Pop Song 444 of 500 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' Billy Joel 1977

Pop Song 444 of 500 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' Billy Joel 1977
the song was written about Fontana di Trevi, a restaurant across from Carnegie Hall, which he frequented during a series of June 1977 concerts. The song's signature line: "A bottle of red, a bottle of white, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight" was actually spoken to him by a waiter at Fontana di Trevi while Joel ordered.[22] He has further stated that the restaurant in the story has more than one real-life counterpart; however, Fontana di Trevi was on his mind while he was writing the song

A "careful and considerate juxtaposition of different musical idioms",[13] the track is effectively a medley of three distinct pieces (actually fragments of unfinished songs[14]). According to Joel, it was recorded as one composition in "about seven takes", with himself and the other musicians playing together live in the studio.[15] It begins as a gentle, melodic piano ballad depicting, in the first person, a scene of two old classmates reuniting in an Italian restaurant. This segues into a triumphant and uptempo jazz-influenced section as the classmates catch up with each other's lives and begin to reminisce. Clarinet, trombone, tuba and saxophone solos then lead into a rock and roll section (which Joel calls "The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie"). This section tells a story in the third person about high school sweethearts who were an "it" couple, who marry young and quickly divorce. The tempo then slows as the song transitions back to the style of the first section and the two part fondly, with one character remarking "I'll meet you anytime you want / At our Italian restaurant."[6] Producer Phil Ramone noted that the track was mixed with minimal use of equalization, so that the bass and drums sounded "focused and tight", whilst the cymbals could "ring without sounding harsh".

A bottle of white, a bottle of red
Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead
We'll get a table near the street
In our old familiar place
You and I, face to face, mmmhhm
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, I got a good office
I got a new wife, got a new life
And the family is fine
Oh, 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
Oh, you'd drop a dime in the box play a song about New Orleans
Cold beer, hot lights
My sweet romantic teenage nights
(Oh, oh, oh)
(Oh, oh, oh)
Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies
And the king and the queen at 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
(Oh, oh, oh)
(Oh, oh, oh)
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 that you're much too lazy
And Eddie could never afford to live that kind of life
Oh, but there we were waving Brenda and Eddie goodbye
(Oh, oh, oh)
(Oh, oh, oh)
Well, 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, (oh, oh)
(Yeah, rock and roll)
(Oh, oh, oh)
Well 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, (no, oh)
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 their pieces
We always knew they would both find a way to get by
Oh, and that's all I heard about Brenda and Eddie
Can't tell you more 'cause I told you already
And here we are waving Brenda and Eddie goodbye
(Oh, oh, oh)
(Oh, oh, oh)
(Oh, oh, oh)
A bottle of red, oooh a bottle of white
Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight
I'll meet you anytime you want
In our Italian restaurant