Notes
Piano Man was the song that catapulted Billy Joel into super-stardom. It is about Joel's early days playing in a piano bar, and all of the bar regulars he met dreaming of a better life.
The album version ran over 6 minutes, but to gain radio airplay they cut out a number of verses to fit in the 3-4 minute range. Piano Man is referenced in a later song "The Entertainer" after he'd been in the music business for a while.
It was a beautiful song but it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05