Billy Joel Album

Streetlife serenader
Never sang on stages
Needs no orchestration
Melody comes easy

Midnight masquerader
Shoppin' center heroes
Child of Eisenhower
New world celebrator

Streetlife serenaders
Have such understanding
How the words are spoken
How to make the motions

Streetlife serenaders
Have no obligations
Hold no grand illusions
Need no stimulation

Midnight masqueraders
Workin' hard for wages
Need no vast arrangements
To do their harmonizing

Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
To live in sunshine
Their funky exile
Midwestern ladies
High-heeled and faded
Driving sleek new sports cars
With their New York cowboys

Hiding up in the mountains
Laying low in the canyons
Going nowhere on the streets
With the Spanish names
Making love with the natives
In their Hollywood places
Making up for all the time gone by

Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
’cause it’s all so easy
To become acquainted
Electric babies
Blue-jeaned and jaded
Such hot sweet schoolgirls
So educated

Tanning out in the beaches
With their Mexican reefers
No one ever has to feel
Like a refugee
Going into garages
For exotic massages
Making up for all the time gone by

Hiding up in the mountains
Laying low in the canyons
Going nowhere on the streets
With the Spanish names
Making love with the natives
In their Hollywood places
Making up for all the time gone by

Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
It’s so familiar
Their foreign faces

Flyin' east on a plane
Drinkin' all that free champagne
I guess I saw this comin' down the line
And I know it should be fun
But I think I should've packed my gun
Got that old suburban showdown in my mind

Sit around with the folks
Tell the same old tired jokes
Bored to death on Sunday afternoon
Mom and Dad, me and you
And the outdoor barbecue
Think I'm gonna hide out in my room

I've been gone for a while
Made some changes in my style
And they say you can't go home anymore
Well the streets all look the same
And I'll have to play the game
We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs
With the TV on and the neighbors there

Out in the yard
Where my Daddy worked so hard
He never lets the crab grass grow too high
Oh, the place hasn't changed
And that's why I'm gonna feel so strange
But I'll have to face the music bye and bye

I've been gone for a while
Made some changes in my style
And they say you can't go home anymore
Well the streets all look the same
And I'll have to play the game
We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs
With the TV on and the neighbors there

Drive into town
When this big bird touches down
I'm only comin' home to say goodbye
Then I'm gone with the wind
And I won't be seen again
Till that great suburban showdown in the sky
Till that great suburban showdown in the sky

instrumental.

Roberta, you say you know me
But I see only what you're paid to show me
Oh, I wish you had the time
Oh, I wish you had the time

Oh, Roberta, I understand you
I know you need to move in other circles too;
It's tough for me, it's tough for you

Roberta, how I've adored you
I'd ask you over but I can't afford you
Oh, I wish you'd take the time
Oh, I wish you'd take the time

Oh, Roberta, the night goes slowly
I know you're workin' but you must get lonely too;
It's tough for me, ah, it's tough for you

And I'm in a bad way and wanna make love to you, ooh, ooh
Oh, I wish you had the time
Oh, I wish you had the time

Oh, Roberta, I really need you
But I suppose that my small change won't see you through;
It's tough for me, ah, it's tough for you

I am the entertainer, and I know just where I stand,
Another serenader and another long-haired band
Today I am your champion, I may have won your hearts
But I know the game you'll forget my name
And I won't be here in another year
If I don't stay on the charts

I am the entertainer and I've had to pay my price,
The things I did not know at first I learned by doing twice
But still they come to haunt me,
Still they want their say,

So I've learned to dance with a hand in my pants
I let 'em rub my neck and I write 'em a check
And they go their merry way

I am the entertainer, been all around the world,
I've played all kinds of palaces and laid all kinds of girls
I can't remember faces, I don't remember names,
But what the hell, you know it's just as well
'Cause after a while and a thousand miles
It all becomes the same

I am the entertainer, I bring to you my songs,
I'd like to spend a day or two, but I can't stay that long
I got to meet expenses, I got to stay in line,
Got to get those fees to the agencies
And I'd love to stay but there's bills to pay
So I just don't have the time

I am the entertainer, I've come to do my show,
You've heard my latest record, it's been on the radio
It took me years to write it, they were the best years of my life,
It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05

I am the entertainer, the idol of my age,
I make all kinds of money when I go on the stage
You see me in the papers, I've been in the magazines,
But if I go cold, I won't get sold,
I get put in the back in a discount rack
Like another can of beans

I am the entertainer and I know just where I stand,
Another serenader and another long-haired band
Today I am your champion, I may have won your hearts,
But I know the game, you'll forget my name,
I won't be here in another year If I don't stay on the charts

Well if money makes a rich man
Then I might never make the grade
I'll be a small time operator
If I just get the landlord paid
But if time is an indication
Of the wealth that I never knew
Then I'm the last of the big time spenders
'Cause I've been spending time on you, woo oo oo woo

It takes time to appreciate
Lord knows that you can learn to hate it
I believe, 'cause I've been there too
When it gets down to desperation
You make the best of the situation
I can tell, I've seen it thru, oh, oh, oh

Though it seems like the day is wasted
And the nights have been overdue
Well, I'm the last of the big time spenders
And I've been spendin' time on you, woo oo oo woo

It's been so long since we got together
In between it seems to take forever
But I'm a dreamer, I'll be there soon

It takes time to appreciate
All of those that you can learn to hate
I believe, I've seen it thru, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

You can call me the Great Pretender
And in a way it might be true
But I'm the last of the big time spenders
And I've been spendin' time on you, woo oo oo woo

This back-breakin', bone-shakin', belly-achin', hard-workin'
Two more hours to go
Yes, it's keeping me alive doin' nine to five
And I ain't got nothin to show
Pretty soon I'll be leavin'
With the wages I'm receivin'
But I know it's gonna be all right
Come on, babe, and take me away
We got some money to spend tonight

Pick me up at the station
Meet me at the train
Have a meal and a shower and a change of clothes
I can't afford a vacation
But I can take the strain
Long as I can be with you
Find a way to burn it as quickly as I earn it

Yes, it's back-breakin', bone-shakin', belly-achin', hard-workin'
Two more hours to go
Seven long years for the same corporation
And I ain't got nothin' to show
And tonight when I'm leavin' I'll be just breakin' even
But I know it's gonna be all right
I shake off my blues when you put on your shoes
We got some money to spend tonight

Oh, I don't wanna stand here and sound accusin'
Everybody does their share of losin'
If I'm gonna lose it I might as well be doin' it right

Pick me up at the station
Meet me at the train
Have a meal and a shower and a change of clothes
I can't afford a vacation
But I can take the strain
Long as I can be with you
Find a way to burn it as quickly as I earn it

Yes, it's back-breakin', bone-shakin', belly-achin', hard-workin'
Two more hours to go
Yes, it's keepin' me alive doin' nine to five
And I ain't got nothin' to show
And tonight when I'm leavin' I'll be just breakin' even
But I know it's gonna be all right
Come on, babe, and take me away
We got some money to spend tonight
Come on, babe, take me away
We got some money to spend tonight

A picture postcard
A folded stub
A program of the play
File away your photographs
Of your holiday

And your mementos
Will turn to dust
But that's the price you pay
For every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away
Every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away

[Instrumental]