Piano Man Lyrics

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

In what has come to be one of his trademark songs, “Piano Man” draws upon Joel’s experience as a bar pianist at The Executive Room in LA to tell the story of a typical night at the bar, and all of the loneliness which that entails.

Written after his first album Cold Spring Harbor tanked (it did not chart originally on release), “Piano Man” was Joel’s first of many hits. It reached the top 30 in the US, Canada and Australia, and was a minor hit in The Netherlands and UK.

In 2011, “Piano Man” was ranked #429 on the Rolling Stone Magazine list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song is considered a classic by many, and comes with its fair share of interesting facts.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Billy Joel say about "Piano Man"?
Genius Answer

Billy Joel spoke to Rolling Stone about writing the song:

It was all right, I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.

In 2005, Joel shared on the Today Show:

That was a real gig. I did that for about six months, and while I was doing the gig, I got to write a song about it — this is a real slice-of-life song.

What is a real estate novelist?
Genius Answer

The term in itself means nothing. Billy Joel said in an interview that the people in the song were real people he met. Paul was a real estate agent who wanted to write the great American novel. So in “real estate novelist”, Joel combines Paul’s real profession and the profession he dreamed of.

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