Piano Man ( song ) - wikipedia Piano Man ( song ) For the Billy Joel album of the same name, see Piano Man ( album ). For the EP and song by Mamamoo, see Piano Man ( EP ). `` Piano Man '' Single by Billy Joel from the album Piano Man B - side `` You 're My Home '' Released November 2, 1973 Format 45 rpm single Recorded September 1973 Genre Soft rock folk rock Length 5 : 40 ( Album version ) 4 : 30 ( Single version ) Label Columbia Songwriter ( s ) Billy Joel Producer ( s ) Michael Stewart Billy Joel singles chronology `` Piano Man '' ( 1973 ) `` Worse Comes to Worst '' ( 1974 ) Music video `` Piano Man '' on YouTube `` Piano Man '' A sample of Billy Joel 's `` Piano Man '' from Piano Man Problems playing this file ? See media help. `` Piano Man '' is the first single released by American singer - songwriter Billy Joel. It was released on November 2, 1973, and has been included on several subsequent albums. Joel 's first major hit and his signature song, the song peaked at # 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1974. In 2016, the Library of Congress selected `` Piano Man '' for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its `` cultural, historic, or artistic significance. '' Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Song background 1.2 Content 1.3 Releases 2 Composition 3 Track listing 3.1 7 '' US single ( 1973 ) 4 Music video 5 Popularity 6 Chart history 6.1 Weekly charts 6.2 Year - end charts 7 References 8 External links Overview Song background `` Piano Man '' is a fictionalized retelling of Joel 's own experience as a piano - lounge singer for six months in 1972 -- 73 at the now defunct Executive Room bar in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles. In a talk on Inside the Actors Studio, Joel said that he had to get away from New York due to a conflict with his then recording company and hence lived in Los Angeles for three years with his first wife. Since he needed work to pay the bills, but could not use his better known name, he worked at the Executive Room bar as a piano player using the name `` Bill Martin '' ( Joel 's full name is William Martin Joel ). Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people. `` John at the bar '' was really the bartender who worked during Joel 's shift at the piano bar. `` Paul is a real estate novelist '' refers to a real estate agent named Paul who would sit at the bar each night working on what he believed would be the next great American novel. `` The waitress is practicing politics '' refers to Joel 's first wife Elizabeth Weber, with whom he moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1972 and who worked at The Executive Room as a waitress while Joel played the piano. Joel had moved from New York to L.A. to record his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, which was marred by a mastering error by the album 's producers at Family Productions, the first label that signed Joel. After this bad experience, Joel wanted to leave his contract with Family Productions for Columbia Records, but the contract that he had signed made this very difficult. So Joel stated that he was `` hiding out '' at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin, while lawyers at Columbia Records tried to get him out of his first record deal. Content The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player who focuses mainly on the `` regular crowd '' that `` shuffles '' into the bar at nine o'clock on a Saturday : an old man, John the bartender, the waitress, businessmen, and bar regulars like `` real estate novelist '' Paul and US Navy sailor, Davy. Most of these characters have broken or unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist 's job is to help them `` forget about life for a while '', as the lyrics state. The pianist makes money when the patrons `` sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say, ' Man, what are you doin ' here ? ' '' The chorus, in bar - room sing - along style, comes from the bar patrons themselves, who say, `` 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 all right. '' As for the lyrics, Joel admitted that with their five - line grouping, they were more in the form of a limerick than a typical poem. Releases It was first released as a single on November 2, 1973, and then as the second track on Joel 's Piano Man album and was later released on several greatest hits collections. When originally issued as a single, the song was deemed too long by Columbia Records executives ( 5 minutes and 38 seconds ), so two verses were cut in half and spliced together for the release as a 45, clocking in at 4 minutes and 33 seconds. A promo 45 had an even shorter edit, clocking in at around 3 minutes. These single edits were also remixed -- bringing out a lot of the instrumentation like acoustic guitars and harmonicas. Later, Billy Joel 's song `` The Entertainer '' refers to the editing of the `` Piano Man '' single by commenting, `` It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long / If you 're gon na have a hit, you got ta make it fit / So they cut it down to 3 : 05. '' Composition Joel wrote and originally performed the song in the key of C major. It has a waltz time signature and begins with a jazzy piano solo before moving into its famous piano and harmonica introduction. The verses and the chorus feature a descending walking bassline in C that ends with a D -- G