Joel Has Soul Part 4: There's Someplace that He'd Rather Be

"You know those lights were bright on Broadway

That was so many years ago

Before we all lived here in Florida

Before the Mafia took over Mexico"

- "Miami 2017", Turnstiles

Billy Joel is a tried and true New Yorker.  Born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island, Joel has  reflected his love of the Big Apple in a number of his songs, perhaps most notably through "New York State of Mind."  But when he's not crooning about "taking a Greyhound" on the dreamy "Hudson River Line", Billy Joel expresses love for his city in what some may consider an unconventional way: by describing its demise in a natural apocalypse.

That's right, today I'm writing about  the one and only, "Miami 2017."

So you may be wondering,  is this even a song about New York? It's title certainly doesn't suggest that it is. But perhaps you know it by its more commonly-used name, "Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway".

In terms of context, this song is pretty out there for Joel.  It's told from the viewpoint of an old man who experienced a natural disaster in New York that basically ended the city decades earlier.  Everyone fled the city and now he's living in Miami (hence the name, Miami 2017).  The words alone make it one of Joel's most unique songs, but the context and modern relevancy of the song is what really put it over the top.
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First, a history lesson:
In 1974, New York City had pretty much hit the rock bottom of its several year downward spiral.  The city was in the midst of a financial crisis, and was about to default on its debt.  To make matters worse, President Gerald Ford had stated that under no circumstances would the government provide financial aid to the city, inspiring this infamous Daily News headline:

Ouch.
credit: NY Daily News archives

Billy Joel wrote "Miami 2017" in response to all the criticism the city was receiving.  To put it in the words of the Piano Man himself, "if New York's going to go down the tubes, I'm going to go back to New York." "Miami 2017" champions the resiliency of New Yorkers, an idea manifested both in the lyrics ("They turned our power down and drove us underground, but we went right on with the show"), and the song's upbeat melody.  Altogether, it more than holds its own against the ubiquitous "New York State of Mind."

But take a look at the lyrics again:
"I saw the Empire State laid low"
"I saw the ruins at my feet"
"The flames were everywhere"
"I've watched the mighty skyline fall"

I don't know about you, but when I read these descriptions, I don't think of the New York Financial Crisis of 1974.

I think of 9/11.

When you really think about it, it's unbelievable how prophetic the song is- a bit unnerving, almost.  Joel actually performed "Miami 2017" at a benefit concert shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center.  After he finished playing, he noted "I wrote that song 25 years ago.  I thought it was going to be a science fiction song.  I never thought it would actually happen."

And when tragedy struck New York again in 2012 in the form of Hurricane Sandy, Joel performed his unique ode to the 'City That Never Sleeps' once more.  In this way, what started as a snappy resistance to the "hellfire and damnation" sentence that was being handed to New York in the 1970s has evolved into an all-encompassing tribute to the strength of New York in the wake of tragedy.

"To tell the world about the way the lights went out and keep the memory alive" has truly become the legacy of Joel's song.