Added: 2 years ago
From: billyjoelVEVO
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  • Nice ass shot at 2:02

  • Little jew singing about factory workers, what a joke.

  • @jrg8008

    What are you? Big goy? Go away!

  • americas new anthem every child had a pretty good shot to get at least as far as there old man got something happened on the way to that dream politicians lie in our face laugh at us when we scream count there money and make more laws wait for us to die so they can have it all

  • Allentown, as in PA? I live in Doylestown, half hour drive. Went to iron pigs game.

  • fucking true! 

  • @CdPrni exaley, I was > <

  • I only know Stu's Version of the song ;3

  • @HashtagKiller then you probably got fucked in the ass by a girl with a dick ...

  • Gtfo Brittany, im trying to watch billy joel.

  • This is about how men worked for a living. A hard living at that. No wussy stuff here.

  • wonder how long it will be when the gas drilling boom goes bust the same way

  • I saw somebody's butt! And it was still dirty because he's afraid to bend over and pick up the soap! I think with so much military around. HA! Actually kids these days say anything is gay if it doesn't involve some obese skinhead bubba, and that's because kids today are ignorant facists, and more ignorant than they've ever been! No body wants to poke your pig butt Bubba- get over your homophobia fat boy!

  • @harponercam Billy himself said this was gay lol. Look at the interview of the nylon curtain. I live in allentown

  • @BobDawg173 Yeah- I guess Allentown is pretty gay- Hey I finished fourth in a bike race there once- tough course!

  • Anybody that makes a joke about the "Jersey shore" lyric gets a boot to the head.

  • rap isnt music this is

  • @spockles Rap is just loud sound. Nothing more.

  • so relevant to our times...love this song.....

  • great klassik song !!!!!

  • Ron Paul sounds like one of the founding fathers and he has a 30 year record of making decisions based on the affect on the freedom of all of us. He's like a super patriot who really understands the Constitution. I believe we would see a reversal of all the bad and the foundation for an incredibly free and prosperous future for all of us if he wins. So I hope he wins and becomes president in 2012! Go Ron Paul!

  • @mrearlygold Wondering how this is at all relevant to this song. If you're going to go on the internet to talk about possible presidencies, go on the appropriate site. kthxbai

  • i am 41 going om 42 and what billey and Bruce talk about here in the east coast is a hard reality we are living now as in any blue collar town just looking for work no politicians

  • @phd01151970 absolutely

  • I wonder if anybody besides me gets a catch in their throat during the line "And, our fathers fought the Second World War...Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore"........I always have because that's what my father did.

  • It's a time when things changed for the average "Joe" if you will. Allentown was the beginning of what has now become a regular event in the US.

  • @tomsielaff

    30 years of Reaganomics and Clinton-itis have turned Allentown into a 'Nightmare on Elm St' aka Cortez City. Billy Joel, why did you have to be so right?

  • if listening to billy joel is wrong, i dont wanna be right

  • 我很想知道那年代的mv為何可以拍的這麼好....

  • Thumbs up if 'Butt Bandits 2' brought you here!

  • My grandfather was an engineer for the Bethlehem Steel, he designed a lot of the structures there. Both my grandfather and father worked at the Steel, shame I never got to work there and pass on the tradition to my kids.

  • @jfabproductions I'm in the Navy and stationed in Washington State. I heard they had turned the Bethlehem Steel into a Sands Casino. When I was a kid everyone on our street aside from my parents and one or two others worked at the Bethlehem Steel. You graduate and work w/ your parents at the Steel. It's a shame that it's no longer an active steel mill.

  • @sonicbluebolt You are correct, a lot of the Steel is now a Sands Casino and if I'm not mistaken I think a college or something bought up some of the land too. There really Isn't much left, only a couple of blast furnaces still remain

  • @jfabproductions I believe my mother had said they were going to make a museum out of the rest of the place. I guess that didn't happen. It's just pretty strange. I remember driving past there on my way to Hellertown as a kid to see my doctor. Going over the Minsi Trail Bridge. We also used to head that way to go to my Uncle's place for the holidays etc. Crazy how things have changed. I haven't been back home since 2006. I'm long overdue for a visit.

  • I use to LOVE this song!!! I remember watching this video on TBS when they played music videos all night long on Friday and Saturday nights, and I was like eight, and now I understand what the song was saying. Thanks for posting a song with a message!

