Billy Joel - Where's The Orchestra? Lyrics






Where's the orchestra?
Wasn't this supposed to be a musical?
Here I am in the balcony
How the hell could I have missed the overture?
I like the scenery
Even though I have absolutely no
Idea at all
What is being said
Despite the dialogue
There's the leading man
The movie star who never faced an audience

Where's the orchestra?
After all
This is my big night on the town
My introduction to the theatre crowd
I assumed that the show would have a song
So I was wrong
At least I understand
All the innuendo and the irony
And I appreciate
The roles the actors played
The point the author made
And after the closing lines
And after the curtain calls
The curtain falls
On empty chairs
Where's the orchestra?





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Billy Joel Where's The Orchestra? Comments
  1. L.... H....

    He played this at MSG tonight with Itzhak Perlman. It was a special night. I feel lucky to have witnessed it.

  2. S.... R....

    Billy Lennon

  3. J.... M....

    Master storyteller and an unbelievable musical genius

  4. E.... H....

    It is one of Billy Joel’s more introspective, searching and honest songs, I feel. He shine’s when singing ballads. His voice more sensitive with a nice tone and pronunciation. This is one of his more moving songs, I feel.

  5. M.... J....

    Such brilliant songwriting!

  6. b.... ....

    Damn, I love this song/album.
    If I could think of a song that I thought might be written about me, this is it. At least I understand all the innuendo and the irony.

  7. s.... ....

    I take this song literally. I played sax for my high school pit orchestra for 2 years and it was the best experience of my life! I love the pit orchestra!

  8. b.... d....

    lovely tune, as so many have pointed out below. i actually sang this while at university. alas, it met with even less thunderous applause than the original did... lol

  9. G.... M....

    Perfection!

  10. M.... J....

    The instrumental of Allentown at the end was pretty good.

  11. J.... R....

    This song, both in the tone and meaning, as well as instrumentation and style, makes me want to play it directly before Eleanor Rigby

  12. D.... M....

    Perfection right there

  13. D.... C....

    By far one of his best albums, that's for sure.

  14. W.... R....

    a lot of fans consider the Nylon Curtain to be Billy's best album despite its relatively modest sales... I'd greatly appreciate it if some old-school Joel fans would check out my solo piano & vocal cover interpretation of ALLENTOWN on my channel in tribute to the master. Real live acoustic with no pitch editing. Thanks and please pardon the promo.

  15. J.... B....

    I totally overlooked this amazing album as a kid (ok, but I was 11, so cut me some slack). What a phenomenal record, definitely top 5 of the 80's. So happy to have discovered it finally.

  16. M.... Y....

    A truly sad song

  17. J.... ....

    The rest of the lyrics (Why can't these be complete in the description?):

    Where's the orchestra?
    After all, this is my big night on the town
    My introduction to the theatre crowd

    I assumed that the show would have a song
    So I was wrong
    At least I understand
    All the innuendo and the irony

    And I appreciate,
    The roles the actors played
    The point the author made
    And after the closing lines,

    And after the curtain calls,
    The curtain falls
    On empty chairs,
    Where's the orchestra?

    J.... ....

    Thank youuuuu!!

  18. N.... ....

    Did anyone notice they segment of a different song at the end? I think it was Allentown

    N.... ....

    definitely Allentown

  19. R.... A....

    Quante perle l'inimitabile Piano MAN

  20. S.... ....

    So underrated.

  21. M.... S....

    This song and Vienna. My favirotes

  22. C.... M....

    Just here doing homework for "We didn't start the podcast."

  23. M.... P....

    I love this song,

    M.... P....

    He's basically talking about everybody ditching everybody

    M.... P....

    I always thought it was a reflection upon life and never feeling like you quite fit in.

  24. P.... T....

    I was 14 when this album came out and I bought it on vinyl and wore it out. Then I bought a cassette of it and wore that out. Then another vinyl album and wore that out. That's how incredible it is.

    P.... T....

    I wore out two cassettes of it myself plus an on-the-fly copy I made with one of those dual cassette boom boxes just for insurance!

  25. C.... O....

    I just realized the Allentown melody is at the end!!!!! That's so cool

    C.... O....

