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Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“No Place Like It”
This is my response to the challenge.

This week at Jim Adam’s Song Lyric Sunday, the theme is “No Place Like It” and our challenge is to write about a song that reminds us of home.

My idea of home is not just a place; it’s also a feeling …. that radiant, comforting sense of being surrounded by the people and things I love most. When I saw the theme for this week, I knew immediately which song I would feature …. “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” …. a masterpiece by Billy Joel which mirrors in many ways my life as a newlywed and the first apartment I shared with my husband. It was the most freeing and exciting phase of my life …. the creation of a new sense of home that was uniquely and totally ours. More than anything, that period in our lives formed and shaped us for the decades to come.

From that March night in 1968 when Bill and I met on a on a blind date, we knew we were meant to be together forever. We dated for four years before getting married, landed good jobs and started putting money in the bank. Our favorite restaurant was a little Italian joint on E. Tremont Avenue in The Bronx called Villa Galena; we’d go at least once a week and they really did know us by name. The owner would say “Order anything you want. We’ll make it for you.” Coming home after a concert in The City, our go-to place wasn’t the Parkway Diner but the Thruway Diner in New Rochelle, NY; we’d arrive in style in Bill’s ’58 marine blue Chevy Impala convertible …. with the top down, of course. Our first apartment was typical for 1972 …. shag carpet, waterbed, furnishings from Sears (including a blue-fade-to-green velvet sofa!), stereo with monster speakers, shelves full of albums, glass coffee table, black light, and the ubiquitous bong. We were living the dream!

Released on Billy Joel’s 1977 album, The Stranger, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is based on the restaurant Fontana di Trevi, located across from Carnegie Hall, where Billy dined during his June 1977 concert series. Billy Joel doesn’t just sing about his favorite restaurant; he allows it to blossom into an examination of life. The song is considered a cornerstone of his career and is famously known for its conversational storytelling, focusing on a reunion between old friends. It is a reflection on various stages of life, the passage of time and the realization that while people change, the memories of youth remain anchored in certain places. It captures the bittersweet feeling of looking back at who we were and how life has changed. The song begins and ends with a warm conversation between two old friends reminiscing in their “old familiar place”. The central story of Brenda and Eddie …. the “king and queen of the prom” who marry young and later divorce …. resonates with many as a relatable tale of high school popularity and eventual adult disillusionment. It reminds listeners of people they knew growing up, making the fictional story feel personal. Ultimately, the song helps capture the feeling that, even when things don’t turn out as planned, there’s value in the journey and the shared memories of that journey.

When you listen to “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and follow the lyrics, you’ll see how closely my life with Bill parallels those of the main characters, Brenda and Eddie, with one big difference …. we didn’t hit the skids and get divorced! From the moment we heard this song, we considered it “our song”. I’ve always been a big fan of the exceptionally talented Billy Joel, singer-songwriter-pianist extraordinaire. Who knew a dozen years later we would actually get to share a few beers with Billy Joel at Salivar’s in Montauk …. our home away from home. Life sure is full of surprises, isn’t it?

This is “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel

LYRICS

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, I got a good office
I 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
You drop a dime in the box play a
Song about New Orleans
Cold beer, hot lights
My sweet romantic teenage nights

Brenda and Eddie were the
Popular steadies
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 that you’re much too lazy
And Eddie could never afford to live that
Kind of life
But there we were wavin’ Brenda and
Eddie goodbye

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

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 their 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

^{Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Billy Joel
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group}

No Place Like It

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out his site.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

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