anonymous June 2nd, 2006 06:59PM  
This song is about loneliness. It's about a somewhat pathetic group of people who sit in a bar on Saturday night because they all have nothing else to do, no one to be, no one to love. "And they're sharing a drink they call loneliness... but it's better than drinking alone." From Paul, the still-single "real estate novelist", to Davy who's stuck in the Navy, to the bartender who feels stuck in a dead-end job, they come together to comiserate about their lives and how they always seem to wind up alone. And Bill, the Piano Man, is there even though he doesn't need to be, because he seems to be a little different from all of these people... but is he? Even Bill himself might be a little lonely, because he's here in this bar, sharing his time and his feelings with everyone else via his piano.

anonymous November 18th, 2006 05:35PM  
WOW YOU GUYS ARE ALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG.
The Piano Man IS Billy Joel.
"Its nine oclock on a saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Theres an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin"

This sets the scene, This is what is going on in the bar and he goes on to say...

"He says, son, can you play me a memory?
Im not really sure how it goes
But its sad and its sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger mans clothes"

This is what the man says to Billy. He wants him to remind him of his earlier years by playing him a song from his earlier years.

"Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright"

Everyone in the bar wants to hear him play and everyone is anxious to hear what Billy has to play next

"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"

Tis explains some of the people here and how nice and welcoming they are to Billy. This also foreshadows what is going to happen in Billy's career.

"But there's someplace that hed rather be
He says, bill, I believe this is killing me.
As the smile ran away from his face
Well Im sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

This sets up the fact that Billy is too good for this bar scene, as many people are.

"Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin with davy whos still in the navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, theyre sharing a drink they call loneliness
But its better than drinkin alone"

Just like Paul wants more from his life but can't have a wife because of his career. Just like Davy. All Davy knows is Navy life and can't get more out of it. Just like the waitress practicing politics. Who by the way was his girlfriend. She obviously wants to be a politician but can't be because of her waitressing. The businessmen, they want to be with their kids and actually get something at life but are obviously stuck at work.

"Its a pretty good crowd for a saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
cause he knows that its me theyve been comin to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano, it 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 doin here? "

He sets the scene again. It's a great crowd. The manager knows the reason people are coming to the bar is to hear Billy play. Everyone comes to get rid of the fact that they're stuck unhappily without their dreams being fufilled. Everyone knows Billy is too good for it and that's why they tip him and ask him why he still works there.

It is also so climatic at a live performance when the band stops playing and the crowd starts singing. Dead silent except for hundreds of thousands of fans singing along. It really symbolizes how far Billy has come in his career and how he started playing bars and really knew he was better than that but never got it and now he has it which is just amazing.

anonymous March 2nd, 2007 09:32PM  
Think of this song as a poem. It's talking about how everyone in this bar is lonely and disappointed with their lives. However a shift comes at the end of the peom/song.
"And say, man, what are you doin here? "
Bill realizes that he just as lonely as the other people he plays songs for.

anonymous March 23rd, 2007 09:01PM  
I'm pretty sure that Billy Joel was having a dispute with his current record company and they would not let them record anything or play live. So he went "undercover" as Bill Martin (Martin is his middle name). This song is about his experiences while playing at a bar under that name.

anonymous May 22nd, 2007 08:32PM  
Well yeah the last line, I think is a statement.

The song shows us witness several examples of your "average joe" from all ages and sexes that you might find commonly in a bar and shows how life's not all its cracked up to be, and the disappointments they all face.

Anyway I'm not getting into the rest of the song, but the last line I think is meant to show that while Billy (or me or you through Billy), have sat there on our/his "high horse" (or piano) happily playing the piano and watching over these unfortunate people, at the end of the day he is also in the same bar as them.

This perhaps shows that most of us are in the same boat of loneliness/disappointments but through various means, and it is in Billy's case, perhaps a wake up call to pick himself up.

anonymous June 15th, 2007 10:06AM  
"And the waitress is practicing politics, as the business men slowly get stoned"

I believe that this line is the waitress working hard for her tips and "practicing politics" if you will....meaning she is maybe either flirting with the businessmen or trying to get them interested, strictly just to increase her tip. She is promoting herself, trying to get their "vote" in form of a tip! And like most any politician, it's all a front, far from reality and how it really is.

Go to your local bar a few times, this is the real deal at many places, also strip clubs.

anonymous August 4th, 2007 09:54PM  
I think that there are two lines that say it all for this song
"And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say man, what are you doin' here?"
I think this is why Billy Joel went for the big time, he saw all these people regretting thier lives, and he decided what the heck, why AM I sitting here, I should go for it, and he did.

Unforgivin October 31st, 2007 08:42PM  
This song, by all accounts, is about his experience as a piano player in a bar. All the occupants in the bar yearn for a happier time but are each stuck in their own personal ruts, the old man yearns for his youth, John to be a movie star, the businessmen want companionship, Paul works to hard trying to be successful while the waitress, much like a politician, tries to keep everyone happy at the same time while still getting something for herself (this is not an insult to waitresses, its commentary on how hard their jobs are and how little credit they get.) The difference in this bar is that Billy Joel is the pianist. He had already released a single before he played here. Unlike the others, he will succeed in escaping this rut and his best times are ahead of him. But he owes his success to these very people, their adoration and their patronage, as shown in the line "and they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say:man what are you doing here?" The song is a reflection on his experience as a bar pianist, and an expression of gratitude to his fans and those who helped him along the way, recognizing that he had a special talent that shouldn't be wasted but shared with the world.

anonymous November 1st, 2007 05:22PM  
His explanation on this is on Disc 4 of his greatest hit box collection.

Billy was trying to get out of a record contract deal and couldn't record. In the meantime he played at a local piano bar. "they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar" That's how he was living, off the tips from the gig.

The people he mentioned are all people he knew at the bar, John the bartendar, a guy who worked in real estate was always working on a novel "Paul is a real estate novelist". Davy who was a Navy guy. The waitress, I can't remember, but I think she was a student, it's been a while since I listened to the explination.

It's not really a metaphor or anything...it's just a story. Go buy the greatest hits box collection.

anonymous March 24th, 2008 12:45PM  
"The Waitress Is practiceing Politics,
As the buisnessmen slowly get stoned"

This could mean 1 of 2 things:

1: She is an aspiring politicion who is simply shooting the breeze with the buisness men about the latest politics talk, and they don't really care what she has to say. All they care about he checking her out and whatnot.

2: She is simply shooting the breeze with the buisnessmen because they are her custimers. In order to seem nice and friendly (so she can get a better tip as someone else said before) she tells them everything they want to hear (just as a politicition may or may not sometimes do), while they sit and get drunk.

anonymous May 4th, 2008 06:25PM  
I think there have been some pretty good explanations of what Billy Joel meant by this song, but what is striking me is that people still seem to think that the waitress is actually talking about politics. It's obvious, and I speak from experience, for I am a waitress, that you need to have a lot of patience, tact and power to stay friendly, polite, smiling and pretending dumb, as if your only goal in life is to make your customer happy and not lose your temper if one of them starts yelling at you: ye'there dahlin' bring me 'nother one-a those will-ye? And then, when you come with the next couple of beers/wodka's or whatever it is they're drinking, thinks he hasn't been annoying enough and actually starts feeling you up or saying thins like: why shall I not give ye me phonenumber dahlin, huh? Gimme a call sometime will-ye, yeah yer hot!
So really, you gotta practice all the politics you can find to resist the longing of just beating one of those guys up and keep your temper under control.

As far as the rest of the song is concerned. Joel is the piano man, that's clear. And he meets all his old friends there and the old man, with the gin tonic does NOT want him to play a song from earlier years, he wants him to play a song about LOVE of course: "Son can you play me a memory, I'm not really sre how it goes, but it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger men's clothes" means nothing less and nothing more than that he HAS loved, but he winded up alone, and he's old now, and forgotten what it's exactly like. But he remembers the sweetness of love, as well as the sadness.

His friend John, the bartender, he's just a dissapointed guy who came to LA for the big work, but then never actually put himself out there, and started a bar just for the money, and now can't get out if it anymore. That's what's killing him and what makes him sad. But he makes the best out if it with small talks and jokes, who, are of course, often made when somebody's lighting your smoke.

Paul, he's indeed the real-estate guy who always tried to write the AMAZING novel everybody's waiting for, and he always lost women by his insecurity and forgettiness, because he never really payed them attention. He was either at work, or tried to mastermind his novel out. And Davy, the guy who never had the ambition to get out of the Navy when he still could, because he thought life was just fine having beers with his Navy mates and god knows what else they do, he now realizes that it's too late and that he's stuck to the Navy. But he tries to get in peace with it.

The waitress I've already explained, the businessmen only want to escape life, their wifes, who all know about their mistresses, their stressing jobs, their children, the worries and the boredom it all brings over them. 'Cause even though they have it all, and it could make you very lively, they don't truly live the experiences, because they're too caught up with their jobs.
The drink they share is really just the loneliness, and it is better to share your loneliness with somebody else, than to just have to sit all by yourself. They share misery.

As far as the whole next part's concerned: the piano sounds like a carnival, the mic smell's like a beer: he really get's a nice set of tones out of that piano he plays on, and the mic, not cleaned in years, smells of alcohol and failure. But he gets something out of it, and it makes people go wild and they tip him, 'cause he's so good. And that's why they ask: so what are you doing here then, mate? You can actually DO something with your life, go DO it, don't end up as we did.
But Joel knows just this little more than they do: he's no better. He's got nowhere to go, he's got nothing to return to. He's got his music, and the best he can do, is sharing his music with others, 'cause it's better than playing alone.

anonymous September 15th, 2008 10:41AM  
Joel has explained numerous times that the "waitress practicing politics" is his first wife and eventual manager Elizabeth, who worked with him in that piano bar. She was a smart cookie; earned a master's degree in business at UCLA. This seems to be a hat-tip to her skills as a skilled negotiator working for tips.

McLovin December 30th, 2008 10:11PM  
You want to know what it's about??? See generally Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1st Ed. 1949).

anonymous July 24th, 2009 08:38AM  
I Think its about everyone wishing for a different future but they dont no how good their life's really are. He loves playing at this bar and feels comfortable he could have a better future but he'd rather continue with cheering these people up. Its about trusting fate where you end up is the best posistion that you couldve ended up. Billy seems 2 be saying that they are getting a break from their lives and chating about their dreams that they will never achieve. Its about dreaming and its about being happy about where u are and what u have achieved in life so far