    +1 for this epiphany, thanks to you and other commenters, I've been listening to this album since it first came out and JUST got this. *hangs head in shame*.

    C.... O....

    I can’t believe I missed that for so many years. How the hell could I have missed the overture? Lol. This album may not have had the big hits but it is probably his best album. It really has stood the test of time. It’s really brilliantly written and powerful

    C.... O....

    @ym61 A real tearjerker vesion of Allentown too, and I didn't even know til I saw these comments...

    C.... O....

    Allentown, PA? If so you're right....

    C.... O....

    Wow yeah man! I just noticed too! Cool Easter Egg by Billy to close out one of his greatest records! This and Turnstiles are absolutely KILLER! Glass Houses as well

  26. D.... L....

    What a weird, wonderful song!

  27. J.... O....

    What a beautiful song! It's the perfect metaphor for not finding happiness in life.

  28. b.... ....

    Billy is brilliant

  29. M.... W....

    This song is VERY hard to listen to. The sound in the left ear is - horns and some instrumental are EXACTLY in a range where it sounds like bees buzzing in my ear There is a range of sounds in the middle of my hearing that my brain just does not process because of severe congenital hearing loss... and that makes it so distracting I can't focus on the melody OR the Lyrics... I just can't listen to this. That's a first. the ONLY Billy Joel Song I did not listen to. Well, there's actually a lot now that I found youtube. Up til 2000 I am pretty sure I had heard everything.

    M.... W....

    Listen to it without headphones

  30. T.... J....

    No, you're not the only one who noticed the 3 measures from Allentown at the end.

    T.... J....

    Starts at 2:40 for anyone wondering.

    T.... J....

    @Overdue Review Try not to cry lol

  31. D.... L....

    chuck klosterman once said that if you'd like to understand him better you'd have to listen to this song....but damn...rjis is fucking me

    D.... L....

    I had a feeling the top comment would be about that essay.

    D.... L....

    Daniel Landry that's exactly why I'm here

  32. L.... C....

    One of the best and saddest songs of this record.

  33. S.... D....

    Nice song... but what the hell is it about?
    Did he just go watch a play for the first time and was disappointed there wan't a song? Is it symbolic about life in America? His life? Or what?

    S.... D....

    +Santos D It's kind of a melancholy reflection on life. "Where's the Orchestra? Wasn't this supposed to be a musical?" can be translated to "Is this all there is? Where is the life I wanted? Where is the life I expected?."

    The Nylon Curtain's theme is one of the realities of life hitting you. That's why it includes songs about unemployment, war, break-ups, complicated relationships, troubles with parents, etc. It's a pessimistic album, but I don't find it depressing.

    The inclusion of the Allentown melody at the end brings the album full circle. It's a great album that makes you think. I'd love to see Billy do it live start to finish someday.

    S.... D....

    @nonnenja2281
    Actually that sounds pretty good and insightful... I'll keep that in mind when I listen to it again, Thanks!

    S.... D....

    The Orchestra is a part of the play which is sometimes not paid for. It is expendable in other words.
    To me, the inclusion of the Allentown plays into the idea that people are expendable. That they aren't treated like necessities or actual human beings, but as just cogs in a machine, easy to replace and easier to live without.
    That's just my interpretation though. Nonnenja is probably correct as well.

    S.... D....

    Maybe it's a song about going to the theater for the first time and not hearing any songs because it was a play, not a musical.

    S.... D....

    It's a reflection on life versus the way it's told in theater and movies. When something momentous or significant happens, in the theater or on the screen, an orchestra will play some grand theme or song, making the moment all the more important for giving it a music all its own. But, that's not the way it works in real life. We don't get an orchestra to give fuller meaning to our lives when something happens. We are only left with ourselves, our own perceptions, and if we think of our own stories and lives as plays or movies, where we're the heroes, when the time comes and the orchestra doesn't play, and we're just left with ourselves, we realize the smallness of it all, that we aren't special, we aren't in a movie or a play, with a narrative that ends making some kind of point. We just keep living, with no soundtrack, no heroic theme.

  34. E.... B....

    The saddest song I know of.

    E.... B....

