“And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessman slowly gets stoned
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinking alone”
“Piano Man” - Billy Joel
For a certain population, revealing that the classic song “Piano Man” is more than 50 years old will potentially lead to an additional scoop of fiber needed in the morning orange juice, but it’s true. Billy Joel had just come on the national scene in 1971, but “Piano Man,” released in 1973, became his signature song.
The song was moderately popular on charts, reaching No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, yet it’s had a long-lasting recognition as an iconic song, unducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013 and into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2015.
The ease of the songwriting for Joel was that the song was based completely on his experience singing and playing the piano at various lounges and bars as he got his career off the ground. The characters he mentions in the song all have a basis in a real person who he met in his early years before he hit it big.
In multiple interviews about the song, Joel has been asked about the waitress and whether she ever went into politics. He explained that giving her just one line in the song left it open for interpretation to listeners, but the real person that he was basing the line on was a waitress who spent time reviewing newspapers and journals to educate herself on the political topics of the day in order to enhance her conversation with patrons and potentially garner a larger tip.
When I worked as a baseball writer, I frequently heard from people who disliked it when I examined the true history of the game and included historical figures’ recorded feelings about things like race or unionization or other “political” topics in a profile of the person. “Stick to sports” was the mantra.
A friend of mine from college has had a long career as a singer/songwriter, not really ever “making it big,” but also making enough to make a living doing what she does. Those who follow her on social media know her from her music, and they’re incensed when she has the audacity to make a post on Instagram regarding her own views on a “political” topic. “Stick to music,” they’ll say.
The same view has been espoused plenty by those who are celebrating the cancellation of The Late Show on CBS and, specifically, the end of the run of host Stephen Colbert. As the kids would say, it’s a weird flex to celebrate someone losing their job, but alrighty then…
The reason most who are taking a celebratory stance on the Colbert news is that they say the show became “too political,” while referencing back to Johnny Carson’s example as a late-night host, stating that he never dipped into politics. This is certainly a trope that has grown in the last decade-plus if you go searching, with blogs and partisan articles galore mentioning the same (almost word-for-word) comments about Carson.
Except Carson talked politics…all the time. He poked fun at many political topics, from Watergate to presidential campaigns to standing in lines to vote as a result of civil rights legislation. He did tend to stay away from those topics that were truly polarizing, but he had no problem mentioning politics frequently.
Another brilliant innovator in entertainment, Thomas Mann, utilized ironic and even satirical writing to approach many of the political issues in Germany in the first half of the 19th century. Many consider Mann the godfather of political satire.
Interestingly, one can read Mann’s own personal views morph from the time of the First World War, when he was strongly on the side of his homeland Germany, to the point where he was persona non grata in Nazi Germany for his outspoken writings against the things being ingrained into the society from its leaders at that time.
Between the two world wars, Mann was recognized with a Nobel Prize in Literature, and in one of the interviews he gave after the award, he was asked about addressing controversial political topics. Mann responded that everything is politics, and to avoid politics, one must not discuss any topics in life.
Our political environment has become polarized, but not because you and I are polarized in our human condition, rather because people who are being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to sway their vote one way or another are telling you that you’re polarized.
Take the challenge, listen to and pray for someone who believes something opposed to you. There’s a good chance that neither of you will change your position, but in that time of listening and humanizing someone with opposing views, you’ll find where you do agree, and finding that common ground, we can have different beliefs and still be supportive neighbors and considerate community members.