  • I don't think that Billy actually played guitar on the studio recordin' of it. Billboard's #43 hit of '83. God bless ya, for postin' it. Thanx! Have a blessed new year.

  • I remember that either Mayor Joe Daddona, or William Heydt tried to make this the theme song for Allentown, which resulted in Joel telling the Mayors that it was not about the city and they show listen to his music before making such decisions. Allentown itself had textile mills that employed quite a few people, such as Phoenix Mills, but they were not as major as Bethlehem Steel, which this song is about. This song could could pretty much apply to any city in the rust belt, to be honest.

  • @WilliamC24 I remember Joe Dadona (Joe Donuts) had wanted royalties from the sale of that record because he kept repeating Allentown. Most people in Allentown thought he was out of his tree.

  • oh! sry, should've read all comments first....we ARE on the same page, lmao

  • No1 cares if 'The Hangover' brought you here.. Were here for Billy Joel !!

  • @Overill your a dick so fuck you

  • I was a 12 year old kid living in Arizona when this song came out and at 17 I had a friend originally from Eastern Pennsylvania who told me a lot of people there didn't like this song because it portrayed Allentown and the whole area as defunct and in decline. By '94 I was a flatbed trucker and I used to haul structural steel out of Bethlehem Steel Corporation. It was only barely operating then, and I finally understood why the song wasn't that well recieved. A lot of guys were losing jobs.

  • i like the hangover version better

  • My grandfather worked at the Bethlehem Steel before it was closed down, he was also a WW2 vet. This song hits pretty close to home.

  • Great composer!

  • I had not heard this song in so long and the hangover 2 made me think of it.

  • I'll be frank. It's a great song, but I don't think coal mining and coreography mix.

  • thumbs up if the hangover movie sent you here

  • Wow, people really missing the point here. Of course I know what Allentown is, I have google. I was making a point about how ridiculously campy the video is. Doesn't fit the song at all. Shame.

  • @sanfordsson

    The Video may be campy..but the message of the song is solid..

    I live 45 minutes away from Allentown...and believe me,there is nothing "campy" about it...

    Life is a day to day battle...This aint Hollywood Blvd. or Miami Beach

  • @bkeay100 Not sure why you're calling me a dope because I agree with you. I said that the campy video does not represent the song or town at all. Geez. Oh, by the way, many parts of Florida aren't exactly a picnic either.

  • @sanfordsson

    Yea, I know its tough all over!! My point was that the words of the song are "spot on"(screw the video)

    It's been tough in PA. for 20 yrs. now, Jobs and companies going overseas... Most folks I know would find it a compliment if "I" called them a Dope... No hard feelings,just misdirected anger..

  • @bkeay100 hey i live 45 min from Allentown too...wow small world

  • @NeilPeartjr

    I m on rte 100 south..small town named Lionville

    Where u?

  • @bkeay100 Tamaqua, Pa. Where 309 and 209 meet

  • @NeilPeartjr

    Yea I been to tamaqua off rte 81

    Shamokin,Centrailia, Shenandoah and Jim Thorpe...They can all keep San Diego,Miami Beach, Hollywood Blvd.... let em have it ... P A is God's couuntry

  • @NeilPeartjr

    I use to take rte 209 up to Port Jervis NY to visit my mom in New England...Stopped at the Tom Quick Inn , had a beer and read His history...had a customer from Tamaqua who was a pretty good golfer...told me to buy Silver in the 70's ,,, should have listened..

    May God bless and have mercy on us Pennsylvanians

  • @bkeay100

    Those roads all led to the Five Point Dinner.

  • I got fucked in the ass by a girl with a dick

  • @grigsbygators95

    It doesn't sound like you spend a lot of time in Pennsylvania

  • Is "Allentown" the name of a gay bar?  Just wondering.

  • @sanfordsson No. I believe it's the name of a town in Pennsylvanian that was big during the industrial revolution.

  • @SuperPoweredKing Wow shows how much people know. The song was about the Bethlehem steel mainly, which has built the empire state building, golden gate bridge, twin towers, and many other monumental structures. It was the second biggest steel company behind Pittsburgh steel. The company went out of business in 2000 because of the cheaper prices of japanese steel and the over power of unions. The reason he used allentown was because more rhymed with it , allentown is right next to Bethlehem.

