Before "Piano Man" conquered commercial radio, it existed as survival income. In 1972, Joel fled New York City to hide from a suffocating contract with Family Productions. Under the alias "Bill Martin," he took a six-month residency at the Executive Room bar lounge on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Joel accompanied himself on an upright acoustic piano while customers traded drinks for sympathetic conversation. The patrons immortalized in the lyrics, John the bartender, real estate novelist Paul, and the Navy sailor, drank right in front of him.
During these late-night shifts, Joel began experimenting with the mouth harp to break the monotony of the keyboard. He was not a virtuosic blues harpist in the vein of Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson. Instead, he wanted a rustic, mournful texture that could mimic an accordion or an aging waltz horn. By strapping an apparatus around his neck, he discovered he could bridge the gap between Tin Pan Alley storytelling and American roots music.
