Released November 1, 1977 Recorded 1977 Length 3:28 | Format 7" Genre Rock | |
B-side "She's Always a Woman" (Europe)
Vienna (UK)
"Everybody Has a Dream" (US) | ||
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel. The track details the singer's disgust with the upwardly-mobile bourgeois aspirations of working- and lower-middle-class New Yorkers who take pride in working long hours to afford the outward signs of having "made it". Characters have stereotypically ethnic names (Anthony, Mama Leone, Sergeant O'Leary, Mr. Cacciatore) and blue-collar jobs. Joel considers their rejection of their working-class roots (trading a Chevy for a Cadillac and buying a house in Hackensack, New Jersey) ultimately futile; in the end, the rewards are a "heart attack" or "a broken back". Near the end of the recording is the sound of a car starting up and driving away; the bass player Doug Stegmeyer's 1960s Corvette was used. In the single mix the engine sound was removed.
Contents
According to Joel, Anthony is not a real person, but rather "every Irish, Polish, and Italian kid trying to make a living in the U.S."
"Movin' Out" originally appeared on Joel's 1977 album The Stranger. A live performance of it can be heard on 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.
Broadway musical
The Twyla Tharp Broadway dance musical Movin' Out, featuring the songs of Billy Joel, opened at New York City's Richard Rodgers Theatre on October 24, 2002, and played 1,307 performances before closing in December 2005. The show's lead piano player and singer was Michael Cavanaugh. It toured the US extensively from 2004 through 2007, featuring Darren Holden as lead Piano Man, and Matt Wilson, James Fox and Matthew Friedman as second Piano Men. The show transferred to the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London's West End on April 10, 2006; James Fox played lead piano and sang, with Darren Reeves as second piano man. It closed early, on May 22, owing to poor ticket sales.
Movin' Out is also the title of the original Broadway cast album taken from the musical.
Track listing
- "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" Time: 3:28
- "She's Always A Woman" Time: 3:21
- "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song" Time: 3:28
- "Vienna" Time: 3:34
- "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" Time: 3:28
- "Everybody Has A Dream" Time: 6:39