  • @sanfordsson Go to downtown A town and ask the first ghetto man with a gun, see what happens.

  • @sanfordsson

    Are you from California or Florida or some other "palm tree world" or just a Dope?

  • Need new top comments Asap

  • @MegaWarsaw

    Man.you said a mouthful

  • All the young people viewing this video is distracted by the "gayness" .... when this came out and I was in high school, NOBODY I knew who saw it had that in mind. Don't let sexuality distract you. No wonder this country's going to the toilet.

  • @plumeria66 i'm not young....38. i heard this song many times before seeing the video and i liked it. guys at war and women taking over the jobs during the war. the video is super gay though. it is a gay broadway and u can't argue that. yuk

  • @kokanee112 I think the whole idea is to create an idealized, synchronized vision of what everyone's hopes and dreams were (the lit up flag at the end, etc) and show the grimy, unfortunate details that were part of it. Just because there are a lot of people dancing around and a lot of guys with their shirts off doesn't make the video gay.

  • @plumeria66 this country? you think youtube is only available in one country?

  • @plumeria66 you are a toilet!

  • @plumeria66 i agree...

  • @plumeria66 FYou! Be careful what your smart ass posts on here!!!!

  • @haywoodhendrix

    Be careful when you insult people -- karma will get you.

  • @plumeria66 Ya have to keep in mind that a good majority of people in the entertainment field are nitwits and that the tv entertainment media has gradually been taken over by gays and lesbians. They are very creative and artistic you now. You notice with each new season, you can see the envelope pushed further and further.

  • @Quinzterful ....AKA moral degradation

  • Comment removed

  • @plumeria66 A direct quote from an article I read, posted january 6. 2012 (I can PM the link to you, if you're interested): "He says the video's director, Australian Russell Mulcahy, "is a brilliant director, but I didn't realize until I watched it again how gay that video was. It's really gay!"

  • @Downcom1 @Downcom1 "He says"- Who is "He"? You can't just quote an anonymous article and expect us to take it seriously. A 14 year old blogger could have written that for all we know.

  • @K1ller30 If you read the comment, I said I could send the link where I found the article if anyone was interested.

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  • Comment removed

  • @plumeria66 And the music, too. It's all toilet sounds :( Wish we had music like billy joel still around. Now We've got Dumpstep and Crap Rap.

  • @plumeria66 Didn't read the comments on the 'gayness' of the video, but I can't help but think how out of touch you have to be to think this. Those men characterized in the steel mill (and others in other industries) worked their asses of and built the America we take for granted today

  • @andresmdn22

    Then you need to read about the comments here on the gayness before commenting on mine. Out of touch? You need to get all your facts before saying that!

  • @andresmdn22 Absolutely!

  • Only a million views?

  • Thumb this up if The Hangover 2 brought you here,,,,

  • Billy thinks this video is gay.

  • @LughGarrick Well, if you look at it, it kind of IS. I looked it up recently, and found out that the director is gay. Not that it's a big deal, just a funny observation.

  • @LughGarrick Do you blame him? That may be the funniest dance number ever, plus loads of shirtless men. Its a shame such an amazing song was given such a dated video.

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  • "You totally butchered that song."

    "Well, you butchered my life."

  • This video is perfect. Joel looks like a hard working man in this one.

  • Comment removed

  • Who DIDN'T LIKE this song????? Yes, it is about Allentown, or someone said Bethlehem, PA, but it's also about people getting an education, but not finding any work...remind you of something, people?

  • i actually used to live near allentown....then i moved to CA

  • reminds me of growing up. my mom played this alot...

  • This song could be the Battle Hymn of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I'm not kidding. In my opinion, JFK was murdered to establish fascism in America because he was a good and decent man and not corruptible by them. After all, he came from money and did not even accept his presidential salary. Most people don't know that. Kennedy did not even draw a salary. His death began the decline of real freedom in America. He was our last independent president.

  • @Boelcke1919 :

    Wow you don't know how accurate what you wrote is. Amazing.

    I think the powers that be are getting very nervous now because you are just one of many that is "waking up" from a long sleep. The time for 2nd Amendment Use is near, no rigged vote, or peaceful protest is going to force the criminals out of power.