turnaround. Instrumentally, Joel 's 1973 version features piano, harmonica, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, accordion, mandolin, and drums. As of 2017, Joel now performs the song in B - flat major, a whole step down from the original. When Joel received the Gershwin Prize in 2014, he performed `` Piano Man '' in the original key of C major for the first time in approximately a decade. Joel acknowledged on Inside the Actors Studio in 1999 that each of the characters in the song was based on a real person, either a friend of his or another stranger at the bar. For instance, Joel claimed that the waitress `` practicing politics '' was actually his first wife, Elizabeth Weber. Joel also criticized the fact that the verses and the chorus of the song both use the same chord sequence and a similar melody, stating that the melody `` does n't go anywhere ( musically ). '' Nevertheless, Joel also included minor harmonic variation and a different melody in the song 's bridge section. Track listing 7 '' US single ( 1973 ) `` Piano Man '' -- 4 : 30 `` You 're My Home '' -- 3 : 08 Music video The first music video for this song was released in 1973. It features Joel portraying a bar act Bill Martin performing the song, and shows a typical American bar as a setting. A new version of the video was shot in 1985, with new extras, and was more or less the same as the original. The original video used an alternate take of the song but it was at the same length as the album version, while the new video used said album version. Popularity The single broke into the Billboard Top 40 in April 1974, but the single fell considerably short of the top 10 in the US ( Billboard # 25 ). `` Piano Man '' fared better in Canada, where it peaked at # 10, and established Joel as a star there. ( From 1975 to 1980, every one of Joel 's charting singles peaked higher in Canada than in the US, except for songs that reached # 1 in both markets. ) Because `` Piano Man '' was at the time only a moderate hit in the US, the song was not played often on American radio during the next three or four years. However, after the 1977 release of Joel 's album The Stranger and Joel 's quick subsequent rise to superstardom, the song would soon become one of his most well - known and loved songs. It has been, since ' 77, a big `` oldies '' radio hit, and is considered Joel 's signature song, partially due to its title. Today it remains popular, and ranks as Joel 's # 1 song on the iTunes Store as of February 2014. The song is so well known that during Joel 's concerts, he usually lets the audience sing the chorus. In concert, Joel often performs `` Piano Man '' as a finale. During the first Face to Face tour featuring Elton John and Joel, ads promoted the event as `` Rocket Man meets Piano Man ''. `` Piano Man '' was ranked # 421 in the 2004 list of Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. This song was released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3, along with 11 of Joel 's other songs. During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, it was played during New York Mets home games in the middle of the 8th inning. If the Mets were ahead at this point in the game, or if the game was tied, a smiling image of Mets manager Terry Collins popped up briefly on the ballpark 's video boards when the song got to the line `` And the manager gives me a smile ''. This song will be replacing Lou Monte 's `` Lazy Mary '' as the New York Mets seventh inning stretch song following the 2018 season. `` Piano Man '' has been selected as one of 25 sound recordings in 2016 to be preserved by the Library of Congress National Recording Registry for being `` culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ''. Chart history Weekly charts Chart ( 1973 -- 74 ) Peak position Australian Singles Chart 20 Canadian RPM Top Singles 10 Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary 14 New Zealand ( Listener ) 14 Netherlands 56 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 25 U.S. Billboard Easy Listening U.S. Cash Box Top 100 16 Chart ( 2013 ) Peak position Irish Singles Chart 83 Chart ( 2014 ) Peak position Dutch Singles Chart 56 Year - end charts Chart ( 1974 ) Rank Australia 93 Canada 91 U.S. ( Joel Whitburn 's Pop Annual ) 178 References Jump up ^ `` 200 Greatest Soft Rock Songs ''. entertainment.expertscolumn.com. Jump up ^ Billboard. April 20, 1974. p. Front cover. Retrieved October 8, 2016 -- via Google Books. Jump up ^ `` Billy Joel : Chart history ''. Billboard. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ `` '' Piano Man, '' `` I Will Survive '' and Wilt Chamberlain 's 100 - Point Game Receive Designation ``. Library of Congress. March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2015. Jump up ^ Joel, Billy. `` Billy Joel Interview ''. CBS This Morning ( Interview ). Interviewed by Charlie Rose. Retrieved September 9, 2016 -- via YouTube. Jump up ^ `` Major 7th chords : a talk with Billy Joel ''. The Actors Studio, USA. 1999. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Bordowitz, Hank. Billy Joel : The Life and Times of An Angry Young Man. p. 73. Retrieved January 1, 2018. Jump up ^ Getlen, Larry ( January 26, 2014 ). `` How Billy Joel Became ' The Piano Man ' ''. New York Post. Retrieved January 17, 2016. Jump up ^ Bordowitz, Hank. Billy Joel : The Life and Times of An Angry Young Man. Jump up ^ `` Billy Joel -- Q & A with the Press Club, 2015 ''. The Press Club., USA. Retrieved September 9, 2016 -- via You Tube. Jump up ^ `` Rocket Man ''. plantcity2.tbo.