why did billy joel write allentown Why Did Billy Joel Write Allentown

Asking something such as why did Billy Joel write Allentown is sort of an odd question because neither had Billy Joel planned on using Allentown in the song nor had he intended to write the lyrics for the place. The original place that Billy Joel was writing the lyrics for was Levittown; the place where the veteran musician spent his days growing up. And thus the song was also originally dubbed ‘Levittown’.

Now here is what was happening in Billy Joel’s professional life briefly before he got down to recording Allentown. First off, Billy Joel felt that the lyrics to ‘Levittown’ were both weak & characterless and that the listeners would perceive them to be unexciting. Second off, he was getting geared up to hit the studios to record “The Nylon Curtain”. Before he did that, Billy Joel decided to recluse to the city of Bethlehem in the state of Pennsylvania to brainstorm on his work. He was staying at Hotel Bethlehem when he got inspired to modify the lyrics to ‘Levittown’; and thus, Allentown was conceived as the new song.

The whole theme & sound of the original song changed as Billy Joel captured the feel of the steel factory workers from Allentown who were losing their jobs day in day out. Some say that Joel was looking to call the new song ‘Bethlehem’ after the city he was visiting. However, he decided against that because he felt people would perceive it as a religious song whereas that wasn’t the case. That is how the Allentown beat came to be inscribed and also the retort to why did Billy Joel write Allentown.

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