Prelude/Angry Young Man

Prelude/Angry Young Man
(Turnstiles) (1976)

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Billy Joel and his band perform "Angry Young Man" on The Mike Douglas Show in 1976. The audio quality is not that good.

Download "Prelude/Angry Young Man"

I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

"Prelude/Angry Young Man" has been the opening song for Billy Joel's concerts in recent years, and it's an appropriate one. The unbelievable staccato piano and crashing cymbals of the Prelude immediately grab your attention, and lead directly into the rapid-fire lyrics of "Angry Young Man." As Billy has often said, the piano is a percussive instrument, you strike it. He has likened the opening of "Prelude/Angry Young Man" to "Wipeout."

Billy is both sympathetic and sick of the angry young man, who stubbornly clings to his ideals and notions from the 1960s - to the point of boring everyone. While he has his "fist in the air" he sticks his "head in the sand." The angry young man certainly is self-delusional, sitting in his locked room with "his maps and medals laid out on the floor." In the bridge, Billy turns to his own past days of "consciousness and righteous rage" and points out that "just surviving is a noble fight" and that life goes on no matter who is wrong or right. It is a sentiment that many Baby Boomers may have felt in the mid-70s as the idealism of the 60s had waned.

Billy explains the inspiration and story behind "Prelude/ Angry Young Man" in this Q&A session from 1996. The song was based on one of Billy's former tour managers who apparently had a chip on his shoulder about many things, and had a difficult time getting along with others.

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Listen to Billy discuss "Angry Young Man" on SiriusXM radio. Click player below.

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man

Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good
And he sits in a room with a lock on the door
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man

I believe I've passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

There's always a place for the angry young man,
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can't understand why his heart always breaks
And his honor is pure and his courage as well
And he's fair and he's true and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man

And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.

Embed from Getty Images

Billy Joel at The Bottom Line (1976)

Videos

From Live at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey from 1976.

From Live from Long Island (1982)

In the mid 2000's, Billy often opened with "Prelude/Angry Young Man" such as in this concert from Tokyo in 2006. The video does work even though it may appear initially that it is not there. Click on the play button above.

Billy discusses "Angry Young Man" in this excerpt from a television program in 1978.

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