Lyrics to
Piano Man

This version of Piano Man was released by Billy Joel in 1973.

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Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Billy Joel or about the 1970s in general.

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin

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”

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

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be

He says, “Bill, I believe this is killing me”
As a smile ran away from his face
“Well, I’m sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place”

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he’s talking with Davy, who’s still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinking alone

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

It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
‘Cause he knows that it’s me they’ve been coming to see
To forget about life for a while

And the piano sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say “Man what are you doing here?”

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

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Billy Joel has released many songs over the years besides Piano Man. Billy Joel released songs from 1971 to 1993 spanning across albums like Cold Spring Harbor, Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade, Turnstiles, The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man, The Bridge, Storm Front, and River Of Dreams. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Billy Joel.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Piano Man by Billy Joel

The lyrics for Piano Man are defined as the words making up the song released by Billy Joel in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Piano Man have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Billy Joel and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Piano Man by Billy Joel if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Piano Man" means the words set to the music of Piano Man, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Billy Joel. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Piano Man and the lyrics to Piano Man are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Billy Joel who came here looking just for the lyrics to Piano Man, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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