Let's Talk About the Piano Man

When I was in 5^th grade, I received an email from my aunt. “Your taste in music sucks”. At this point in my life, I was listening primarily to pop music, which at the time was not the greatest stuff. A few months after receiving that email, I received a package in the mail. It contained Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits. A two disk conglomeration of some of the best songs ever written. I had no idea who Billy Joel was, but I loved my aunt and popped in one of the two disks in the set.

And at that moment, my life truly began.

Billy Joel was born in 1949, but wasn’t known well until his 1973 song, Piano Man. He was born in the Bronx, and was raised in a suburb of New York. His father, Howard Joel, was an immigrant from Germany. He had moved to Switzerland and later America to flee the Nazi Regime. In 1960 His parents divorced, when Billy was only eleven. He was forced by his mother to learn piano at an early age, and was bullied often in school for preferring music over sports. This caused him to take up boxing, and he won twenty one bouts before quitting after his nose was broken in his twenty forth match (he only lost three boxing matches, which is insanely good for any boxer). He then decided to go into music, because he didn’t want to earn his high school diploma. “To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records, and you don't need a high school diploma over there.” It only took him five years after to produce a hit, and now he is widely admired by America. The last song he wrote was River of Dreams in 1993, and since then has not made any new music. He still tours, and has been inducted into the songwriter’s hall of fame.

But wait, this is the best part. Last Thursday, Billy Joel attended an elementary school play featuring his music. He was invited by the children and their teacher, but parents and teachers did not expect him to come. He came before the show, and sat in the back row so that the students did not feel intimidated by his presence. If that isn’t being a good sport and a nice guy, I don’t know what is.

If you haven’t listened to Piano Man, I encourage you to.