IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKIN' ALONE: The Official ILM Track-by-Track BILLY JOEL Listening Thread

I like the lyrics because it's parody and self-parody at the same time. The overblown legendary status given to these Western guys, and the locals out on Long Island who think West Virginia is way out west.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlFmE4enqaI

Worse Comes To Worst opens side two of Piano Man with another smattering of different genre cues. Released as the album's second single in a 2:48 edit, it peaked at #80 on Billboard and #62 in Canada. Scarcely anthologized, it's probably one of his most obscure singles, but it apparently had some shelf life in the live set; this 1977 version bangs it together with "Ain't No Crime," with both songs getting a nice shot in the arm and some very lively keyboard work.

haha sounds like something off Superfly for like 10 seconds at the beginning

That sonofabitch thumb brings me back to the stoned businessmen in "Piano Man" for a second. I get that FM radio was playing anything in 1973, but Billy was getting pushed more toward AM/Top 40.

So with that in mind, how in the world would any program director allow a song with the word "stoned" in it on the air if it meant anything other than getting tooted on dry martinis?

I'd start counting the placenames - from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to New Mexico - but "We Didn't Start the Fire" would ruin it.

The overall sound of this is in line with what I think of as his style; even the tone of his singing voice. barring the Superfly/Tell Me Something Good intro of course lol

lyrics wise there's not a lot of "there" there, but musically it's pretty enjoyable

I like it!

A little too white reggae--aka, my least favourite sound in the world--for me.

billy as jimmy buffett. enjoyable, sing-along fluff. i like how the harmonies kick in on the chorus. the bridge makes no sense. "when i am together, when i sing my song"? smart of him not to come back to the bridge a second time.

somebody should sample the intro. action bronson, do it.

this also reminds me of ringo starr for some reason.

does anyone else find the cover image of this album incredibly creepy? my wife said it was the reason she's never listened to this album. I can't quite put my finger on it myself.

yes i hate it

it looks like a drawing someone did in a booth on the boardwalk for five dollars.

It's a painting, right? Or is it some kind of re-touched photo? It makes me think of Catholic icons for some reason.

It's hard to think of white reggae in this period without mentioning Eric Patrick Clapton. However this predates 461 Ocean Boulevard, does it not? (73 vs 74)

I do think that the chorus of "Worse Comes to Worst," the backing vocals especially, has a somewhat Ocean Boulevard-ish sound.

clapton is otm. there's a general vibe here of what people who knew, or were in, the beatles were doing circa 1972-73.

does anyone else find the cover image of this album incredibly creepy? my wife said it was the reason she's never listened to this album. I can't quite put my finger on it myself.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:38 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes i hate it

― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:39 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it looks like he's supposed to be dead & that is his ghost, but yeah terrible cover image

the back cover upthread is even more horrifying!

it's AM Gold's version of the Exorcist demon pazuzu

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/c/cd/Pazuzu-0.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150401021629

it looks like he's supposed to be dead & that is his ghost

and the coffin, it sounds like a carnival
and the skeleton smells like a beer

fcc, I can't determine whether of the Delaney & Bonnie crowd were involved in Piano Man. I don't think so. Maybe it was just a sound that was in the air at that time.

captain jack is dead
undead
undead
undead
undead un

fcc, I can't determine whether of the Delaney & Bonnie crowd were involved in Piano Man. I don't think so. Maybe it was just a sound that was in the air at that time.

i don't think there was much crossover in personnel, so yeah, i assume it was in the air. but if you click thru enough wiki pages you eventually discover, not surprisingly, that everything is pretty much connected to everything:

Laura Creamer (née Polkinghorne) is a songwriter, vocalist, and arranger who has recorded and/or toured with Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Van Morrison, Glenn Frey, Bruce Hornsby, Kid Rock, Eric Clapton and many others. She is credited as a backing vocalist on multiple albums including Billy Joel's 1973 Piano Man.

RE: The album cover: It wasn't until I started working at Kinko's that I finally went "Wait a minute..."

http://i.imgur.com/p9G80jI.jpg

lol

They call him the wild rose
But his name is Billy Joel

guys i skipped the day we were supposed to listen to the title track, anyway i somehow forgot the line "making love to his tonic and gin," please throw all recorded evidence of this song into the sea

it wasn't until this very moment the horrific image of billy joel jammin his dong into a saffire tonic invaded my sanity

the cover is really really bad. though tbh if theyd gone the more obvious route of a photo of him at the piano (maybe even at the Executive Room) it would just be generic 70s Yawnsomely Literal material. the Shroud of Turin approach is at least memorable I guess.

I believe "Jammin his Dong" was the original album title but the label scrapped it

so it's supposed to be like a death mask image?

xp

jam a dong
jam a dong
gin and tong

his eyes are so hollow

i hate it
i hate it

I believe "Jammin his Dong" was the original album title but the label scrapped it

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:18 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh so "piano dick" is actually the unearthed original draft

it wasn't until this very moment the horrific image of billy joel jammin his dong into a saffire tonic invaded my sanity

So the gin's Beefeater then, right?

I believe there is a Piano Man demo, with different lyrics, on the "My Life" anthology, but I forgot to dig it up the other day. Hmm.

the infamous "soda and scotch" demo.

apparently it goes like this:


Lyrically

FREE - In Google Play

Install

in: LyricWikia 

Billy Joel:Piano Man (Demo Version)







Piano Man (Demo Version)

This song is by Billy Joel and appears on the box set My Lives (2005).



Song of the Day
January 31, 2007

Well, it's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The drinks are going fast
There's an old man sitting next to me
Regretting the time that has passed

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory?
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"

La la la la la la
La la la la la la la

Sing us a song, little piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright

ew sorry abt all that accidental pasting

omg little piano man

I am totally calling Billy that if I ever run into him

"The drinks are going fast"? Come on, Bill, you can do better.

The regular crowd shuffles in; the manager looks at his watch...
There's an old man sittin' next to me, makin' love to his soda and scotch.

Hm. No.

The regular crowd has just seen a film by Fellini...
There's an old man sittin' next to me, makin' love to his dry martini.

Still no, but better.

The regular crowd brachiates in like a rufous gibbon...
There's an old man sittin' next to me, makin' love to his Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Maybe. Crap this is hard.

lol

My Lives]
Oh he's SO important

look at this fucking cover:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/My_Lives_BJ.jpg

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/09/20/513259474_13195159_wide-360d295b5726058b589b84b5d341f077b1cde4a7.jpg?s=1400

Just remembered another misheard lyric from my youth: "Well we're all in the mood for a melody / And you got us spinnin', all right."

See? The whole "Man, whaddya doin' here?" part isn't some sort of revelation that the PM is a god amongst men. It's the final reveal that narrator describing this sad sack of shit place is none other than a sad sack of shit himself!

The whole time, we're being told about these guys who are roped into the military, selling condos instead of the great American novel, listless drunks – and who do they love? The Piano Man! They're no better than the men who drink coffee at Citgo, see the high school quarterback walk by, and go, "Now that Nathan Canterberry, now there's a guy who's going to be a big deal some day!" The fuck do they know?

Also, I never realized until just now that PM can stand for either Piano Man or ... Paul McCartney.

I've never really thought about Piano Man this much but for an iconic song it's really got a ton of weird/odd/awkwardly phrased lyrics:


Makin' love to his tonic and gin
When I wore a younger man's clothes
Now Paul is a real estate novelist
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
And the microphone smells like a beer

That's why it sucks

Plus its such a dirge

yr a dirge