Simple chord progressions and lyrics bring out the main point of “Streetlife Serenader”. In 1974, when Billy Joel was writing the album in Los Angeles, he was at a rising point in his career. He had two albums out. He had a few hit singles on the radio. But with increasing stress and critics beating down his doors, he was starting to feel the burn of fame.

Therefore, “Streetlife Serenade” is generally an album about the dangers of fame in the music industry, as well as a homage to the old days of his songwriting career. With songs about suburbia (“The Great Suburban Showdown”) and working 9-to-5 jobs (“Weekend Song”), “Streetlife” is an album that showed what was to come from albums such as “Turnstiles” and “The Stranger.”

The song “Streetlife Serenader” could be autobiographical, but in many ways the lyrics lead to a fictional tone. It mentions the “midnight masquerader” and the “new world celebrator”, which paints images of street buskers and guitar-toting hobos with pans on the sidewalk playing for change. While they’ll never make it big, it seems like Billy writes this song with a bit of jealousy. They may not have fame, but he does; and trust him, it’s not as pretty as it seems.