Let’s checkout some tunes from someone who has exerted a great deal of influence on me.
In EC’s memoirs, he says someone wanted to beat him up because he was mistaken for Billy Joel and the man was pissed off about the song Allentown. This particular song did make the cut on one of EC’s YouTube playlists. Coincidence? When it comes down to it, we’ve all been singing the same sad angry song. We want our lives and our countries to be healthy and free and someone is very much standing in the way of that. The cravings of the few have been supplanting the needs of the many for far too long.
Movin' Out lyrics
Billy Joel
Ooh-ooh, uh-huh, mmm-hmm
Anthony works in the grocery store
Saving his pennies for some day
Mama Leone left a note on the door
She said, "Sonny, move out to the country."
Oh, but working too hard can give you a heart attack-ack-ack-ack
You ought to know by now
(You ought to know by now)
Who needs a house out in Hackensack?
Is that all you get for your money?
And it seems such a waste of time
If that's what it's all about
Mama, if that's moving up, then I'm
Movin' out
Mmm I'm movin' out, mmm, ooh, uh huh
Sergeant O'Leary is walking the beat
At night he becomes a bartender
He works at Mr. Cacciatorre's down on Sullivan Street
Across from the medical center
Yeah and he's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac-ac-ac-ac
You ought to know by now
(You ought to know by now)
And if he can't drive with a broken back
At least he can polish the fenders
And it seems such a waste of time
If that's what it's all about
Mama, if that's moving up, then I'm
Movin' out
Mmm I'm movin' out, oh, ooh, uh huh
You should never argue with a crazy man-man-man-man
You ought to know by now
(You ought to know by now)
You can pay Uncle Sam with the overtime
Is that all you get for your money?
And if that's what you have in mind
Yeah, if that's what you're all about
Good luck moving up, 'cause I'm
Movin' out
Mmm I'm movin' out, mmm, ooh, oohh, uh huh
I'm movin' out
Pressure lyrics
Billy Joel
You have to learn to pace yourself
(Pressure)
You're just like everybody else
(Pressure)
You've only had to run so far, so good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you'll have to deal with pressure
You used to call me paranoid
(Pressure)
But even you cannot avoid
(Pressure)
You turn the tap-dance into your crusade
Now here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle pressure
All grown up and no place to go
Psych one, psych two
What do you know?
All your life is Channel 13
Sesame Street
What does it mean?
I'll tell you what it means
Pressure, presure
Don't ask for help, you're all alone
(Pressure)
You'll have to answer to your own
(Pressure)
I'm sure you have some cosmic rationale
Well, here you are, in the ninth
Two men out and three men on
Nowhere to look, but inside
Where we all respond to pressure
Pressure
All your life is Time Magazine
I read it too
What does it mean?
Pressure!
I'm sure you have some cosmic rationale
But here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle pressure
The pressure
Pressure
One, two, three, four, pressure!
Allentown lyrics
Billy Joel
Well, we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem, they're killing time
Filling out forms, standing in line
Well, our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance, danced with them slow
And we're living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay
Well, we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard, if we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No, they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke, chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Whoa-oh-oh
Well, I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today
And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown