Billy Joel includes plenty of references to geographical locations in his most famous songs. Is the Piano Man's fixation with location indicative of his life as a traveling musician or are they more meaningful as allegory? Here are some of Billy Joel's most famous references to physical locations and what they might symbolize. When you get Billy Joel tickets online, make sure you get seats in the right location.
"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" - Many of the songs from the 1976 album Turnstiles were about moving, relocation, leaving and arriving. Such is the case with "Say Goodbye to Hollywood." Billy Joel moved to Los Angeles originally to try to liven up his musical career, but once he caught on he wanted to move back to his native New York. His lyrics talk about losing friends he met while in L.A. Joel croons, "So many faces in and out of my life/ Some will last/ Some will just be now and then/ Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes/ I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again."
"Vienna" - When the name of the song is the name of a city, you know it's going to make this list of geographical Billy Joel songs. Vienna isn't exactly the focal point of the song, though, as Billy's lyrics talk about slowing down, staying put for a while, saying goodbye to restlessness. Vienna can wait.
Here Vienna is a metaphor for an ambitious goal that will be realized eventually. But unlike some of his other songs, Billy is anti-traveling in this one: "But you know that when the truth is told/ That you can get what you want or you can just get old/ You're gonna kick off before you even/ Get halfway through/ When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"
"New York State of Mind" - Also from the Turnstiles album, "New York State of Mind" talks about Billy Joel's enthusiasm for moving back to New York City after a long bout on the West Coast. It's only natural to feel an affinity to the place where you grew up, and Billy wants to get back to the good old NYC as fast as he can. He sings, "I've seen all the movie stars/ In their fancy cars and their limousines/ Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens/ But I know what I'm needing/ And I don't want to waste more time/ I'm in a New York state of mind."
"We Didn't Start the Fire" - Chock full of pop culture references, names, places, events sometimes about the Cold War, sometimes seemingly random, "We Didn't Start the Fire" rattles off plenty of geographical locations. A few of the mentioned places include North Korea, South Korea, South Pacific, England, Communist Bloc, Brooklyn, Budapest, Alabama, Suez, Little Rock, River Kwai, Lebanon, California, Congo, Berlin, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iran and China.
"Piano Man," "Uptown Girl" and "The River of Dreams" all reference traveling to different locations, but do not mention specific places. In "Piano Man" the bartender has "someplace that he'd rather be." The bar-keep says to the narrator, "I could be a movie star if I could get out of this place." In "Uptown Girl" the narrative of the song follows the socio-economic problems inherent in an "uptown girl" dating a "backstreet guy."
While it's only implied that he's referencing different boroughs in New York, the song addresses issues concerning geographic polarization as it relates to wealth in major American cities. In "River of Dreams" Billy Joel talks a lot about walking in his sleep "from the mountains of faith to the river so deep." Clearly metaphor, mountains and rivers represent locations on a journey that might not be a destination so much as an obstacle or necessary detour.
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StubHub has sponsored this article, which was written by Brent Warnken. StubHub is one of the leaders in the business of selling Billy Joel tickets, sports tickets, or even special events tickets.
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