A bottle of white, a bottle of red
Perhaps a bottle of rose instead
We'll get a table near the street
In our old familiar place
You and I, face to face

A bottle of red, a bottle of white
It all depends upon your appetite
I'll meet you any time you want
In our Italian Restaurant

Things are okay with me these days
Got a good job, got a good office
Got a new wife, got a new life
And the family's fine
We lost touch long ago
You lost weight I did not know
You could ever look so nice after
So much time

Do you remember those days hanging out
At the village green
Engineer boots, leather jackets
And tight blue jeans
Drop a dime in the box play the
Song about New Orleans
Cold beer, hot lights
My sweet romantic teenage nights

Brenda and Eddie were the
Popular steadys
And the king and the queen
Of the prom
Riding around with the car top
Down and the radio on
Nobody looked any finer
Or was more of a hit at the
Parkway Diner
We never knew we could want more
Than that out of life
Surely Brenda and Eddie would
Always know how to survive

Brenda and Eddie were still going
Steady in the summer of '75
When they decided the marriage would
Be at the end of July
Everyone said they were crazy
Brenda you know you're much too lazy
Eddie could never afford to live that
Kind of life
But there we were wavin' Brenda and
Eddie goodbye

They got an apartment with deep
Pile carpet
And a couple of paintings from Sears
A big waterbed that they bought
With the bread
They had saved for a couple
Of years
They started to fight when the
Money got tight
And they just didn't count on
The tears

They lived for a while in a
Very nice style
But it's always the same in the end
They got a divorce as a matter
Of course
And they parted the closest
Of friends
Then the king and the queen went
Back to the green
But you can never go back
There again

Brenda and Eddie had had it
Already by the summer of '75
From the high to the low to
The end of the show
For the rest of their lives
They couldn't go back to
The greasers
The best they could do was
Pick up the pieces
We always knew they would both
Find a way to get by
That's all I heard about
Brenda and Eddie
Can't tell you more than I
Told you already
And here we are wavin' Brenda
And Eddie goodbye

A bottle of red, a bottle of white
Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight
I'll meet you anytime you want
In our Italian Restaurant


Lyrics submitted by kevin

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant Lyrics as written by Billy Joel

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing

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Scenes From An Italian Restaurant song meanings
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    General Comment

    it's about two people who've been apart for a long time meeting up - and i do believe it is brenda and eddie. (note how the singer has a "new wife" - indicating there had been an old one. "You and I - face to face" - you = brenda; i = eddie")

    so, brenda and eddie got married too early, before brenda had matured (she was much too lazy) and before eddie got a career together (since he could never afford to live that kind of life). because they couldn't really handle it, the marriage fell apart and left them drifting. (they'd grown up too fast, they couldn't go back to the greasers, etc.

    okay, note how they're always referred to as "brenda and eddie". it not only refers to the both of them, but to the whole relationship. so at the end, when they've said all they can about "brenda and eddie" and they're waving "brenda and eddie" goodbye, they don't (just) mean the people (that they were), they mean the relationship too.

    warlockon August 21, 2006   Link

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