The Entertainer (An Alternate History)
Song: The Entertainer
Album: Streetlife Serenade
On December 17th 1977 The Sex Pistols were scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live. However, due to travel visa issues and the fact that the band had basically imploded by that point, their appearance was cancelled. Taking the place of the Sex Pistols were Elvis Costello and the Attractions. This was the night where Elvis Costello famously began playing “Less Than Zero” before stopping a few bars in and launching into “Radio, Radio” an act that got him banned from the show for the next dozen years.
Over the years there has been a lot of speculation on the reason for this ban. Was it due to the content of the song or the fact that Elvis and the Attractions went off script? Based on the fact that “Radio, Radio” was practically unknown in the US at the time I find it difficult to believe that there was an official or unofficial ban on the song in December of 1977. I think the ban had everything to do with the fact that they deviated from the previously agreed upon song. Lorne Michaels has a well-documented distaste for guests going off script. Regardless of the true reason for the ban, this performance of “Radio, Radio” has contributed to Elvis Costello’s legacy as an edgy rock icon.
Now play along with me on a thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that EC and the Attractions just played “Less Than Zero” that night and quietly took a bow at the end of the night. The world moves on just fine and three months later Chevy Chase returns to host SNL and the musical guest that night is one Mr. Billy Joel.
By February 1978 Billy Joel is (to paraphrase Jon Wurster) hot S-hit. The Stranger, released in late 1977 was a huge success. I have to imagine that appearing on SNL was a very big deal for him. At 28 years old he is appearing on the hottest show on TV in his hometown in front of a national audience. As Nathan Rabin described it in a 2010 write up of that night’s show; “Tonight’s episode marks the Saturday Night Live debut of an impossibly young, scruffy Billy Joel, who looks like a substitute teacher gone to seed in his sport jacket, tie and mountain-man beard as he performs “Only The Good Die Young” and “Just The Way You Are”.
I have seen this episode and I have to say that Billy Joel is great in it. But you know what would have been better? If instead of playing “Just The Way You Are” Billy Joel stopped a few seconds in and started playing “The Entertainer”. That would have been great.
Sure it was one thing for a 22-year-old kid with punk cred like Elvis Costello to play “Radio, Radio” but what did he have to lose? Not much. In December of 1977 “My Aim Is True” was still available in the US as an import only and the wall-to-wall outstanding and still the best thing EC has ever done “This Years Model” wouldn’t be released for another four months. In December of 1977 Elvis Costello was a curiosity to all but a relatively small number of people.
Billy Joel on the other had been in the business for a decade by February of 1978 he had a track record of success and a right to feel jaded about the music industry. Had he played “The Entertainer” that night it would have felt like a truly subversive act, a biting of the hand that made him work tirelessly to get fed. “The Entertainer” would have been a cynical middle finger extended to the record industry and music critics who dismissed him as a lightweight. Holy s-hit I would have loved to have seen this happen. If it had we might still be talking about Billy Joel’s punk rock moment today and I might be wearing different glasses as I type this.
As we know of course this didn’t happen and I can’t knock Billy Joel for it one bit. He had a great record to promote that night and he did it well. Also, by 1978 I’m sure he had grown tired of playing “The Entertainer” but my god is it a great song. Today a take-down of the music business might seem ho-hum because we’ve all looked behind the curtain but when this was released in 1974 these kinds of songs weren’t expected, certainly not from popular artists. Sure the Byrds had released “So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star” in 1967 but that song’s cynicism about rock music as a commodity was obscured by it’s delivery, which was so tongue in cheek it came off as practically a how to manual. Nick Lowe’s equally cynical but more direct “I Love My Label” was years away from seeing the light of day when “The Entertainer” was released. Billy Joel also beat Pink Floyd to the punch, as their Roger Waters written take-down of the biz; “Have a Cigar” wouldn’t be released until 1975. Yeah, Billy Joel outdid Roger Waters in the cynics department. Well-played Mr. Joel, well-played.
I should tell you that I was familiar with this song before beginning this project and a month ago I would have said that I didn’t like it. However, after giving it a chance and understanding it’s context I am on 100% on board. Streetlife Serenade is a deeply flawed album but “The Entertainer” is far and away the high point of the record thus far* and probably the best song Billy Joel had written and released to this point in his career. It is the kind of song I hope to hear more of on upcoming records.
*I like it so much that I refuse to even talk about the synth sounds that were added to the track.
