the great American novel but never has energy after selling houses to finish it, to the waitress who wants to run for President, to the bartender himself, who would rather be in Hollywood

Then the twist:

“The piano it sounds like a carnival
The microphone smells like beer,
And they sit at the bar
And put bread in my jar
And say man what are you doing here?”

He is one of them.

Poetry.

This line sums it up, and I wonder about us here in 2024, when so many of us can’t easily do this:

“They’re sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.”

https://open.spotify.com/track/70C4NyhjD5OZUMzvWZ3njJ?si=9-TKkluBSSOo2HJs_4HDuQ

#music #SongReview #lyrics #BillyJoel