Thoughts on the piano man

I've never really listened to Billy Joel. Nothing against him, its just that I've never really heard any of his songs. And no, I don't live under a rock. The other day I was at a pub (karaoke night) and a friend of mine unexpectedly whooped with glee and started pointedly pointing (sic) out a song to me. As the flashing lyrics scrolled up the plasma, I better understood his exuberance...

"Its nine o' clock on a saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Theres an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin

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

La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Chorus:
Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright

Now john at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And hes quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But theres 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

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Now paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And hes 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, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But its better than drinkin alone

Chorus

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?

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Chorus"


WOW! I was blown away! It made me think that a lot of the songs we hear and hum to.. we never really listen to the lyrics. I mean.. I used to listen to Rage Against The Machine when I was a teenager and though I could never make out the lyrics I absolutely loved their songs purely based on their riffs, rythm and vocal style! It was only later (after I read an article about what they stood for) that I understood that they were actually singing about 'revolutionary viewpoints highly critical of the domestic and foreign policies of the U.S. government.' Oof! But that single piece of information managed to give every song of theirs so much more meaning and gave me the first inkling of what it felt like to have respect for a band.
Music is truly a wonderful thing :)

"Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But its better than drinkin alone" - I just know that this line is going to haunt me forever.