I have been a Billy Joel fan since high school in the 70s. Some of his music is melancholy and moody which gels well with teenage angst. Joel is a classically trained pianist and has amazing keyboard chops. The piano player in me dreamed of being able to play his “Root Beer Rag” but it was much too complicated, and I gave up. While I love Billy’s piano playing, the storytelling in his lyrics draws me in and moves me.

One night last week I was up too late and caught Billy Joel on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. After some small talk, Colbert noted that Billy Joel’s iconic and signature song, “Piano Man” was 50 years old. “Piano Man” was released on November 3, 1973. How can that be 50 years ago? I was a sophomore in high school!

Billy took a job playing piano at a bar called The Executive Lounge, under his first and middle name, Billy Martin in Los Angeles in 1972 to pay the bills. “Piano Man” is a memoir of sorts. Colbert asked Joel if he knew that “Piano Man” would be such a fan favorite, and Joel responded that he didn’t even think the song was that good. It was in waltz time (3/4) and the lyrics were like limericks. Limericks? How did I miss that?

“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?'”

“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.”

Well I’ll be darn, many verses are in limerick format! Maybe it’s not just his musicianship and storytelling that makes me such a huge fan. Maybe it’s because he is a poet.