It`s nine oclock on a saturday The regular crowd shuffles in There`s an old man sitting next to me making love to his tonic and gin He says: Son can you play me a memory I`m not really sure how it goes But it`s sad and it`s sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger mans clothes Sing us a song you`re the piano man Sing us a song tonight Well, we`re all in the mood for a melody and you`ve got us feeling all right Now Paul at the bar he`s a friend of mine, he gets me my drinks for free And he`s quick with a joke and a light up your smoke but there`s some place that he`d rather be He says: Bill I believe this is killing me as the smile ran away from his face Well I`m sure that I could be a movie star if I could get out of this place Now Paul is a real estate novelist who never had time for a wife And he`s talking with Davy who`s still in the Navy and probably will be for life And the waitress is practising politics As the businessmen slowly get stoned Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness but it`s better than drinking alone It`s a pretty good crowd for a saturday And the manager gives me a smile Cause he knows that it`s me they've been coming to see To forget about life for a while and the microphone smells like a beer And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say: Man, what are you doing here?