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, de de da La la, de de da da da 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 feelin' alright Now John at the bar is a friend of mine He gets me my drinks for free And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke But there's someplace that he'd rather be He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me." As the 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" Oh, la la la, de de da La la, de de da da da 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 businessmen slowly get stoned Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness But it's better than drinkin' alone Chorus 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 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, de de da La la, de de da da da Chorus
Saturday night and you're still hangin' around Tired of livin' in your one-horse town Like to find a little hole in the ground For a while So you go to the village in your tie-dye jeans And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens It's like some pornographic magazine And you smile Captain Jack will get you high tonight And take you to your special island Captain Jack will get you by tonight Just a little push and you'll be smilin' Your sister's gone out. She's on a date You just sit at home and masturbate The phone is gonna ring soon but you just can't wait For that call So you stand on the corner in you New English clothes And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes But still your finger's gonna pick your nose After all
Captain Jack will get you high tonight And take you to your special island Captain Jack will get you by tonight Just a little push and you'll be smilin'
So you decide to take a holiday
you got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah there ain't no place to go anyway
what for
So you got everything, ah but nothin's cool
They just found your father in the swimmin' pool
And you guess you won't be goin' back to school
Anymore
So you play your albums and you smoke your pot
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh but still you're aching for the things you haven't got
What went wrong? Hmm?
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead
Why you've got to keep in style and feed your head Well you're 21 and still your mother makes your bed
And that's too long
I am the entertainer And I know just where I stand Another Serenader And another long-haired band Today I am your champion I may have won your hearts But I know the game, you'll forget my name And I won't be here in another year If I don't stay on the charts I am the entertainer And I've had to pay my price The things I did not know at first I learned by doin' twice Ah, but still they come to haunt me Still they want their say So I've learned to dance with a hand in my pants I let 'em rub my neck and I write 'em a check And they go their merry way I am the entertainer Been all around the world I've played all kinds of palaces And laid all kinds of girls I can't remember faces I don't remember names Ah, but what the hell You know it's just as well 'Cause after a while and a thousand miles It all becomes the same I am the entertainer I bring to you my songs I'd like to spend a day or two I can't stay that long No, I've got to meet expenses I got to stay in line Gotta get those fees to the agencies And I'd love to stay but there's bills to pay So I just don't have the time I am the entertainer I come to do my show You've heard my latest record It's been on the radio Ah, it took me years to write it They were the best years of my life It was a beautiful song But it ran too long If you're gonna have a hit You gotta make it fit So they cut it down to 3:05 I am the entertainer The idol of my age I make all kinds of money When I go on the stage Ah, you've seen me in the papers I've been in the magazines But if I go cold I won't get sold I'll get put in the back in the discount rack Like another can of beans I am the entertainer And I know just where I stand Another Serenader And another long-haired band Today I am your champion I may have won your hearts But I know the game, you'll forget my name I won't be here in another year If I don't stay on the charts
Bobby's driving through the city tonight- Through the lights- In a hot new rent-a-car. He joins the lover in his heavy machine- It's a scene down on Sunset Boulevard. CHORUS Say goodbye to Hollywood Say goodbye my baby. Say goodbye to Hollywood, Say goodbye my baby. Johnny's taking care of things for awhile- And his style is so right for troubadours. They got him sitting with his back to the door Now he won't be my fast gun anymore. CHORUS Moving on is a chance that you take every time you try to stay together. Say a word out of line and you find that the friends you had are gone- Forever...forever. So many faces in and out of my life, Some will last, some will just be now and then. Life is a series of hellos and good-byes- I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again. CHORUS Repeat 3rd verse
Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood Hop a flight to Miami Beach or Hollywood. I'm taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River line- I'm in a New York state of mind. I seen all the movie stars in their fancy cars and their limousines, Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens, But I know what I'M needing and I don't want to waste more time- I'm in a New York state of mind. It was so easy living day by day Out of touch with the rhythm and the blues, But now I need a little give and take, The New York Times, the Daily News... It comes down to reality-and it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide, Don't care if it's Chinatown or Riverside, I don't have any reasons, I've left them all behind- I'm in a New York state of mind. REPEAT 3RD VERSE I'm just taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River line- 'Cause I'm in a New York state of mind.
Well we all have a face That we hide away forever And we take them out and Show ourselves When everyone has gone Some are satin some are steel Some are silk and some are leather They're the faces of the stranger But we love to try them on Well we all fall in love But we disregard the danger Though we share so many secrets There are some we never tell Why were you so surprised That you never saw the stranger Did you ever let your lover see The stranger in yourself? Don't be afraid to try again Everyone goes south Every now and then You've done it, why can't Someone else? You should know by now You've been there yourself Once I used to believe I was such a great romancer Then I came home to a woman That I could not recognize When I pressed her for a reason She refused to even answer It was then I felt the stranger Kick me right between the eyes Well we all fall in love But we disregard the danger Though we share so many secrets There are some we never tell Why were you so surprised That you never saw the stranger Did you ever let your lover see The stranger in yourself? Don't be afraid to try again Everyone goes south Every now and then You've done it why can't Someone else? You should know by now You've been there yourself You may never understand How the stranger is inspired But he isn't always evil And he isn't always wrong Though you drown in good intentions You will never quench the fire You'll give in to your desire When the stranger comes along.