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2018. Jump up ^ `` New York Mets Ballpark Music ''. New York Mets. January 20, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Billy Joel ' Piano Man ' to Be Inducted in Library of Congress National Recording Registry ''. Billy Joel Official Site. March 23, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Item Display -- RPM -- Library and Archives Canada ''. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Item Display -- RPM -- Library and Archives Canada ''. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved April 16, 2017. Jump up ^ Flavour of New Zealand, August 10, 1974 Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel ( 2002 ). Top Adult Contemporary : 1961 -- 2001. Record Research. p. 127. Jump up ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, April 27, 1974 Jump up ^ `` IRMA : Irish Charts -- Singles, Albums & Compilations ''. Wayback.archive.org. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Steffen Hung. `` Billy Joel -- Piano Man ''. Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Forum -- 1970 ( ARIA Charts : Special Occasion Charts ) ''. Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2016. Jump up ^ Bac-lac.gc.ca Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel ( 1999 ). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin : Record Research. ISBN 0 - 89820 - 142 - X. External links 1970s portal music portal United States portal `` Piano Man '' Music Video on YouTube / (c) 1985 Sony BMG channel Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Billy Joel Studio albums Cold Spring Harbor Piano Man Streetlife Serenade Turnstiles The Stranger 52nd Street Glass Houses The Nylon Curtain An Innocent Man The Bridge Storm Front River of Dreams Fantasies & Delusions Live albums Songs in the Attic KOHЦEPT 2000 Years : The Millennium Concert 12 Gardens Live Live at Shea Stadium : The Concert Compilations Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 -- 3 Souvenir : The Ultimate Collection The Ultimate Collection The Essential Billy Joel Piano Man : The Very Best of Billy Joel My Lives The Hits Singles `` She 's Got a Way '' `` Piano Man '' `` You 're My Home '' `` Worse Comes to Worst '' `` Travelin ' Prayer '' `` The Ballad of Billy the Kid '' `` The Entertainer '' `` Just the Way You Are '' `` Movin ' Out ( Anthony 's Song ) '' `` Only the Good Die Young '' `` She 's Always a Woman '' `` Vienna '' `` The Stranger '' `` My Life '' `` Big Shot '' `` Honesty '' `` Until the Night '' `` All for Leyna '' `` You May Be Right '' `` It 's Still Rock and Roll to Me '' `` Do n't Ask Me Why '' `` Sometimes a Fantasy '' `` Say Goodbye to Hollywood '' ( Live ) `` She 's Got a Way '' ( Live ) `` Pressure '' `` Allentown '' `` Goodnight Saigon '' `` Tell Her About It '' `` Uptown Girl '' `` An Innocent Man '' `` The Longest Time '' `` Leave a Tender Moment Alone '' `` This Night '' `` Keeping the Faith '' `` You 're Only Human ( Second Wind ) '' `` The Night Is Still Young '' `` Modern Woman '' `` A Matter of Trust '' `` This Is the Time '' `` Baby Grand '' `` Back in the U.S.S.R. '' ( Live ) `` We Did n't Start the Fire '' `` Leningrad '' `` I Go to Extremes '' `` The Downeaster ' Alexa ' '' `` That 's Not Her Style '' `` And So It Goes '' `` Shameless '' `` All Shook Up '' `` The River of Dreams '' `` All About Soul '' `` No Man 's Land '' `` Lullabye ( Goodnight, My Angel ) '' `` To Make You Feel My Love '' `` Hey Girl '' `` All My Life '' `` Christmas in Fallujah '' Other songs `` Everybody Loves You Now '' `` Captain Jack '' `` Los Angelenos '' `` Root Beer Rag '' `` New York State of Mind '' `` Prelude / Angry Young Man '' `` Miami 2017 ( Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway ) '' `` Scenes from an Italian Restaurant '' `` Zanzibar '' `` Laura '' `` Scandinavian Skies '' `` Big Man on Mulberry Street '' Tours An Innocent Man Tour Face to Face 1994 Face to Face 1995 Face to Face 1998 Face to Face 2001 Face to Face 2003 Face to Face 2009 Face to Face 2010 Billy Joel in Concert Film Oliver & Company The Last Play at Shea See also Discography Movin ' Out Billy Joel Band The Hassles Attila Alexa Ray Joel Christie Brinkley Katie Lee `` Movin ' Out '' ( Glee episode ) Book Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Piano_Man_(song)&oldid=853417433 '' Categories : 1970s ballads 1973 singles 1974 singles Debut singles Billy Joel songs Songs based on actual events Songs about music Songs written by Billy Joel Song recordings produced by Michael Stewart ( musician ) Columbia Records singles 1973 songs United States National Recording Registry recordings Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Articles needing more detailed references Use mdy dates from January 2018 Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013 Articles containing potentially dated statements from February 2014 All articles containing potentially dated statements Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Français 한국어 Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Português Русский Svenska 5 more Edit links This page was last edited on 4 August 2018, at 17 : 08 ( UTC ). 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Question: who sang sing me a song mr piano man
Answer: Billy Joel