Billy Joel's emotional coming-home story behind 'New York State of Mind' - as he says goodbye to his MSG residency

And the big move move paid off: After making his getaway in 1972, becoming a resident lounge lizard in La La Land, Joel recorded his second and third albums, 1973's 'Piano Man' and 1974's 'Streetlife Serenade' under a new deal with Columbia Records.

'New York State of Mind,' I wrote actually while I was on a Greyhound bus on my way back from a gig somewhere,' Joel told SiriusXM in 2016.

'There's a lot of songs about New York. 'New York, New York,' 'On Broadway.' This was about coming back to this place, which I think it really needed, especially back in the mid-'70s, when it was really kind of crappy,' he told Newsday in 2015.

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