Billy Joel knows all about an increasingly popular fan theory that suggests two of his “Piano Man” song characters are gay. And, the Grammy winner understands why fans think that.
In the song, originally released in 1973, Joel sings from the point of a view of piano player in a bar telling stories about the bar’s patrons.
Though it would eventually become Joel’s trademark song, “Piano Man” has never been a conventional pop hit, as Joel explained to Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist in the August 18 episode of “Sunday Sitdown.”
“At the time, was totally shocked that (Joel’s record company) wanted to put it out as a single. It’s in 6:8 time, which is a waltz. It’s a long song. And the topic is a bit depressing,” said Joel.
“It didn’t go gold or anything, when it came out. But it got a lot of airplay,” he added.
In the song’s third verse, listeners meet Paul, a “real estate novelist” who “never had time for a wife.” Paul sits at the bar talking to Davy, who’s “still in the Navy and probably will be for life.”
“I do have to ask you, what exactly is a real estate novelist?” Willie wondered.
“It’s a guy who’s a real estate broker who’s trying to write the great American novel. So I made him a real estate novelist,” Joel replied, laughing.
When Willie suggested Paul never “found time” for a wife because he was busy working on his book, Joel brought up the speculation about the characters being gay.
“Well, there’s this new theory out there now, that it’s actually about a gay bar,” said Joel.
“I was reading this, and I said, ‘Oh, I see how that could be.’ Paul is talking to Davy, who’s in the Navy, you know,” continued Joel, who began singing the Village People’s 1979 disco hit “In the Navy,” which was embraced as an anthem by the LGTBQ community.
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“So, yeah, there’s a whole theory about it. He doesn’t have time for a wife,” he added.
Joel went on to say the he never intended for Paul, Davy or any of the other characters in “Piano Man” to be gay.
“I never considered that, but I see it now,” he said, adding, “It’s very funny, actually.”
Joel, who ended his popular Madison Square Garden residency on July 25th, revealed elsewhere during the interview that he sometimes relies on the audience for help with lyrics, especially on his peppy, lyrically dense 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
“You mess up one lyric in that, it’s a train wreck. So you’ve gotta, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” he told Willie, snapping his fingers.
“You gotta know all the lyrics. And I look down. And there’s always somebody who knows all the words. And I’m following them,” he added, laughing.
Joel also touched on his latest single, “Turn the Lights Back On,” released earlier this year. The song, written by musician Freddy Wexler and recorded by Joel, marked the first time Joel has released new music in years.
Joel’s previous single, “All My Life,” arrived in 2007, and his last full-length studio album of new material, the classical music collection “Fantasies & Delusions,” was released in 2001.
With the recent release of Joel’s “Turn the Lights Back On,” some fans have wondered if the new song could be an era of new music from the singer.
“Did (releasing a new song) inspire me to want to write more stuff? Not particularly, no,” Joel said.
“Writing, to me, is torment. I don’t want to do that, anymore,” he added, laughing.
Joel explained that he preferred to write music for himself these days rather than struggling to craft perfect pop hits. “I’d like to write music. I don’t like to write songs, so much, because it’s really, really hard to write a good song, really hard,” he said.
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