  • It is about Bethlehem (Bethlehem Steel) Billy changed the name to neighboring Allentown for (I can't remember now, sounded better I think)... I stayed in Bethlehem Hotel for a week long class taught there a few years ago while working for a company based out of Allentown. (SIC) Visited the old furnaces and buildings that was fenced off to the public. The security guard let us to take pix. What a character he was. Oh, and I remembered the song when it came out too. :)

  • @greghol It's about Bethlehem. He changed the title to neighboring Allentown because he was concerned people would confuse it for a Christmas song. Really. It caused quite a controversy because Allentown was prospering, Bethlehem was in the tank.

  • @greghol My understanding is that he always played Allentown, PA before he became big and always got great crowds and support there.

  • Do you know have four cities in USA named "Allentown", don't you? Please, answer me, who can do: This song is about which city?

  • @TaMaRaTESOURAO Allentown, PA. After Bethlehem Steel shut down

  • @TaMaRaTESOURAO this about Allentown Pa

  • @TaMaRaTESOURAO Allentown PA.

  • @TaMaRaTESOURAO It's about the one in Pennsylvania. There's an Allentown and a Bethlehem in PA, and in the song are the lyrics: "...for the pennsylvania we never found." Also, it mentions the jersey shore. I don't know where the other allentowns in the US are located, but I'm pretty sure PA's the closest to Jersey, considering it's a bordering state. By the way, I'm from Pennsylvania, about an hour from Allentown.

  • this song is so true to how new zealand has gone now

  • Fuck you VEVO

  • How about we replace our national anthem with this?

    On orders from their corporate masters both Democrat and republican congress members want you to be underpaid, no benefit contract workers. The only difference is Obama wants you to give your hard earned money to fat-cat health insurance CEO's or go to jail.

  • Apparently is full of really gay dancers

  • So, 11 people live in Allentown

  • 0:28.. like if your from Bethlehem!

  • @ihl369 lol now he would be singing inside the casino

  • eso es a lo que yo llamo una cancion extraordinaria

  • Those jobs were moved overseas due to cheap labor-you can thank Bill Clinton for that. Recently President Obama signed to law an expanded Free Trade Agreement which *WILL* export more USA jobs overseas: They use child slave labor. India has about 60 million children under 10 years old working 16 hour days and are beaten if they "slack off".

  • Billy looking EVEN better than Indiana Jones in that hat!!

    My fav BJ song of all time!!!!

  • great song.

  • @72seeker72 NO ITS BRILLIANTLY AWESOME!!!!

  • i went to LU in bethlehem and my parents moved to allentown almost 5 years ago. The place definitely has potential for growth, as there is a huge arts community being built and LU actually helps the communities around (case in point the new broughal middle school), Something has to be done about the constant influx of people from NYC and NJ because of cost of living.

  • Watching this from Western Australia

  • Comment removed

  • @ 3:10 token woman

  • great song. very relevant today... but anyone else find this video just a tad on the gay side..? hahaha

  • @urbancelebrities just a bit.

  • Watching this in Southern California.

  • I used to live there. Now I'm in Miami. My parents left 'cause of racism.

  • @AthosAmo what kind ? we have both here ..

  • @tromollo I had finished third grade when I left. And of course both sides have racists. I'm not saying Hispanics are saints.

  • @AthosAmo No I didnt mean blacks or hispanics... I mean we have kids being picked on for being white or for being black .. go figure

  • @tromollo Oh.

  • @fte26 Seriously???? 100 times better than Billy Joel's original version first released in 1982, almost 30 years ago??? Really??? I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume this song was popular long before you were even born and yet you think some recent cover by an actor with less musical talent than Billy Joel has in his right testicle is 100 times better???

    You're not just naive, you're an idiot.

  • @fte26 stfu dumbass

  • i love this song and billy joel, but this video is terrible hahah

  • For those of you from Allentown/Bethlehem, when he says "and the restlessless was handed down", is this like when you guys say "are you FREAKIN KiDDING ME??"

  • Billy recently said in an interview: "That's the gayest video... He's a terrifically talented director, but he had an opportunity to get a bunch of naked guys in a room taking a shower. I didn't think about it, ok they're in the army, they're in a factory, they're taking a shower. And there's a lot of this through the video, I just saw it recently... There's another bunch of naked guys and there's ANOTHER bunch of naked guys... I didn't pick up on it back then, but man that's a gay video." XD

  • I got fucked in the ass, by a girl with a dick.