A bottle of white, a bottle of red Perhaps a bottle of rose instead We'll get a table near the street In our old familiar place You and I - face to face A bottle of red, a bottle of white It all depends on your appetite I'll meet you any time you want In our Italian Restaurant. Things are okay with me these days Got a good job, got a good office Got a new wife, got a new life And the family's fine We lost touch long ago You lost weight I did not know You could ever look so good after so much time. I remember those days hanging out at the village green Engineer boots, leather jackets and tight blue jeans Drop a dime in the box play the song about New Orleans Cold beer, hot lights My sweet romantic teenage nights Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies And the king and the queen of the prom Riding around with the car top down and the radio on Nobody looked any finer Or was more of a hit at the Parkway Diner We never knew we could want more than that out of life Surely Brenda and Eddie would always know how to survive. Brenda and Eddy were still going steady in the summer of '75 when they decided the marriage would be at the end of July Everyone said they were crazy "Brenda you know you're much too lazy Eddie could never afford to live that kind of life." But there we were wavin' Brenda and Eddie goodbye. They got an apartment with deep pile carpet And a couple of paintings from Sears A big waterbed that they bought with the bread They had saved for a couple of years They started to fight when the money got tight And they just didn't count on the tears. They lived for a while in a very nice style But it's always the same in the end They got a divorce as a matter of course And they parted the closest of friends Then the king and the queen went back to the green But you can never go back there again. Brenda and Eddie had had it already by the summer of '75 From the high to the low to the end of the show For the rest of their lives They couldn't go back to the greasers The best they could do was pick up the pieces We always knew they would both find a way to get by That's all I heard about Brenda and Eddie Can't tell you more than I told you already And here we are wavin' Brenda and Eddie goodbye. A bottle of red, a bottle of white Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight I'll meet you anytime you want In our Italian Restaurant.
Don't go changing, to try and please me You never let me down before Don't imagine you're too familiar And I don't see you anymore I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble We never could have come this far I took the good times, I'll take the bad times I'll take you just the way you are Don't go trying some new fashion Don't change the color of your hair You always have my unspoken passion Although I might not seem to care I don't want clever conversation I never want to work that hard I just want someone that I can talk to I want you just the way you are. I need to know that you will always be The same old someone that I knew What will it take till you believe in me The way that I believe in you. I said I love you and that's forever And this I promise from the heart I could not love you any better I love you just the way you are.
Anthony works in the grocery store Savin' his pennies for someday Mama Leone left a note on the door, She said, "Sonny, move out to the country." Workin' too hard can give me A heart attack You oughta know by now Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that what you get with your money? CHORUS It seems such a waste of time If that's what it's all about If that's movin' up then I'm movin' out. Sergeant O'Leary is walkin' the beat At night he becomes a bartender He works at Mister Cacciatore's down On Sullivan Street Across from the medical center He's tradin' in his Chevy for a Cadillac You oughta know by now And if he can't drive With a broken back At least he can polish the fenders CHORUS You should never argue with a crazy mind You oughta know by now You can pay Uncle Sam with overtime Is that all you get for your money? CHORUS
Come out Virginia, don't let me wait You Catholic girls start much too late But sooner or later it comes down to fate I might as well be the one They showed you a statue and told you to pray They built you a temple and locked you away But they never told you the price that you pay For things that you might have done..... Only the good die young You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd We ain't too pretty we ain't too proud We might be laughing a bit too loud But that never hurt no one Come on Virginia show me a sign Send up a signal I'll throw you the line The stained-glass curtain you're hiding behind Never lets in the sun And only the good die young You got a nice white dress and a party on your confirmation You got a brand new soul And a cross of gold But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough information You didn't count on me When you were counting on your rosary They say there's a heaven for those who will wait Some say it's better but I say it ain't I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints Sinners are much more fun... And only the good die young You say your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation She never cared for me But did she ever say a prayer for me?
She can kill with a smile She can wound with her eyes She can ruin your faith with her casual lies And she only reveals what she wants you to see She hides like a child But she's always a woman to me She can lead you to live She can take your or leave you She can ask for the truth But she'll never believe you And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free She steals like a thief But she's always a woman to me CHORUS Oh-she takes care of herself She can wait if she wants She's ahead of her time Oh-and she never gives out And she never gives in She just changes her mind She will promise you more Than the Garden of Eden Then she'll carelessly cut you And laugh while you're bleedin' But she'll bring out the best And the worst you can be Blame it all on yourself Cause she's always a woman to me CHORUS She is frequently kind And she's suddenly cruel She can do as she pleases She's nobody's fool But she can't be convicted She's earned her degree And the most she will do Is throw shadows at you But she's always a woman to me