Australian singles chart:
Piano Man entered the Kent Music Report on 2 February 1976 and peaked at #20.
Album:
The song is on Piano Man which entered the Kent Music Report album charts on 19 August 1974 and peaked at #14.
Songwriter:
Billy Joel
Producer:
Michael Stewart
Record label of Australian release:
CBS
Songfacts:
Piano Man was inspired by Joel’s experiences playing at The Executive Room, a piano bar in Los Angeles. He worked there for six months in 1972 after his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor, tanked. The characters in the song are based on real people Joel encountered while working at The Executive Room.
The “waitress practicing politics” is Elizabeth Weber, who ended up becoming his first wife when Joel married her in 1973 (they divorced in 1982).
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/billy-joel/piano-man
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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