200/365 Songs: Piano Man – Billy Joel
Given that this is the 200th song in my 365songs project (just 165 to go…!) I wanted to play something big today and I’ve opted for the Billy Joel classic Piano Man. I’ve always loved this song – I used to play the harmonica along to it, but I couldn’t find a harmonica when I was recording today! It dates from 1973 and was written following the failure of Billy’s first album Cold Spring Harbor when he was making his living playing in bars, helping the regulars to “forget about life for a while”. The record company executives decided the original recording was too long, so they cut two verses in half and spliced them together. Billy makes reference to this in his later song The Entertainer: “it was a beautiful song, but it ran too long: if you’re gonna have a hit, you’ve gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05″. Catriona and I went to the last Billy Joel concert in Glasgow (and two previous ones) and I’ll never forget the encore of Piano Man and the many, many times the crowd sang the chorus as Billy stood ‘conducting’, before eventually bringing his piano and the band for one last chorus.
So, any ideas for the next 165 songs? Is there a song I’ve not played yet which you like? Or an artist which I’ve not really covered? By now I’m sure that you know my style, so let me know if there’s something you think would fit!
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Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:40 — 6.5MB)
Do you think you can still play Root Beer Rag???
May have to practise that one a bit!
You sound just like Billy Joel!! Very cool. Are we going to rock on Friday?
AWESOME!!!
although ‘Honesty’ was AWESOME(R)… 
Just brilliant!! absolutely LOVED listening to this.
Excellent rendition. Much enjoyed.