Billy Joel! "Allentown!"

Billy Joel is one of my wife’s favorite musicians. I had the opportunity to take her to a Billy Joel concert for her birthday in 1990 and I have to say that it was THE best show we have EVER seen! “Allentown” is one of my all time favorite songs and it was certainly one of the best he performed that night. I’ll never forget it! The only thing that could have made it even better was at the start of the song, when the whistle blows, I would’ve loved to have heard Fred Flintstone yell  "EEEEEEE Yabba Dabba Doooo!!"

All kidding aside, “Allentown’s” theme is about those coping with the demise of the American manufacturing industry in the latter part of the 20th century. More specifically, it depicts the depressed, blue-collar livelihood of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's residents in the wake of Bethlehem Steel's decline and eventual closure.

The original idea for the song was titled “Levittown”, after the Long Island town next to Hicksville where Joel grew up. He had written a chord and lyrics for the song in the 70’s, but struggled for a topic for the song. Joel stated that the original lyrics seemed kind of bland. He felt that they would possibly be considered boring to the listeners. Some of the original lyrics included lines like: "Well we're living here in Levittown. And there's really not much going down. I don't see much when I look around. The grass is green, the trees are brown. And we're living here in Levittown." So, during the time of the upcoming studio sessions for 1982’s, The Nylon Curtain, Joel took a trip to Pennsylvania. He remembered reading about the decline of the steel industry in the Lehigh Valley, which included the small cities of both Bethlehem and Allentown.

It was there that he came up with the idea for new lyrics. At the time, he originally had Bethlehem in mind but he thought people would suddenly get the impression that the song was religious. So, he started writing down some lyrics for what later became, "Allentown."

Interestingly enough, Joel stated the following regarding his religious background:

“My parents were both from Jewish families. I was not brought up Jewish in any religious way. I used to go to a Roman Catholic church with my friends, and when I was 11, I got baptized in a Church of Christ in Hicksville.”

I think it's time for another concert!