Is Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” Set in a Gay Bar?
In an interview with NBC’s Today Billy Joel he spoke, among other things, about one of the classics of his repertoire, “Piano man”saying that he can understand that one might think it is set in a gay bar. In the song, the pianist of a bar observes and describes the patrons of the same on a Saturday night.
The 75-year-old New York musician recently discovered this idea circulating: “Now there’s this new theory that it’s actually a gay bar.
I thought, ‘I understand why.’ Paul is talking to Davy who is in the Navy; he hasn’t got time for a wife.” She explained that her thought about Paul was that he was too busy trying to write the great American novel to find a love story. Of this new idea: “It’s just a theory, it’s very funny, actually!”
About that 1973 song, title track of his second album,
Billy Joel
he explained: “At the time I was totally shocked that they wanted to release it as a single. It’s in 6/8 time, which is a waltz, it’s a long song and the subject matter is a bit depressing. It didn’t go gold when it came out, but it got a lot of radio play.”
Joel then added that
“Piano Man”
has always been the highlight of his ten years of
Record Residency at Madison Square Garden in New York
and joked about it: “I watched the people in the audience. They know the lyrics so I follow them! When the audience takes over, I like it. I can take a little break!”
During the interview
Billy Joel
he then firmly rejected the idea of retiring after the Madison residency closed. “It doesn’t mean I’m never going to play there again. It’s just the end of this run. I’m not going to stop playing. That’s what I do. I asked a couple of my peers, Don Henley, Bruce Springsteen, ‘What are you going to do now?’ They said the same thing: ‘Keep performing.’ Why? ‘Because that’s what I do.’ … Good idea! What else am I going to do? Stop playing, sit around and watch TV, become a vegetable? No, I don’t want to do that.”
