Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant ( German Scenes from an Italian Restaurant ) is a rock song by the American musician Billy Joel , which appeared for the first time on his 1977 album The Stranger .
History of origin
Although Scenes from an Italian Restaurant was never released as a single , it is now one of Joel's most famous pieces. In an interview, Joel stated that one of the main influences in creating it was the second page of the Beatles album Abbey Road . On May 6, 1977, about four months before its release on The Stranger , Joel performed the song on the Long Island University CW Post campus in Brookville , New York . According to his own account, he dedicated the song to Christiano's restaurant in Syosset . At 7 minutes and 37 seconds, the song is the longest of Joel's studio recordings.
After years of speculation as to which restaurant exactly served as the inspiration for the song, Joel said in an interview that Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is about a restaurant called Fontana di Trevi across from Carnegie Hall in Manhattan . During a series of concerts in June 1977, he often visited the pub. Although several places served as models, the Fontana di Trevi was mainly in his head when he was writing.
content
The song is made up of three different pieces that have been put together. He starts with a melodic piano - ballad , followed by a faster, more jazz-heavy midsection with a clarinet - and saxophone -Solo, which ultimately into a 'n' Rock Roll passes -Stück that of Joel as The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie was called and according to him, contrary to the other passages, existed long before The Stranger .
Restaurant scene
The first part of the song is about a previous couple who meet in the restaurant they have already visited earlier ( I'll meet you any time you want // In our Italian Restaurant ; dt. Whenever you want, I'll meet you in our Italian restaurant ) and now talk about the selection of drinks. As inspiration for the line A bottle of white, a bottle of red, // Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead? (Eng. A bottle of white, a bottle of red, maybe a bottle of rosé instead ? ) Joel claims to have served the same question from a waiter in a restaurant.
As a recapitulation , the opening theme is taken up again in the Italian restaurant at the end of the piece, which gives it a very calm conclusion after the faster middle section and the internal narrative is completed.
Jazz part
In the second part, the narrator reports on his life today ( Things are okay with me these days // I got a good job, I got a good office // I got a new wife, got a new life // And the family is fine ; dt. Everything's okay with me these days // I have a great job, a great office // I have a new wife, a new life // and the family is fine. ), but also looks back on the teenage years together back to his counterpart ( I remember those days hanging out // At the village green [...] My sweet romantic teenage nights ; dt. I remember the days when we hung out in the village green [...] mine sweet, romantic teenage nights ). The Village Greens , green spaces surrounded by trees, can be found in most of the towns in Joel's homeland, Long Island .
The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie
The third part of the piece by Joel himself as The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie is called, is Brenda and Eddie, the king and queen of the prom ( tight. Prom ), applicable to all the heroes and role models of the high school are. Later the two marry, master one or the other life crisis, but ultimately fail because of themselves and their own dreams and divorce. The lines That's all I heard about Brenda and Eddie // Can't tell you more than I told you already (Eng. That's all I've heard from Brenda and Eddie // I ca n't tell you more than I can tell you I already told ) towards the end of the third part suggest that the narrator only tells his counterpart about role models from their youth and that the former couple in the Italian restaurant are not themselves Brenda and Eddie.
Joel himself stated that with the song he wanted to show that life can also fail if you are the acclaimed star in school:
"I was trying to tell the story of the king and the queen of the prom. These are our heroes. But they're typically people who peak too early. If you're too popular in high school you're probably going to go downhill from there. That's what the story I was trying to tell: Watch out for what you wish for 'cause you might get it, and this is what might happen. "
“I wanted to tell the story of the King and Queen of the prom. They were our heroes. But they were the typical people who reached their climax too early. If you're too popular in high school, things can probably only go downhill from there. That was the story I wanted to tell: Watch what you want, maybe you will get it and that's what comes out of it. "
In the Broadway production Movin 'Out the lyrics were changed slightly so that the story of Brenda and Eddie takes place in 1965 instead of in 1975 as in the original, in order to be able to incorporate Scenes from an Italian Restaurant into the overall history of the musical .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c masslive.com, Billy Joel - The Republican interview
- ↑ Joel, Billy: The Stranger (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition - 2CD / DVD Box Set) . 2008. Sony Music . Disk 3.