Max's Musings

Soundtrack, Feb 11, Piano Man

Billy Joel's first album, the 1971 release Cold Spring Harbor, was a commercial failure.

He left New York for Los Angeles, and spent the next two years working as a lounge musician. During this time, he wrote "Piano Man," which became his breakout hit and his signature song. The song narrates his real-life experience, and includes people he encountered at the lounge.

The combination of the haunting tone of the music and the undercurrent of hopelessness in the lyrics make the song a particularly powerful. The people of the song have broken dreams and broken lives. They use the lounge to escape the harsh reality of the outside world.

The song brought to mind an old Poul Anderson story I'd read ages ago, "My Object All Sublime."   Anderson's story was about a fugitive--a time traveller--hiding in the present from the crimes he'd committed in another era. It tells the story his capture in a bar. I'd just finished a time travel novel of my own--Timekeepers  --and so I had time travel on my mind.

I wrote a story inspired by Poul Anderson's, but also by the mood of Joel's song. It's "Amazing Grace" . While the title of the story refers the famous hymn, only the lyrics and not the music play role in the story. The story does specifically reference a Joel song, "The Stranger," but the opening paragraph was wholly inspired by "The Piano Man." I hope that that short paragraph captures the mood of Joel's masterpiece. Overall, it's not a very good story--Poul's story is much better. I never submitted "Amazing Grace" publication, but did find it a worthwhile writing exercise.

Here's the official video of "The Piano Man."