Happy Memories

Title says it all.  Lyrics are in no way mine, I think they belong to Billy Joel or someone who wrote them for him maybe? Who knows, I just love this song.

Piano Man

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes."

la la la, di da da
La la, di di da da dum

Chorus:
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us all feelin' all right

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke and he'll light up your smoke
But there's some place that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
As his smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

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 drinkin' alone

Chorus
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about their life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Chorus:
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

Tidbits

I heard a great story from my cousins the other day. I have embellished only a little bit since I was not present at this event and can only derive some things from the times I have heard this story told to me.

When my cousins were little, my aunt worked a lot and was gone most of the day. My uncle worked from home. When C and J were 6 and 4 respectively, they had an minor adventure that has been often repeated.

One day C and J were hungry. Their mom was at work, their dad was in the basement also working. They went downstairs to ask for lunch and their dad told them to be patient and he would come up shortly to get them something to eat. Well, the kids did not want to wait until later, they were hungry right then. So, without bothering to put shoes on (as it was summertime) they went out the door, down the street and rang the neighbors doorbell. When the neighbor opened his door he was surprised to two little children looking up at him with sad faces. "We're hungry, can you feed us?" asked C. The neighbor was shocked, but took them in and fed them peanut butter and jelly sandwich's.

When his wife got home she was also surprised to see the two children sitting at the table happily munching away at their sandwiches. She called their mother, who was slightly horrified and apologized profusely while thanking the kindly neighbors for taking in her children. The neighbors were highly amused at the whole thing. I was also highly amused, hence I attempted to put to words the entertaining events which I have heard told repeatedly.