The hit that Billy Joel expected would flop

In 1973, Billy Joel released the famous song “Piano Man,” which has since become one of the musician’s most popular. The soulful ballad somehow manages to capture a number of facets of human emotion in a truly inspirational way. It seems to highlight both the futility of existence and the beauty of life all in one, with a chorus that has been sung to him countless times since its creation.

Despite the song’s undeniable success, the waltz-like ballad set in a piano bar was met with trepidation by its composer upon the song’s release. Joel has spoken publicly about it on several occasions, saying that he was happy with the song when he first released it, but he didn’t think it would be as successful as it was.

Firstly, this could be because Joel had to shorten the original version of the track, so the version that was released was not the one he had originally written. When asked why he shortened the song from over five minutes to three and a half minutes, he said it was “to make it a single. To get played on top 40 radio, there were time restrictions on what they wanted to play.”

However, Joel went into more detail about the song, saying, “It’s a waltz and it’s about a guy in a piano bar, and it’s not even lyrics, it’s a limerick,” he explained. “I think it’s a decent song, but it doesn’t change too much. When you play it on the piano as an instrumental, you understand what it’s about because it’s the same thing over and over and over again.”

If Billy Joel can’t predict when something will be a hit, then maybe no one will ever know. There’s a beauty in “Piano Man” that captures listeners’ hearts from the moment they hear it. While everything Joel says about the song is true, the undeniable hit potential lies in how much the title moves you.

Related topics