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Old City Bar and Piano Man - DarkMacek - 12-22-2020

Has anyone from the band ever acknowledged that Old City Bar probably takes some cues from Piano Man?

  • They have nearly identical chord progressions (OCB is in Bb, Piano Man is in C).
  • They're both in 3/4 time.
  • The lyrics detail lonely people in a bar.


RE: Old City Bar and Piano Man - Mangar - 12-22-2020

(12-22-2020, 02:26 AM)DarkMacek Wrote: Has anyone from the band ever acknowledged that Old City Bar probably takes some cues from Piano Man?

  • They have nearly identical chord progressions (OCB is in Bb, Piano Man is in C).
  • They're both in 3/4 time.
  • The lyrics detail lonely people in a bar.
Interesting.  As a long time fan of both Billy and TSO, I'm ashamed to say I never made the connection.
On the other hand, I once noticed that "Believe" has a very similar chord progression to the verse of the much less well-known Billy Joel song, "Worse Comes To Worst," from the Piano Man album.

RE: Old City Bar and Piano Man - DarkMacek - 12-22-2020

(12-22-2020, 04:31 AM)Mangar Wrote:
(12-22-2020, 02:26 AM)DarkMacek Wrote: Has anyone from the band ever acknowledged that Old City Bar probably takes some cues from Piano Man?

  • They have nearly identical chord progressions (OCB is in Bb, Piano Man is in C).
  • They're both in 3/4 time.
  • The lyrics detail lonely people in a bar.
Interesting.  As a long time fan of both Billy and TSO, I'm ashamed to say I never made the connection.
On the other hand, I once noticed that "Believe" has a very similar chord progression to the verse of the much less well-known Billy Joel song, "Worse Comes To Worst," from the Piano Man album.
I have known Piano Man since my youth (I grew up on Long Island, it's pretty much a necessary part of the dialect) and Old City Bar since 2009 or so. I made the connection only the other night when I was futzing around on guitar and noticed the similarity. 
I should clarify - the chord progressions are extremely similar, not just the keys as I'd stated above. 

I'll have to listen to Worst Comes To Worst now, will report back later.

RE: Old City Bar and Piano Man - DarkMacek - 12-22-2020

There's definitely the same progression going on but I would think that's entirely coincidental. The chorus of Believe is your standard "Axis of Awesome 4 chord song", yet I wouldn't say it stole from Don't Stop Believin'. And of course, the lyrics/themes/melodies are way different.

RE: Old City Bar and Piano Man - Mangar - 12-24-2020

(12-22-2020, 07:02 AM)DarkMacek Wrote: There's definitely the same progression going on but I would think that's entirely coincidental. The chorus of Believe is your standard "Axis of Awesome 4 chord song", yet I wouldn't say it stole from Don't Stop Believin'. And of course, the lyrics/themes/melodies are way different.
Oh, I totally agree, I don't think there was any intentional borrowing from Billy when Savatage wrote "Believe," I just noticed the connection when I was trying to learn to play Believe on the piano and it occurred to me that I was hitting the same chords as I did when I was trying to learn "Worse Comes To Worst."  But that's pretty typical of popular music.  I just mentioned it here because we were talking about Billy Joel / TSO connections.  Incidentally, they both have songs named "Vienna," too.

RE: Old City Bar and Piano Man - DarkMacek - 12-24-2020

(12-24-2020, 05:46 AM)Mangar Wrote:
(12-22-2020, 07:02 AM)DarkMacek Wrote: There's definitely the same progression going on but I would think that's entirely coincidental. The chorus of Believe is your standard "Axis of Awesome 4 chord song", yet I wouldn't say it stole from Don't Stop Believin'. And of course, the lyrics/themes/melodies are way different.
Oh, I totally agree, I don't think there was any intentional borrowing from Billy when Savatage wrote "Believe," I just noticed the connection when I was trying to learn to play Believe on the piano and it occurred to me that I was hitting the same chords as I did when I was trying to learn "Worse Comes To Worst."  But that's pretty typical of popular music.  I just mentioned it here because we were talking about Billy Joel / TSO connections.  Incidentally, they both have songs named "Vienna," too.
... now I can't stop imagining Kayla Reeves singing Billy Joel's Vienna. Thanks, lol.