Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let's go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.

Today happened to come across someone playing the first song I share here. He was playing it out in a remote part of a park on his sax, which was a little strange, but it worked. I assume he was a high school student practicing. It's not unusual to find kids practicing their instruments in parks around here. House walls are too thin and the houses are too close together, so practicing at home is often considered too annoying to neighbors and one doesn't always want to stick around the school to practice there, leaving parks as one of the best options.

Anyway, that song in mind, I went off and explored similar songs for this post. See what you think!

Billy Joel - Piano Man

Let's start with the song from which Joel took the his nickname. This is a lovely folk-rock song, sung almost as a ballad, telling a fictional account of Joel's time when he was working as the piano player in a bar. According to Joel, all the people in the song are based on real regular customers.

There are better quality videos than this one, but this is when he was young and his voice was at the peak.

Harry Chapin - Taxi

A song that Piano Man immediately calls to mind is Taxi by Chapin. This one is less a ballad than Joel's signature song, and is pure folk rock, leaning even more strongly into the story-telling with this tale of a taxi-driver having a chance encounter with an old flame, which may be even closer to a true story than Piano Man. As with many of Chapin's songs, it is hauntingly beautiful and bittersweet.

He wrote a sequel that was pretty good (but not as good). He had joked about writing a third part, but then he was tragically killed, so we'll never know how that might have gone.

Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Our first song today was a fictionalized account of actual events and the second song was quite true, as Chapin later would tell interviews, but was slightly tweaked. This song here is just straight up history, albeit history not many of us learn about, telling about the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. In fact, Lightfoot was so concerned with getting his facts straight that when new information was uncovered about the wreak, he changed song lyrics to reflect the new findings.

But regardless of any of that, it's just a great song and is sung really well. Just listen in amazement as he crams down some multi-syllable words to fit the beats—and still sings them clearly and understandably. That's some great singing! Enjoy!

So what's your favorite?

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.