The pianist makes money when the patrons "sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say, 'Man, what are you doin' here?'" The chorus, in bar-room sing-along style, comes from the bar patrons themselves, who say, "Sing us a song, / You're the piano man / Sing us a song tonight. Most of these characters have broken or unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist's job is to help them "forget about life for a while", as the lyrics state.
![at the gay bar song at the gay bar song](https://c.saavncdn.com/886/Gay-Bar-A-Tribute-to-Electric-Six-English-2012-500x500.jpg)
The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player who focuses mainly on the "regular crowd" that "shuffles" into the bar at nine o'clock on a Saturday: an old man, John the bartender, the waitress, businessmen, and bar regulars like "real estate novelist" Paul and navy sailor Davy. So Joel stated that he was "hiding out" at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin, while lawyers at Columbia Records tried to get him out of his first record deal. After this bad experience, Joel wanted to leave his contract with Family Productions for Columbia Records, but the contract that he had signed made this very difficult. to record his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, which was marred by a mastering error by the album's producers at Family Productions, the first label that signed Joel. "The waitress is practicing politics" refers to Joel's first wife Elizabeth Weber, with whom he moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1972 and who worked at The Executive Room as a waitress while Joel played the piano. "Paul is a real estate novelist" refers to a real estate agent named Paul who would sit at the bar each night working on what he believed would be the next great American novel. "John at the bar" was really the bartender who worked during Joel's shift at the piano bar. Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people.
#AT THE GAY BAR SONG FULL#
Since he needed work to pay the bills, but could not use his better known name, he worked at the Executive Room bar as a piano player using the name "Bill Martin" (Joel's full name is William Martin Joel). In a talk on Inside the Actors Studio, Joel said that he had to get away from New York due to a conflict with his then recording company and hence lived in Los Angeles for three years with his first wife. "Piano Man" is a fictionalized retelling of Joel's own experience as a piano-lounge singer for six months in 1972–73 at the now defunct Executive Room bar in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected "Piano Man" for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance." It is now a highlight of Joel's live shows, where he usually allows the audience to sing the chorus.
![at the gay bar song at the gay bar song](https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/media/41-ABBA-gay-anthems-billboard-1548.jpg)
Following Joel's breakthrough as a popular musician with the release of The Stranger, it became one of his most well-known songs. Joel's first major hit and his signature song, "Piano Man" peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1974.
![at the gay bar song at the gay bar song](https://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/06/kelsea-ballerini.jpg)
Joel describes various characters, including a bartender named John and a "real estate novelist" named Paul, all based on real-life individuals. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City-based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of the album Cold Spring Harbor. The song is sung from Joel's point of view as a piano player at a bar, reminiscing about his experiences there and the people he encountered. His first single in North America, it was included on Joel's 1973 album of the same name and later released as a single on November 2, 1973. " Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. Problems playing this file? See media help. A sample of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" from Piano Man