Men, Score the Joel Lyrics

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6 members have voted

May 13th, 2018 at 3:19:38 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
It was the event of the Dead, not the band
itself that was the draw. It was one long
drugged out party. Who cares.


I've heard that story before, lots of times. Seems to me I knew a lot of people who claimed to like the GD, and went to a lot of their concerts with plenty of drugs, but I seldom caught these same people actually playing their music.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
May 13th, 2018 at 3:38:30 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Wizard
I've heard that story before, lots of times. Seems to me I knew a lot of people who claimed to like the GD, and went to a lot of their concerts with plenty of drugs, but I seldom caught these same people actually playing their music.


This was the concert I went to, it
was a very big deal at the time. I
think I was the only one there not
stoned on something. Boring...

Dead of the Day: June 4, 1978

http://www.gratefuldeadoftheday.com/06-04-1978

If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
May 13th, 2018 at 3:39:05 PM permalink
Mosca
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 22
Posts: 730
I never liked B.J., right from the get go. His first few songs were all about being superior to other people (Captain Jack, Piano Man), which I thought was reductionist and lazy: inviting the listener to join him in his scorn and disgust. The later stuff never had a chance. And, Allentown is actually a pretty decent mid sized city that did a good job weathering the industrial contraction of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Hey, lots of people like him. It’s all good.

The Dead, some of it I got and some I didn’t. I saw them twice, both shows were excellent. I stopped understanding their studio work in the mid ‘70s. American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead are incredible, though. There is a great compilation of cover versions, Deadicated, that highlights the songwriting for those who can’t take the quirkiness.
May 13th, 2018 at 3:49:26 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
This was the concert I went to, ...


I didn't know they played directly at UCSB. They didn't when I was there but did play at the Ventura Fairgrounds. I kept saying I would catch them the "next time," but when the next time came along, I didn't know anyone else going and blew it off.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
May 13th, 2018 at 4:40:42 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard


As long as we're going out on a limb, one band everybody seems to love that I just don't see the attraction in is the Grateful Dead. I'm not saying they are bad, but I don't get why these guys ever got past being the house band for a honky tonk with sawdust on the floor. I've always heard they are great in concert with four to five hour shows. Okay, that I respect, but every time any GD song comes on the radio I immediately switch stations.


I never found them to be more than below average. I do not get the weird subculture. People making it their lives. Once we had them here for 2 days of shows with lots of Deadheads camping out. What a mess, cops got involved and one got charged then cleared. After this the Dead were not allowed any more than 1 day in town.

Years later at a college homecoming I met a guy who was a cop and worked a Dead concert. They dressed him up and he was supposed to sort of just work the crowd for anything that came up. Guy said he and his partner are just sitting there and a pickup truck slows down, guy looks and points at them, "LET ME GUESS, UNDERCOVER?!"

I will concede Garcia had some nice ties in his collection in the mid-1990s. Out of style now, looked great in the era.
The President is a fink.
May 13th, 2018 at 4:46:25 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Mosca
His first few songs were all about being superior to other people (Captain Jack, Piano Man),


There's a lyric in PM that goes:

'And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life'

This pissed me off no end and
still pisses me off. This arrogant
prick of a song writer is dissing
a military career? My dad was in
the Navy for 10 years till 1945.
His 3 brothers were all Navy career
men who retired after 30 years as
commanders.

And don't say he didn't mean it as
a diss. It's a song about all these
losers in a piano bar, he saying the
military as a career is for losers. The
real loser here is Billy Joel..

Nobody ever mentions that BJ is
a shrimp. He's a tiny 5' 5" in his
stocking feet. They always make
fun of Pacino and Cruise for being
short, but not BJ. People who've
met him are often shocked he's
the size of a 5th grader. BJ makes
Elton John look tall.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
May 13th, 2018 at 4:52:59 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
I never found them to be more than below average. I do not get the weird subculture. People making it their lives. Once we had them here for 2 days of shows with lots of Deadheads camping out. .


All I remember from the 78 concert
was the drugged out crowd, and
lots of stoned topless college girls.
So many boobs hanging out I got
bored and left after 2 hours.

This is what it looked like, does not
make me want to be there again.

If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
May 13th, 2018 at 5:30:41 PM permalink
Mosca
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 22
Posts: 730
Quote: Evenbob
There's a lyric in PM that goes:

'And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life'

This pissed me off no end and
still pisses me off. This arrogant
prick of a song writer is dissing
a military career? My dad was in
the Navy for 10 years till 1945.
His 3 brothers were all Navy career
men who retired after 30 years as
commanders.

And don't say he didn’t mean it as
a diss.


Then this will make you more angry: he meant it to imply that Davy was gay. “Now Paul is a real estate novelist, who never had time for a wife, and he’s talking to Davy...”
May 13th, 2018 at 5:46:59 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
There's a lyric in PM that goes:

'And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life'

This pissed me off no end and
still pisses me off. This arrogant
prick of a song writer is dissing
a military career? My dad was in
the Navy for 10 years till 1945.
His 3 brothers were all Navy career
men who retired after 30 years as
commanders.


Piano Man is not necessarily auto-biographic. While the "Piano Man" may look down at a military career, it doesn't mean BJ does.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
May 13th, 2018 at 5:47:48 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Mosca
Then this will make you more angry: he meant it to imply that Davy was gay. “Now Paul is a real estate novelist, who never had time for a wife, and he’s talking to Davy...”


How do you know?
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
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