"Big Shot"

Ready.  Aim.  Fire.

Well, you went uptown riding in your limousine

with your fine Park Avenue clothes.

You had the Dom Perignon in your hand

and the spoon up your nose.

Billy Joel certainly took someone down a peg with the song “Big Shot” from his 1978 album 52nd Street.  As a newly minted star he had ample access to the rich and famous. He was an astute observer of the people he met and no doubt discovered some characters worth singing about in the aftermath of the runaway success of his breakthrough record The Stranger. 

So if you cast your mind back to the gaudy excesses of the late ‘70s, it’s no surprise to learn that on one occasion, Billy Joel socialized with two celebrities at the pinnacle of rock and roll when he had dinner with Mick Jagger and his then wife Bianca.

They were the “It Couple” of that era.  Introduced to each other after a Rolling Stones concert in 1970, they got married within a year.  As one of Mick’s former lovers told The Baltimore Sun, “There wasn't ever any doubt that Mick would fall for Bianca.  Mick looked into Bianca's face and saw — Mick.  It was as close as he could get to making love to himself.”

But the marriage didn’t last.  Mick didn’t enjoy the way Bianca could upstage him on the social scene.  At the legendary nightclub Studio 54, amidst a throng of celebrities that included Andy Warhol and Truman Capote, Bianca was known as “Queen Bee.”

They were all impressed with your Halston dress

and the people that you knew at Elaine’s.

And the story of your latest success

kept 'em so entertained.

By the end of the ‘70s when the Mick and Bianca sat down with Billy Joel for a meal, their notoriety was well known.  And apparently whatever was said and done at that table was memorable.

I'll give you one hint, honey,

you sure did put on a show.

In 2010, Billy told Howard Stern that the song “Big Shot” was written following that dinner with the Jaggers.  Specifically, he pictured Mick singing it to Bianca.