"Los Angelenos" is a sardonic and sarcastic swipe at the phoniness of Los Angeles culture in the early 1970s. It's a more acerbic song than the elegiac "I've Loved These Days," which would appear on 1976's Turnstiles and which has a similar theme, though there is some ambiguity about Billy's feelings toward the place. In "Los Angelenos," however, Billy is clear. He either lambasts or lampoons the transplanted Midwestern ladies with "their New York cowboys" and the "electric babies, blue-jeaned and jaded" who hide out in the canyons of Los Angeles.
It's all done with a funky, eclectic and electric beat, capturing the diversity and mish-mosh that is Los Angeles. Billy has said that he pictured Rod Stewart (circa 1970s, not 2000s) singing this song, with its raw vocals. See audio player below, an excerpt from the Master Class Town Hall with Howard Stern on SiriusXM in 2014. Subscribe to SiriusXM.
Los Angelenos
(Recorded July 1980, Toad's Place, New Haven, CT Streetlife Serenade) Never mind Disneyland, LA is still paradise. Despite what you've heard she is not a whore, she's just easy. She forgives everyone . . . . (From Songs In Attic liner notes) Billy spent four years in Los Angeles, but never really belonged there. Compare the tone of "Los Angelenos" to his love song to New York, "New York State of Mind." Billy was perhaps a fish out of water in Los Angeles, much like Woody Allen's character in Annie Hall, who ultimately returns to New York, though Billy says he enjoyed his time in Los Angeles.
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Words and Music by Billy Joel
Los Angelenos All come from somewhere To live in sunshine Their funky exile Midwestern ladies High-heeled and faded Drivin' sleek new sports cars With their New York cowboys Hiding up in the mountains Laying low in the canyons Goin' nowhere on the streets With their Spanish names Makin' love with the natives In their Hollywood places Making up for all the time gone by Los Angelenos All come from somewhere Cause it's all so easy To become acquainted Electric babies Blue-jeaned and jaded Such hot sweet schoolgirls So educated Tanning out in the beaches With their Mexican reefers No one ever has to feel Like a refugee Going into garages For exotic massages Making up for all the time gone by Hiding up in the mountains Laying low in the canyons Goin' nowhere on the streets With the Spanish names Makin' love with the natives In their Hollywood places Making up for all the time gone by Los Angelenos All come from somewhere It's so familiar Their foreign faces 
Billy in Los Angeles circa 1974. Source unknown.
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Videos
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Music video for "Los Angelenos," a live performance from 1980, at Sparks in Long Island, released in 1981. © 1974, 1981 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
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"Los Angelenos" from Songs In The Attic (1981), recorded at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut.
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Original studio version of "Los Angelenos" (1974)
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