    You want a sad Billy Joel song? Check out "Tomorrow Is Today" from his very first album. The lyrics came from his suicide note. True story.

    E.... B....

    @Ken Henderson Yeah, that is one of my favorites. It accurately describes depression.

    E.... B....

    Or try a song off Street life Serenade called Souvenir

    E.... B....

    "and so it goes"...from "stormfront"....heartbreaker....so beautiful....

  35. S.... H....

    A gem. What an ear, that Billy, for the melancholy turn of a piano chord! Perfect.

  36. M.... B....

    The measures from "Allentown" at 2:40 are very intentional. The two songs are the bookends to the album and both have essentially the same sad, questioning theme -- "Is that all there is? Is this as good as it gets?"
    The same real challenges to achieving the American Dream are so apparent today. We live in a messed up world where upward social mobility is harder than ever and we face external dangers that Billy could not have even imagined when he wrote the songs in "Nylon Curtain."
    Great song. Really timely. Bravo!

    M.... B....

    Billy was doing the same thing that Paul McCartney did on the Band On Run album - end the album with a few chords from the opening track.

    M.... B....

    Exactly!!!

    M.... B....

    Yes where's the curvature if we it's been living a globe shaped ball no we living here in our Lantern it's getting hard to say Atlantis town but I can go on American way
    so we living in Atlantis found!

    M.... B....

    @Ken Henderson He did that with The Stranger too...At the end of "Everybody Has a Dream".

  37. B.... ....

    Perfect song to be burnt to down the crematorium.

  38. D.... .....

    Absolute magic!!!!

  39. C.... J....

    Such a powerful, moving, and mournful piece of music.  Going through something where the dream is better than the reality can be very disappointing.  Great job by Billy to put that disappointment in such a rich and gorgeous composition.

  40. A.... P....

    sono cresciuto con questo lp.... quante volte l'ho ascoltato... cuffie in  testa... e isolato dal mondo...e via a sognare. !

  41. s.... ....

    Always thought of this as his version of  "Is That All There Is?"  It was written after a close scrape with death, a bad motorcycle accident which left him indisposed for awhile.... Love how it reprises "Allentown" at the end!

  42. D.... L....

    This song shouldn't be hilarious, but I think it is! . . . Of course it's beautiful too though!;)

    D.... L....

    What's hilarious about it?

    D.... L....

    I dunno'. It's super short, and about a play without a freakin' orchestra!!! Huh?:) Man I love Billy Joel!

    D.... L....

    I believe the song is actually about disappointment, about getting what you have been waiting for all your life and realizing that it wasn't what you thought it would be.

    D.... L....

    Dude, lay off the catnip.

    D.... L....

    Streetlife Serenader , you hit it right on the head! That’s how Billy explained it in an interview.

  43. J.... N....

    Yes, this song ends with a couple of measures from the song "Allentown," both of which were on the same album "Nylon Curtain." Allentown was the first song on the album, and this was the last song. So, I suppose, he thought it apropos to end the album this way.

    J.... N....

    the stranger sorta does the same thing. "everybody has a dream", the last track, ends with an altered version of the opening melody to "the stranger", not the first track, but the titular one

  44. J.... E....

    Anyone who questions this man's utter brilliance is truly clueless.

    J.... E....

    did you ever read Ron Rosenbaum's article on Billy Joel? 
    It was disgusting piece of trash.         HE rips Billy to shreds  and IMO.... for idiotic reasons.

    J.... E....

    PAUL FT All bullies have a huge problem with themselves.

    J.... E....

    James Edgar true. he is a f-ing genius.

  45. h.... ....

    I also agree that this song is beautiful.  I heard it for the first time last night at his  concert in FL.  It was the best song at the concert.  It also shows how versatile he was/is.  He is truly gifted musically.

  46. h.... ....

    Yes, Victoria.  I heard the same thing (and were living here in Allentown") at the end.  

  47. V.... S....

    At the end..."and it doesn't seem to matter at all"...,,,...(and were living here in Allentown".. THATS what I "HEARD" at THE END..RIGHT? THE SAME?

  48. V.... S....

    ..for what was/is 'lost/missed".....

  49. V.... S....

    T his song is Beautiful, it makes me cry"