"Piano Man" was Billy Joel's first major hit and is considered Joel's signature song. The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player who focuses mainly on everyone else at the bar: John the bartender, the waitress, and bar regulars like Paul and Davy. Most of these characters have unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist's job, it seems (with the help of alcohol), is to help them "forget about life for a while". The chorus, in bar-room sing-a-long style, comes from the bar patrons themselves, who plead, "Sing us a song. / You're the piano man. / Sing us a song, tonight. / Well, we're all in the mood for a melody, / and you've got us feeling alright."^[1] A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. ... William Joseph Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... “B-Sides” redirects here. ... Youre My Home was originally on Billy Joels 1973 Piano Man album. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a term for a style of rock music that is based around the piano, and sometimes around piano-related instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes, the Wurlitzer electric piano, and keyboard-based synthesizers, rather than the guitar as is the case... Blues Rock or Blues-rock is a fusion genre of music which combines elements of the blues with rock and roll. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition (chords) or melody to songs, or both. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... For other persons named Michael Stewart, see Michael Stewart (disambiguation). ... “Golden record” redirects here. ... William Joseph Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... William Joseph Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... A signature song is the one song (or, in some cases, one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established singer, or band, is most closely identified with, even if they have had success with a variety of songs. ...

"Piano Man" has been released as a single and on several albums.

Overview

Song background

"Piano Man" is a fictionalized retelling of real people Joel met during his days as a piano-lounge singer in Los Angeles, after the failure of his first album, Cold Spring Harbor.^[2] Joel's own personal feelings about this failure are expressed in the failed dreams of the bar patrons in his song. At the time, Joel was trying to get out of a bad deal with the record company Family Productions, so, according to Joel, he was "hiding out" at the bar, performing under the name Billy Martin while Columbia Records tried to get him out of the deal.^[3] Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Cold Spring Harbor was Billy Joels first solo album, and was released in 1971 (see 1971 in music). ...

Releases

It was first released as the second track on Joel's Piano Man album and was later released on several greatest hits collections, including Essential Billy Joel. It is in the key of C Major and has a slow 6/8 time signature. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For a list of albums known simply as Greatest Hits, see List of albums titled Greatest Hits. ... The Essential Billy Joel is a Sony music compilation of songs by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat. ...

When originally issued as a single, the song was deemed too long by record executives (5 minutes and 38 seconds), so two verses were cut in half and spliced together for the release as a 45. Later, Billy Joel's song "The Entertainer" mentions this event by commenting, "It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long. If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit. So they cut it down to 3:05."

Popularity

The song has been one of Joel's greatest hits. It peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Today it remains popular, and ranks as Joel's #1 song on the iTunes Music Store as of June 2007. The song is so well-known that during Joel's concerts, he usually lets the audience sing the chorus. “Hot 100” redirects here. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into ITunes. ...

During the first Face to Face tour featuring Elton John and Joel, ads promoted the event as "Rocket Man meets Piano Man".^{[citation needed]} Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... This article is about the song by Elton John. ...

The song was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic on his 2003 album Poodle Hat ("Ode to a Superhero"). Yankovic's parody is about Spider-Man and chronicles the story of his first movie. A parody (pronounced ), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by means of humorous or satiric imitation. ... This article is about the musician. ... Singles from Poodle Hat Released: May, 2003 Released: January 13, 2006 Poodle Hat is the eleventh album by Weird Al Yankovic. ... Spider-Man swinging around his hometown, New York City. ... Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. ...

The song was also parodied by The Squadron at Newcastle United Jets F.C. games, when Mario Jardel played for the club. The lyrics would be sung as Jardel came on as a substitute or when he did something positive with the ball. The lyrics would be sung as: "Score us a goal, Super Mario, Score us a goal, tonight. We were all in the mood for a victory, And you got us feelin' alright."

Chart positions

“Hot 100” redirects here. ... The Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart (formerly known as Adult Contemporary Singles and only Adult Contemporary) lists the most popular songs weekly calculated by airplay and occasionally sales. ...

References