5. Piano Man

Of course no Billy Joel list is complete without his signature song. For the past 30 years Joel has closed nearly all his concerts with ‘Piano Man’, one night he tried to shake things up and opened with it, but it just didn't feel right. In its verses Joel recounts his experiences as the ‘piano man’ at Los Angeles’s Executive Room bar, where amazingly Joel, had taken a gig after his debut album, Cold Spring Harbour, failed to do well upon its release. ‘Piano Man’ is a perfect example of Joel’s storytelling skills and his knack for creating characters within his music. Really if you only ever hear one Billy Joel song, ‘Piano Man’ should probably be it.

Billy JoelJoel will recieve the Gershwin awars in November