Storm Front Lyrics
Off to starboard, daylight comes up fast
Now I'm restless for the open water
Red flags are flying from the Coast Guard mast
I motored away and steered straight ahead
Though the weatherman said
White water running and the pressure is low
Storm front coming (mood indigo)
Small craft warning on the radio
Man gets lonesome, all those years at sea
I've got a woman, my life should be easy
Most men hunger for the life I lead
I drifted away and ran into more
Heavy weather off shore
White water running and the pressure is low
Storm front coming (mood indigo)
Small craft warning on the radio
We've got a falling barometer and rising seas
We've got the cumulonimbus and a possible gale
We've got a force nine blowing on the Beaufont scale
Though she gives me everything I need
She asked me to stay, but I'd done my navigation
I drove her away, but I should have known
To stay tied up at home
White water running and the pressure is low
Storm front coming (mood indigo)
Small craft warning on the radio
This song is actually about relationships. While he has what he wants (at home) he wants to find other women (out in the storm) its really a cool song
I'm still restless for the open water Though she gives me everything I need She asked me to stay, but I'd done my navigation I drove her away, but I should have known To stay tied up at home
these lyrics signify that he had a great girl but he kept going out seeking for more and blew it.
I think it's a metaphor, but not necessarily one for relationships. When VH1 had its "Behind the Music" special for Billy Joel, he said that the meaning of the song was that "there's bad weather, but I'm going out there anyway".
Listening to the Billy Joel channel on satellite radio and he shared the genesis of this tune; it was inspired by Peter Gabriel‘s sledgehammer. He liked the rythm & the pacing. I think it feels very nautical; like the sea, deceptively gentle & completely irresistible, there’s an inevitability to its progression.