Several years back I was going to take a job at a company in Allentown. We were looking for a house to rent in one of the surrounding towns. We found a house we liked a lot in Palmerton, PA, about 15 miles from Allentown. We learned some things from the experience. In a lot of ways that area has recovered, in some places you can still see vast, empty, dilapidated factories. But also they've renovated and repurposed a lot of the old buildings into retail space or apartments. This is true of where I live in CT as well. My city was known for its many mills during the industrial revolution. It's nickname is "Silk City" because of the silk mills. After those businesses dried up, went overseas, etc, most of the mills were converted to apartments. I lived in Ribbon Mill for awhile, there's Yarn Mill apartments nearby, Dye House apartment(where I assume they used to dye the yarn, ribbons, silk different colors😁) Lofts at the Mills, Adams Mill restaurant, etc, etc. Many towns that lose their thriving industries are able to adapt, repurpose, move forward... Back to Allentown/Palmerton/Bethlehem area. Their situation was a little more complicated. The industries they had there, steel, coal, etc, unlike the textile mills of my town, produced significant pollution. It would end up in water, the wind would blow it around to other towns. In Palmerton we learned that many places in town had tested for hazardous industrial contamination and the town was still on a list of "Superfund sites" they're called, towns that had been recommended for cleanup using federal funding. These businesses had contaminated these areas, endangered people's health, and everyone's taxes were going to pay for the cleanup, but not the polluters themselves. Even though decades have passed, those industries still have negative effects on people. They've gotten sick from the pollution. Even in places where the contamination isnt terrible, being on the list of "Superfund" towns drives down property values, it's an unwelcome stigma they have difficulty shaking. I ended up staying in my city, for other reasons, not specifically because of the stigma. But it was eye-opening to realize how the depression has lingered in that area for so long. It's not on the surface, but if you talk to people long enough you'll catch allusions and references of how bad it used to be, and that there's still recovery going on...
This song is about the collapse of the steel industry and blue collar jobs in Pennsylvania. Bethlehem was a steel town and Allentown coal ,both in PA.. Its about the simple suburban life for many Americans after WWII, that most people enjoyed until the collapse and then many people lost their jobs and had to move away. Thanks to the politicians of course.
@@centuryrox I was a steel worker in the eighties too (IABSOIW crane oper.) and grew up in Eastern, PA. and everything about this song reminds me of those days.
He used Allentown because it was part of the epicenter of the demise of the mining and steel industry and the rust belt in general in southern Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc. What many don't understand is those industries are pretty much gone, especially mining.
I'm a hard core metal head, but I love me some Billy Joel. One of the best all-time song writers ever, IMO, and has never been limited to a certain genre. Keep up the good work. Peace!!!
This song makes me very emotional, my family was affected by the coal industry’s demise. Seeing you guys realize what the song was saying hit me in the heart. Thank you for reacting to this! We’re still waiting here in Allentown
The Appalachian Mountains extend from the South in the US through Pennsylvania and north into Canada. Like Kentucky or West Virginia, Pennsylvania had a mining economy. Allentown, however is in eastern Pennsylvania by the border with New Jersey. So it’s close to markets like Philadelphia and New York City. This song is a document of late 20th Century American history. After World War 2 the possibilities for the future in America must have seemed limitless. Many people had good paying union jobs. Working class people could afford to take vacations and short holidays to places like Asbury Park on the New Jersey Shore (cf. Bruce Springsteen). We went to the Moon for crying out loud! This optimism for the future started to fall apart in the 70’s and especially the 80’s. Mining and manufacturing dried up, young people began to move to the suburbs and previously booming cities like Allentown and Bethlehem started to decay. I think the “standing in line, filling out forms” references people applying for unemployment or public benefits. At its heart I think this is a good, old-fashioned protest song in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. Billy Joel shows versatility as a songwriter and recording artist here. The song is very well crafted but the story and the melody flow like stream of consciousness. I think the drummer, Liberty DeVitto doesn’t usually get credit for his contributions to songs like Allentown or Only the Good Die Young. Liberty’s playing is subtle and musical. He can really set up and accent a musical passage. I think of his drumming as turning on the lights inside a song.
Another Billy Joel song I love that reminds me of this one is The Downeaster "Alexa", which is a lament/ode to fishermen of the northeastern United States and the very tough life it is.
This is about steel, not coal. Allentown and Bethlehem and other cities in this region of America are where all the steel mills were historically located.
