If the history of the world were adapted into a masterful and long-running television series, we would hear the thoughts of the characters through songs, like in a musical; and this would be a masterful song from that musical.
The music video begins with melancholic jazz flourishes played on the piano, while a masterful and melancholic camera movement zooms in on the luminous sign of a remote and ignored bar in Los Angeles, whose name is Piano Bar, located on a dark street. Those jazz flourishes represent the moment before the musical, a masterful way to introduce any music video. In fact, that detail is so evident that it is the best part of the music video.
The song narrates life in a bar at nine o'clock on a Saturday night. Each customer lives a wasted life, stripped of all value, and wasting their youth drinking and talking about unattainable dreams. When we work, we all live that life. I would say that almost all lives are like that. The melancholy of the music has the nuance of accepting that situation, and Billy Joel's interpretation is of resignation to an environment like that. The music says it all.
It's no wonder that every time I resign myself to my problems, I can find comfort in this song and its music video. It's therapeutic how it makes me feel that I'm part of a majority that also resigns, so I'm not alone. This song, and its music video, is one of the most therapeutic ones you can find, as well as Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python, accompanied by its scene from the movie Life of Brian.
The music video begins with melancholic jazz flourishes played on the piano, while a masterful and melancholic camera movement zooms in on the luminous sign of a remote and ignored bar in Los Angeles, whose name is Piano Bar, located on a dark street. Those jazz flourishes represent the moment before the musical, a masterful way to introduce any music video. In fact, that detail is so evident that it is the best part of the music video.
The song narrates life in a bar at nine o'clock on a Saturday night. Each customer lives a wasted life, stripped of all value, and wasting their youth drinking and talking about unattainable dreams. When we work, we all live that life. I would say that almost all lives are like that. The melancholy of the music has the nuance of accepting that situation, and Billy Joel's interpretation is of resignation to an environment like that. The music says it all.
It's no wonder that every time I resign myself to my problems, I can find comfort in this song and its music video. It's therapeutic how it makes me feel that I'm part of a majority that also resigns, so I'm not alone. This song, and its music video, is one of the most therapeutic ones you can find, as well as Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python, accompanied by its scene from the movie Life of Brian.
