Michael Cook
- Jun 17, 2021
- 2 min read

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) - Billy Joel (1977) 6/18/21

As a new recording artist in the '70s, Billy Joel was an angry young man--you can tell by some of his "Great Songs," including "The Entertainer," which we highlighted back on and "My Life," which I wrote about on (Links to my blog entries for these songs are below.)

By the time Billy's album, "The Stranger" was released in 1976, he was STILL angry, and one of things that REALLY annoyed him was what he referred to as the "New York immigrant working class ethos." In other words, men who worked long hours just so they could afford a luxury or two--and prove to others they were "well off."

According to Billy, he knew several of these people--and they were all miserable and unfulfilled. They felt they had been forced--by family or other concerns--into work they didn't want to do--just because that's what people expected them to do. So they'd buy a house or a car to make themselves feel successful.

To Billy, however, a life unfulfilled was a life where talents and dreams had been pushed aside for the "appearance of happiness."

And that's what led Billy to write, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"

It wasn't Billy's biggest hit, reaching only #17 on Billboard's Hot 100,

BUT...it had lasting power in a very unexpected way: In 2002, The Twyla Tharp Dance Musical, "Movin' Out," featuring the title song and several other Billy Joel hits, opened on Broadway, where it ran for 1,307 performances!

TRIVIA: Billy originally wrote the song to what he thought was an original tune that had been running though his head. Unfortunately, when he played it for his band, he discovered the tune was actually Neil Sedaka's "Laughter in the Rain." Oops. Needless to say he re-wrote it, and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song" became a "Great Song of the '70s!"