Founded 1762, named for William Allen with a population of 121,433. Yes Allentown PA was a steel town as many of the comments below tell you. This song is about how people had to reinvent themselves.
Great song and great to see the economic renaissance in the Lehigh Valley area with manufacturers, financial companies and health care institutions. The revived message on trade and defending jobs resonates in the Lehigh Valley, where there are memories of how foreign competition clobbered the local steel and cement industries.
My son plays ice hockey at Steel Ice in Bethlehem which is the city adjacent to Allentown. Across the street from the ice rink are the "Steel Stacks." The steel factory that is now shut down but is still standing. At night they shine colored lights on it and it's a bit eerie. Here is a photo of it.
Try Elena and The Nights the Lights Went Out On Broadway by him.But the live video of All About Soul is my favorite of all his songs...and that is saying a lot.Allentown and Bethlehem are in Pennsylvania.
Allentown now has a minor league baseball team and a minor league hockey team, and Bethlehem hosts a ten day long music festival called Musikfest, that attracts about 1 million "Festers" every year, with great bands and lots of beer. And the main festival stage is right in the parking lot of the old steel mill.
I'm curious about how you would react to "She's Always A Woman" by Billy. Very interesting lyrics to dissect, and it's always been my favorite from him.
This song has a darker message about American decadence and corruption and I suspect that is why it was not such a big hit. People don't really like the truth.
And Springsteen is no Billy Joel and that's how it should be. Joel's not all just loves songs/ballads and he has numerous edgier and/or socially aware songs too like "Everybody Loves You Now", "Captain Jack", "Los Angelenos", "Weekend Song", "Prelude / Angry Young Man", "Half A Mile Away", "You May Be Right", "Goodnight Saigon", "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" and "No Man's Land".
Several years back I was going to take a job at a company in Allentown. We were looking for a house to rent in one of the surrounding towns. We found a house we liked a lot in Palmerton, PA, about 15 miles from Allentown. We learned some things from the experience.
In a lot of ways that area has recovered, in some places you can still see vast, empty, dilapidated factories. But also they've renovated and repurposed a lot of the old buildings into retail space or apartments. This is true of where I live in CT as well. My city was known for its many mills during the industrial revolution. It's nickname is "Silk City" because of the silk mills. After those businesses dried up, went overseas, etc, most of the mills were converted to apartments. I lived in Ribbon Mill for awhile, there's Yarn Mill apartments nearby, Dye House apartment(where I assume they used to dye the yarn, ribbons, silk different colors😁) Lofts at the Mills, Adams Mill restaurant, etc, etc. Many towns that lose their thriving industries are able to adapt, repurpose, move forward...
Back to Allentown/Palmerton/Bethlehem area. Their situation was a little more complicated. The industries they had there, steel, coal, etc, unlike the textile mills of my town, produced significant pollution. It would end up in water, the wind would blow it around to other towns. In Palmerton we learned that many places in town had tested for hazardous industrial contamination and the town was still on a list of "Superfund sites" they're called, towns that had been recommended for cleanup using federal funding. These businesses had contaminated these areas, endangered people's health, and everyone's taxes were going to pay for the cleanup, but not the polluters themselves.
Even though decades have passed, those industries still have negative effects on people. They've gotten sick from the pollution. Even in places where the contamination isnt terrible, being on the list of "Superfund" towns drives down property values, it's an unwelcome stigma they have difficulty shaking.
I ended up staying in my city, for other reasons, not specifically because of the stigma. But it was eye-opening to realize how the depression has lingered in that area for so long. It's not on the surface, but if you talk to people long enough you'll catch allusions and references of how bad it used to be, and that there's still recovery going on...
This song is about the collapse of the steel industry and blue collar jobs in Pennsylvania. Bethlehem was a steel town and Allentown coal ,both in PA.. Its about the simple suburban life for many Americans after WWII, that most people enjoyed until the collapse and then many people lost their jobs and had to move away. Thanks to the politicians of course.
@@centuryrox I was a steel worker in the eighties too (IABSOIW crane oper.) and grew up in Eastern, PA. and everything about this song reminds me of those days.
He used Allentown because it was part of the epicenter of the demise of the mining and steel industry and the rust belt in general in southern Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc.
What many don't understand is those industries are pretty much gone, especially mining.
@Tango Jones Don't bet on it.
@@tgwife1964 yeah, allentown has never been about coal.
I'm a hard core metal head, but I love me some Billy Joel. One of the best all-time song writers ever, IMO, and has never been limited to a certain genre. Keep up the good work. Peace!!!
