Billy Joel - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) - Lyrics Meaning

Taken from his 1977 album The Stranger, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" was one of four Top 10 hits by Billy Joel that year. The song came out before Billy Joel had achieved the massive fame that he enjoys today, but it served to make clear his opinions about shallow and materialistic lifestyles. He also used the song as an opportunity to comment on the lives of other immigrants in the New York area.

The song tackles bourgeois aspirations head on and with a negative bent. While many have interpreted the song as a declaration of independence from corporate life, it was not necessarily aimed at corporate workers. Instead, it was aimed at those who neglected their traditional ethnic heritage in favor of white washing themselves and their lives with the patina of the American dream.

In addition to being about more than simply declaring independence from a certain kind of lifestyle, the song is also an expression of disgust with the modern American desire to work oneself to death in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. Joel wasn't trying to say that working hard for money was wrong, but merely hoped to use the song to make people more aware of the things about their lives and themselves that they were sacrificing when they spent their whole lives at work.