Billy Joel - Where's The Orchestra

[xxxPurplexGirlxxx]

Why the heck did I get a justin bieber ad?

[yeahsee33]

I love the Allentown ending.

[bonepaper]

does anyone else hear a bit of harry nilsson in this song? there's a great radio interview billy did promoting this album that should still be available online if you search for it...lots of interesting insights into the songs, and he said the song had a wistfulness that made him think of harry. the whole "nylon curtain" album is brilliant, but as others have noted, the way the melody from "allentown" snakes its way in there at the end is a beautiful way of bringing things full circle.

[DrSwirl]

Billy Joel-the better of the whole and the best of the better

[cjlllatt]

whenever i don't have a particular song in mind this tends to be my default song to sing even at work. some have nickelback and katy perry, i have billy joel.

[bakedzale]

The Nylon Curtain is a great album. Sometimes i think this song was written about my life,haha.

[fishe153]

This is my first time listening to this song. The rendition of "Allentown" at the end literally brought tears to my eyes. I love Allentown, but don't know much of Billy Joel's stuff outside his hits.

[nlkeeper07]

I grew up and live in the Allentown area...the song is not as widely known by my generation as it should be...it's a great song, and Billy Joel is simply amazing. People in the Lehigh Valley area are proud of our place in American history...and recently, Bethlehem Steel was in the opening scene of the Transformers movie and now it's an awesome casino.

[MegaObserver1]

I always thought the bars of "Allentown" at the end was a homage to Paul McCartney's "Band On The Run" album. On the last track of that album (Ninteen Hundred And Eighty Five) there is a very brief reprise of the title track. Billy was and is a big McCartney fan.

[achigurh]

a beautiful song that flows and wanders like a mountain stream

[jaecht83]

what is MTV night school? couldn't find anything on wiki or google about it.

[djmariner]

The reason is Nylon Curtain is a album that flows as a story from start to finish like a play. Or a opera. I was aDJ in NJ at the time this album came out. Allentown Pa did not like the sad history of their town in song, but it woke up alot of the country to their plight. Their doing good now. A lot of good people still live there.

[BonIver49]

Wow. Thank you for the reccomendation Chuck Klosterman.

[TheAmazingAtheist]

Always read how much Chuck Klosterman had a boner for this song, but I thought it would suck becuase, frankly, Chuck is a bit of an idiot. However, this song really is pretty bad ass, oddly enough.

[5U64RC4K35]

HOLYSHIT. It's TheAmazingAtheist. :D

[PedoBear231]

who knew you commented on youtube videos?

this new thing is pretty decent

[evifnoskcaj]

I'm a huge fan of your videos, and agree that this song is incredible. That is all.

[hitek86]

Ya, chuck loves this song, but not in the way the most people loves songs. I think it has more to do with the persona that he built (and the way it relates to his music), instead of it being about a good riff or some overtly sexual overtones.

[randymcarn]

@TheAmazingAtheist funny I'm reading Chucks book and while you're right he does have a boner for this song, wtf. This is terrible, Laura was awful too, halfway through I turned it off in disgust. Billy Joel is not only uncool his music ain't that great. That goes for friggin Piano Man too, never liked that much and I love all music. I really thought I'd like his music but no.

[failedassassin]

@TheAmazingAtheist The AmazingAtheist and William Joel... :D

[creamydistortion]

Nope, not lovely rita, Benifit of Mr Kite

[christianbadami]

Great thing about this song: It apparently was originally mastered with the vocals separated from instruments in a Left/Right stereo separation... This means you can pan-pot or listen to one side of your headphones and have an instant karaoke instrumental version to sing with! Pretty cool. Great song, and thanks for keeping the stereo separation!

[creamydistortion]

Yup, he ripped it off from "Lovely Rita" I think, but this sounds better, period... Get a pair of headphones and some, um Marijuana.

[pianodannmarr]

@christianbadami, This was done to give the impression of the separation of the Orchestra and the audience.

[SalsaShark542]

I love how the album ends with the melody from Allentown. It really pulls the album together. Perfect opening, perfect ending.

[proken58]

Reminds me of how Paul McCartney ended Ninteen Hundred And Eighty Five with the a few bars of Band On The Run.

[HammurabisRain]

Beautiful. That's the only word that comes close to describing it.

[zellerhoffkempen]

einfach toll, traurig - ergreifend - hier is the orchestra.... und ich applaudiere..... marie

[madlutist]

Another example of why Billy Joel is still the best there is and the best there has been in popular music.

Another thing; anyone else catch the self-referential joke at the end of the song, or am I loopy? You know, the melody from Allentown sneaking in at the end? Though I'm not sure which came first, so he might have liked the tune in this song and used it as part of Allentown. It sounds more like an joking allusion to a past song, though, so I feel like this was recorded after Allentown.

[mission2marsden]

The ending was purposely created that way for the album. The first track on the album "The Nylon Curtain" is infact the song Allentown, and Billy just wanted to finish off the album (the last song being Where's the Orchestra) with a bit of the song. He also played it the same way when he played this song live at his Night School interviews.

[pianodannmarr]

@mission2marsden, This was a way to subconsciously make the listener what to hear the album again.

[Beatlerock4]

@mission2marsden its called a musical bookend

[nitesead]

Wow! I've heard this album a million times, as it's my favorite by Billy Joel, and I NEVER caught that! Thanks for pointing it out. Blows me away.

[christianbadami]

Thanx for the cool info.  Nylon Curtain is Mr. Joel's greatest masterpiece.

[pianodannmarr]

@madlutist , Allentown was written first. Billy mentioned that it was an old Melodie that was never finished until he did the Nylon Curtain.

[woodstock1330]

Ooo. I love this song so much... I saw him do this live on Night School, you're right, it was really beautiful.

[wefasdf23]

This was about a sad time in his life. I'm a lonely orchestra player, so it connects to me a lot. Extremely sad.

[jhill2704]

NICE-I hope one day Sony will release a ''legacy edition''of the ''Nylon Curtain''

[BigShotTony]

Great shot of Bill. I love this song, so haunting and ambiguous. I have a live version from 2006. He sounds awesome.

[jhill2704]

can I get a copy?OMG I'd love that

[JSwanKilowJ]

Like Billy Joel even needs to ask for an applause. I've seen some clips of the Night School thing with Billy Joel. Didn't get to see him play this unfortunately. Thank you for the post!

[zephyerlives]

awesome song :) cool picture!