Allentown (song)

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This article is about the song by Billy Joel. For the city in Pennsylvania, United States, see Allentown.

"Allentown" is a Billy Joel song, which first appeared on Joel's The Nylon Curtain (1982) album. It later appeared on Joel's Greatest Hits: Volume II (1985), (2000), and The Essential Billy Joel (2001) albums.

The song depicts the resolve of the residents of Allentown, Pennsylvania amidst the rough and hardened life that characterizes this East Coast industrial city. Allentown also references neighboring Bethlehem, home of the then-declining (and now defunct) Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

In Allentown, representing the challenges associated with the demise of American industry for Allentonians, Joel sings: "They never taught us what was real. Iron and coke. And chromium steel. And we're waiting here in Allentown."

Allentown was the lead track on The Nylon Curtain, which was the seventh best-selling album of the year in 1982.

Allentown reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982.

External links

[Lyrics to "Allentown"].

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