The “infantile” TV show that inspired a Billy Joel song
When Billy Joel reflects on his 13 studio albums, 1974’s Streetlife Serenade does not fare well. After spending his evenings opening for The Beach Boys and neglecting songwriting, the album didn’t quite meet the pressure put on by the earlier Piano Man album. He was so short on songs that two of them were instrumentals, prompting him to describe it as full of “interesting musical ideas” that ultimately had “nothing to say lyrically”.
On this, Joel might be his worst critic because while it was one of his weaker efforts, ‘The Entertainer’ was an incredibly perceptive look at the entertainment industry and his doubts about his longevity. As most of his material was, it was an almost autobiographical look at a rising star, one almost paranoid about being forgotten. Joel looked to icons of showbiz, landing on a long-forgotten music and variety show as the song’s main inspiration.
The Midnight Special was the perfect creative catalyst. The show, as presented by Wolfman Jack, had hosted the likes of ABBA, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and eventually Joel himself. It was the rigidity of the format Joel was put off by, with him telling Howard Stern it “wasn’t very rock and roll” to be a part of.
“Midnight Special,” Joel explained, “Was kind of an assembly line, and it started to bother me – like we’re all interchangeable.” His palpable unease is reflected in the line: “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.”
Joel’s building anxiety that Streetlife Serenade wasn’t going to live up to Piano Man likely informed the last line, a nod to the relentless pressure artists are under to keep recreating their own success. “If you’re gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit / So they cut it down to 3:05,” is another line shaped by Joel’s experience of constant promotion.
The three-minute mark dictates the point artists need to cut their songs down to increase their chances of radio play. Joel was forced to whittle ‘Piano Man’ down by more than a minute ahead of its 1973 release. While that experience is true to life, his estimation that “I won’t be here in another year if I don’t stay on the charts” wasn’t. Throughout his career, Joel has consistently proved he is a viable commercial draw, selling out Madison Square Garden and headlining London’s British Summertime Festival as recently as 2023.
While Joel has consistently proved he is his own harshest critic, ‘The Entertainer’ was a prophetic look at the hamster wheel the entertainment industry would become. As attention spans shorten and audiences grow even more fickle, Joel can rest easy knowing he called it in 1974: “I am the entertainer, and I know just where I stand.”
