Piano Man (song)
Piano Man is a song by American singer Billy Joel from the year 1973. He was Joel's first major commercial success and established his nickname of " Piano Man ".
Composition and text
The piece has the basic key of C major and is played in 6/8-measure. It begins with a short jazzy piano theme, followed by an intro with piano and harmonica. The piece takes the form of intro, verse, verse ( sung one octave higher), transition to the chorus, chorus. The verses and the subsequent chorus contain a walking bass, which ends at a C and has a turnaround from D to G. Joel's 1973 published version contains piano, harmonica, bass guitar, drums and vocals. The piano part is - compared to Joel's later performances - a bit thin, but one of his most expressive.
The song describes the guests a bar from the perspective of the piano player Bill, who watches people while playing. To those described in attendance include an old habitue, the bar owner John, the waitress and the regulars Paul, a real estate agent, posing as an author, and Davy, an aging Navy soldier. Together, these people have a number of unfulfilled wishes and dreams; the job of pianist is to make you forget for a while the problems of the people. In the refrain, in which the audience have their say in the form of the typical bars in Mitsingens in the choir, it says " 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. " ( " Sing us a song you're the Piano Man. / Sing us a song tonight. / We are all in the mood for a melody / And you're doing that we feel good. " )
Background
By his own account of the artist 's Piano Man, a fictional story about Joel's own time as a pianist in various bars in Los Angeles after the failure of his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. At the same time Joel was trying to get out of the unfavorable for him contract with the music label Family Productions. While the artist hidden by its own account under the pseudonym Bill Martin in various bars, tried his new record company, Columbia Records contract with Family Productions to solve. The name of the lyrical ego, "Bill", is thus also a tribute to Joel's past.
Publications
The song was first published on 2 November Man in 1973 as a single and then as the second title of the Hit Album Piano. Later, the song appeared on various greatest hits compilations, including The Essential Billy Joel.
Before Piano Man was released as a single, shortened the charge due to the too large in their eyes track length of 5:38 minutes, the song of two stanzas. This fact grabbed Billy Joel in his 1974 piece published in The Entertainer, which states "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. " ( " It was a beautiful song but it ran too long / And if you want to have a hit, you need to make it suitable. / So they cut it to 3:05 minutes. " )
Success and reception
Piano Man Billy Joel is one of the biggest successes. In its release, the song came in 25th place of the U.S. Billboard charts and has evolved over the years become a hallmark of the artist, who has since been nicknamed " Piano Man " carries. For example, the first Face to Face tour with Joel Elton John with Rocket Man meets Piano Man circumscribed and thus the nicknames of the two artists were each produced by a popular song picked up. Piano Man is the 421st place in the 2004 release list of the 500 best songs of all time pop magazine Rolling Stone.
Has appeared in 2003 on his album Poodle published the American musician Weird Al Yankovic is a parody of the song as an ode to a superhero in the Yankovic worked up the events of the first Spider-Man film in chronological order. In addition, the song was parodied in games of Australian football club Newcastle United Jets when the fans sang at a Substitutes or good actions of the striker Mário Jardel " 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. " ( " Shoot us a goal, Super Mario. / Shoot us tonight a goal. / Yes, we're all in the mood for a victory, / and you make that we feel good. " ) on the album Just Say Yes to the American rock band Punchline is a song called the Other Piano Man included, which also relates to Joel's Piano Man.