| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[beeman33:24066] The line "...you had to open up your mouth" gives it away. Mick's mouth was legendary, and (to those who suffered his "friendship") so were his mouthy imitations of peers. The big shot wasn't Bianca, it was Mick who hypocritical parodied a high-society lady at dinner. It's a mimicry of Mick mimicking a "friend". |
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| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[beeman33:24063] I heard Mick could be a prick at parties. He'd mimic his friends and wife, often in front of them, utterly oblivious to any pain caused by his atrocious renditions. The song is a parody of Mick (Jagger) mocking his associates. Joel sends up Mick when he performs the song. Apparently the sight of Mick mocking his own wife at a dinner party was too much for others to bear watching, and Joel decided to rip-off Mick ripping off everyone else. When asked, Joel couldn't bring himself to mention Mick's name (he probably didn't think Mick deserved any more of the "spotlight"), and instead attributed the song (in sympathy) to Mick's long-suffering wife Bianca (who Mick drunkenly ridiculed at a party once while off his face). The "honey" was Mick, who did a dreadful camp imitation of a lady wearing a Halston dress at Elaine's. Basically Mick was an arsehole when out-of-it or when he had a hang-over (which was quite a lot of the time). |
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| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[crdesq:24057] There's more than one voice in the song. The lyrics are a transcription of an argument between at least two parties, who appear to know each other too well, both having a "bitch" about each other's poor behaviour the night before. One accuses the other of being too macho (and not knowing when to go home), the other in return mimics the one's "Halston dress". Both accuse each in the chorus of being a "big shot". Joel probably drew on experiences in falling out with various partners (he cheated on his music partner and eventually divorced at least one wife). |
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| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[ShinyAeon:24056] Listen to (or read) the lyrics carefully. The voices of at least two fighters are included. The verses are written in an accusation and response style, with the chorus summing up mutual repetition of the same insult by at least two arguing parties. The song begins with a presumably feminine partner (in the first verse) accusing another of being over-dressed (in "Park Avenue clothes") and macho (with a bottle of expensive plonk and drugs - "Dom Perignon" and a spoon up the nose). To which the "big-shot" responds in kind in the second verse - criticising her "Halston dress". It's about a squabble between two (at least) dysfunctional and egotistical members of the upper entertainment classes who squander wealth, power and privilege. |
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| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[neurotic:24055].housewife Honestly, I think "Halston dress" was just a regurgitated insult that Joel wanted to put in (even if it didn't quite fit). He was such a show off, I wouldn't put wearing one past him. The rest of the lyrics seem to be a recollection of accusations leveled at Joel, by someone else (or a supposed mash of others) who he allegedly offended. | |
| Billy Joel – Big Shot Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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The song is obviously autobiographical. William was an extremist in youth: he boxed, he bunked exams, he drank furniture polish. He even stole his music partner's wife. He was one of the "big shots" in the "white hot spotlight" of a mainstream (and notoriously dysfunctional) entertainment industry at peak. Joel divorced in 1982 from Webber Small (who was previously married to Jon Small who she and Joel cheated on). The divorce became official just four years after Joel's album "52nd Street" was recorded (on which "Big Shot" became a hit). Some sources say Joel claimed, when pressed, that the song was written after a dinner with Mick and Bianca Jagger. Attributions to other characters are, however, classic examples of blame-shifting. In all probability Joel behaved as awfully at the dinner as anyone. Without need of any deep psycho-analysis, it's pretty clear Joel wrote the lyrics after a raging hang-over and terrible fight with probably his wife (at the time) or possibly Jon Small, or probably both, or maybe even the Jaggers, with whom he plainly exchanged many horrid insults and whose various accusations he apparently included in the song. |
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