    Hahaha! I remember that...

  • The whole point of this song in 1982 was that the American dream rings hollow if the industry you're trained for is allowed to die, as the steel industry was. The cheaper non-union steel from the Far East allowed construction costs to get cheaper, thus allowing more building, and all those houses needed people to move into them, so mortgages became real easy to get...you see where I'm going with this; when you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind, all because WE ALL WANTED OUR LITTLE PIECE!

  • Allentown!!!

  • Change Allentown to USA 2011

  • @ge515 I was just thinking that yesterday when I heard this on my way to work...

    Especially the lines..."So the graduations hang on the wall, but they never really helped us at all, no they never taught us what was real" and "Every child had a pretty good shot, to get at least as far as their old man got" Not today...this IS the economic collapse...and it's only going to or getting worse

  • @DigitallyPink  I'm afraid I have to agree. It's going to get worse.

  • ...All the promises our futures gave, if we worked hard, if we behaved...

    ...So the graduations hang on the wall, but they never really help us at all.

    Very prescient lyrics, now that all of America has become Allentown economically.

  • @polyphonium

    Not really.

  • @polyphonium This could be an anthem for Occupy Wall STreet.

  • @rewinn I was thinking the exact same thing...

  • @polyphonium ..you got the lyrics wrong.....it's "For the promises our teachers gave, If we worked hard, If we behaved." Get it right the first time!....Billy told you that in a song before!

  • @polyphonium I wouldn't say Allentown is the benchmark for a barren economy - this song wasn't even about Allentown but its neighbour Bethlehem. The name Allentown just fit better.

  • Thumbs up if you're watching it from a place where they werent closing all the factories down.. 

  • This is the very definition of a catchy song. Great melody, Great chorus, Great vocals & Great music. Just a fantastic song & one of Joel's very best.

  • I♥

    LV

  • Comment removed

  • Never lived in Allentown but I lived in Catasauqua, Wescosville and Brenigsville where it is safe and peacefull. Allentown is mostly black, Peurto Rican, Dominican and Mexican now. If you do not speak Spanish or live in Allentown stay away. And I was in Allentown in June and it was worse than I remember. It will take more than a casino to keep this city from becoming a post industrial wasteland.

  • @bluemountaindrivepae If you've never lived here, you're not able to say it is. Too many people acting like you get shot in Allentown just by walking down the street... Look at the 2002 crime rate in atown, over 20+ muders, now there's only 4 this year. It's actually good to have industrial parts, and yes, allentown has it's ghettos. It's totally ignorant to say allentown in general is shit. Center city allentown, is shit.

  • Thumbs up if you watched The Hangover Part 2! ;)

  • um, did anyone else catch that "ass" shot when the guys were in the shower??

  • @northernsoutherngirl In the 80s when this was in heavy rotation on MTV, my girlfriends and I would be GLUED to the screen waiting for that shot! LMAO

  • @shoneyluvsAmerica lol the days before youtube eh?

  • Was then, still is. Very homoerotic.

    Great Video.

  • Unions are wonderful as long as we don't allow the Washington politicians to sign free trade agreements that allow and have allowed American manufacturing to be outsourced to India, China, and Mexico.

  • Thumbs up if Your liked this song before hangover 2

  • @TheSchoolOfFool Is this song on HANGOVER 2?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿ O_OOO

    OMG! I must see this move now if it's true! :O

  • @TheSchoolOfFool

    Didn't even notice it in Hangover 2

    

  • @TheSchoolOfFool I never even saw that movie. The first one was too much of the same old bullshit from hollywood, so I only saw about half of that one.

  • A perfect song to listen to again on Labor day..."And the union people crawled awaaay". Once a parasite kills its host, it leaves for another one. Just look at Detroit, for example.

  • @bubblemum

    Unions are a global thing,the simple fact that a fucked up country has fuck up unions doesnt undo the good they do in other places ;)

  • 8 people are filling out forms and standing in line.

  • @iw32 lol

    

  • Why is Christopher Walken on the side of my video????

  • @WalkenTheWalk You're lucky. I've got Rihanna!