The whistling at the start is a steam whistle like the one you hear in a steel factory
This song makes me very emotional, my family was affected by the coal industry’s demise. Seeing you guys realize what the song was saying hit me in the heart. Thank you for reacting to this!
We’re still waiting here in Allentown
Also, if someone hasn’t commented, the video for this song is very good
The Appalachian Mountains extend from the South in the US through Pennsylvania and north into Canada. Like Kentucky or West Virginia, Pennsylvania had a mining economy. Allentown, however is in eastern Pennsylvania by the border with New Jersey. So it’s close to markets like Philadelphia and New York City. This song is a document of late 20th Century American history.
After World War 2 the possibilities for the future in America must have seemed limitless. Many people had good paying union jobs. Working class people could afford to take vacations and short holidays to places like Asbury Park on the New Jersey Shore (cf. Bruce Springsteen). We went to the Moon for crying out loud! This optimism for the future started to fall apart in the 70’s and especially the 80’s. Mining and manufacturing dried up, young people began to move to the suburbs and previously booming cities like Allentown and Bethlehem started to decay. I think the “standing in line, filling out forms” references people applying for unemployment or public benefits. At its heart I think this is a good, old-fashioned protest song in the tradition of Woody Guthrie.
Billy Joel shows versatility as a songwriter and recording artist here. The song is very well crafted but the story and the melody flow like stream of consciousness. I think the drummer, Liberty DeVitto doesn’t usually get credit for his contributions to songs like Allentown or Only the Good Die Young. Liberty’s playing is subtle and musical. He can really set up and accent a musical passage. I think of his drumming as turning on the lights inside a song.
Another Billy Joel song I love that reminds me of this one is The Downeaster "Alexa", which is a lament/ode to fishermen of the northeastern United States and the very tough life it is.
This is about steel, not coal. Allentown and Bethlehem and other cities in this region of America are where all the steel mills were historically located.
Founded 1762, named for William Allen with a population of 121,433. Yes Allentown PA was a steel town as many of the comments below tell you. This song is about how people had to reinvent themselves.
Every parent wants to see their chif graduate
Allentown is from the album The Nylon Curtain 1982
'Goodnight Saigon", please.
Such a great song
Great song and great to see the economic renaissance in the Lehigh Valley area with manufacturers, financial companies and health care institutions. The revived message on trade and defending jobs resonates in the Lehigh Valley, where there are memories of how foreign competition clobbered the local steel and cement industries.
My son plays ice hockey at Steel Ice in Bethlehem which is the city adjacent to Allentown. Across the street from the ice rink are the "Steel Stacks." The steel factory that is now shut down but is still standing. At night they shine colored lights on it and it's a bit eerie. Here is a photo of it.
ruclips.net/video/54F8_pNL5WI/видео.html
Try Elena and The Nights the Lights Went Out On Broadway by him.But the live video of All About Soul is my favorite of all his songs...and that is saying a lot.Allentown and Bethlehem are in Pennsylvania.
Allentown now has a minor league baseball team and a minor league hockey team, and Bethlehem hosts a ten day long music festival called Musikfest, that attracts about 1 million "Festers" every year, with great bands and lots of beer. And the main festival stage is right in the parking lot of the old steel mill.
you can not go wrong with Billy Joel. The Nylon Curtain (1982) album, The cold and steel mills begin closing. Allentown PA
He was booed when he performed the song in Allentown...... i loved this album though
I'm curious about how you would react to "She's Always A Woman" by Billy. Very interesting lyrics to dissect, and it's always been my favorite from him.
I remember that song being considered sexist
Great song and another insightful reaction. If you have time try giving the band bright eyes a listen to.
American Realism from Billy Joel. See also "No Man's Land".
This song has a darker message about American decadence and corruption and I suspect that is why it was not such a big hit. People don't really like the truth.
Great Socialist song and so underrated. Applies today as then. Thank you for reviewing.
Billy Joels attempt at a Springsteen song. Not a bad effort, but he's no Boss.
And Springsteen is no Billy Joel and that's how it should be.
Joel's not all just loves songs/ballads and he has numerous edgier and/or socially aware songs too like "Everybody Loves You Now", "Captain Jack", "Los Angelenos", "Weekend Song", "Prelude / Angry Young Man", "Half A Mile Away", "You May Be Right", "Goodnight Saigon", "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" and "No Man's Land".
Billy Joel is 10 times better than Springsteen.