Piano man - Billy Joel

'Piano man' is a fictionalized retelling of real people Joel met during his days as a piano-lounge singer in Los Angeles, after the failure of his first album, 'Cold spring harbor'. At the time, Joel was trying to get out of a bad deal with the record company Family Productions, so, according to Joel, he was 'hiding out' at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin while Columbia Records tried to get him out of the deal.

When the song was released as a single in 1975, it gave him his first hit: it peaked at number 25 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 1569
Found: All that music, Leiden, January 2, 1992
Cost: 4 guilders
Tracks: 'Piano man' / 'You're my home'