I've known this song from when it became popular in the late 70's, but when I remember listening to it the most was when I was about twenty, and was working full time as a programmer, while continuing on an ever-so-slow progress towards finishing college, two classes at a time. I listened to a lot of popular music then, and what strikes me now is how entirely oblivious I was to the content of that music. In addition to some Billy Joel, I also listened to a lot of Moody Blues. Years later, when I was in a relationship, I was stunned to discover that the Moody Blues was almost entirely love songs.

Looking at covers of “Piano Man” on youtube, I see this same disconnect. Many seem to see this song as being primarily about playing the piano, and perhaps about getting together with some music, a bit of drink, and having a mellow good time.

For me, this is an essay in the evolutionary psychology of men. Joel could not be clearer that these men are all losers, and the reason that they are losers is that they aren't with a woman on Saturday night. See men for details about the technical definition of “loser”, but in the (uncharacteristically gentle) euphemism of male talk, they “aren't getting any.” They're there because there's no place they'd rather be–that is, anywhere else is worse. They're hoping that with a generous dose of anesthetic solvent and some sentimental music, they can feel “all right.”

While the mythic scene from the video many not have actually happened, he surely did spend some time in bars like that. The “Piano Man” in the song doesn't directly tell us what he's thinking himself, but I hear “John at the Bar” as partly speaking for him, or at least acting out a role of being stuck that serves as a warning. The videos may overdo the part about these men being old, giving the impression that the song is some large part about losses from aging. Even the regulars come and go in the bar, and you don't know for sure if you're a loser until you're old. Davy isn't old yet, but he's well on his way to being a loser.

The second layer of evolutionary irony is that Billy Joel used his music to turn himself into a winner, and for men this does seem to be a considerable motivation behind musical performance. While I don't know or care about his sexual practices, he certainly could have slept with a lot of women if he wanted to. I also hear in this song Joel liking it that men value his music, and some of that feeling of camaraderie of men when they get together to drink and talk. Men compete to win, but they also do this, spend time together in somewhat vague friendship, mostly not talking about anything real. It's an adaptation to staying alive: live and let live.