Los Angelenos

The Long Island-raised Joel wrote the song while living in Los Angeles, California, reflecting his impressions of the city. Authors Don and Jeff Breithaupt suggest that the song reflects the "Left Coast displacement" he was feeling at the time.{{cite book|title=Night Moves: Pop Music in the Late '70s|author1=Breithaupt, Don |author2=Breithaupt, Jeff |name-list-style=amp |year=2014|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=9781466871380}} Joel biographer Hank Bordowitz similarly describes "Los Angelenos" as showing "that Billy was beginning to feel a bit homesick."{{cite book|title=Billy Joel: The Life & Times of an Angry Young Man|author=Bordowitz, H.|pages=80, 135|year=2006|publisher=Random House|isbn=9780823082483}}

The lyrics to "Los Angelenos" celebrate the diversity of Los Angeles. They observe that the inhabitants of Los Angeles mostly have come from elsewhere, many far from California.{{cite book|title=The Words and Music of Billy Joel|pages=29–30, 116|author=Bielen, Ken|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2011|isbn=9780313380167}} They are searching for something that caused them to come to Los Angeles, but many get seduced by the nice weather and the availability of sex and drugs, and so remain even if they cannot find what they originally came for. Joel notes that these people are "goin' nowhere."

Author Ken Bielen describes the song as having a "funky rock beat." Joel biographer Fred Schruers describes it as having "hip-swinging rhythms."{{cite book|title=Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography|author=Schruers, Fred|page=106|year=2014|publisher=Crown Archetype|isbn=9780804140201}} Music critic Mark Bego states that the song "rocks out" more intensely than any of Joel's work since he was with The Hassles in the 1960s.{{cite book|title=Billy Joel: The Biography|author=Bego, Mark|author-link=Mark Bego|page=[https://archive.org/details/billyjoelbiograp00bego/page/80 80]|year=2007|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|isbn=9781560259893|url=https://archive.org/details/billyjoelbiograp00bego/page/80}} Bielen describes the melody as being similar to that of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire," which was written shortly after "Los Angelenos." Joel's electric piano is prominent in the mix.

Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes the "stomping 'Los Angelenos'" as one of the "few winners" from the Streetlife Serenade album.{{cite web|title=Streetlife Serenade|author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/streetlife-serenade-mw0000190511|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=2014-03-28}} Schruers describes it as Joel's "best attempt to sketch a portrait of" Los Angeles. Bego states that song "essays [Joel's] life in the West Coast beautifully, with a critical eye." But Bordowitz says it has "a cynical quality." And Rolling Stone critic Stephen Holden states that it "presents a hackneyed picture postcard of L.A. as sexual wasteland."{{cite web|title=Streetlight Serenade|author=Holden, Stephen|author-link=Stephen Holden|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/streetlife-serenade-19741205|publisher=Rolling Stone|accessdate=2016-04-24|date=December 5, 1974}} Rolling Stone Album Guide critic Paul Evans states that it is one of several "narrative vignettes" on Streetlife Serenade that "strain[s] to be clever."{{cite book|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|edition=4th|author=Evans, Paul|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/434 434]|year=2004|publisher=Fireside|editor=Brackett, Nathan|editor2=Hoard, Christian|isbn=0743201698}} Billboard regarded it as one of the "best cuts" from Streetlife Serenade.{{cite news|title=Top Album Picks|newspaper=Billboard|accessdate=2020-07-20|date=October 26, 1974|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/70s/1974/Billboard%201974-10-26.pdf|page=66}} In its review of Streetlife Serenade, Record World said that "the music aptly enhances the lyrical mood, most appropriately on the Spanish flavored "Los Angelenos,"{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=October 26, 1974|accessdate=2023-03-14|title=Hits of the Week|page=1|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/74/RW-1974-10-26.pdf}}

A live version of "Los Angelenos" recorded in July 1980 at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut, was included on the 1981 live album Songs in the Attic. Erlewine states that the "fuller, better arrangement" makes the live version "hit harder" than the studio version.{{cite web|title=Songs in the Attic|

author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|

author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-in-the-attic-mw0000650317|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=2014-03-28}} A 16 mm black-and-white promotional video was made of "Los Angelenos" being performed live at a small club in support of Songs in the Attic.{{cite news|title=Music Monitor|author=Darling, Cary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiUEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Everybody+loves+you+now%22+joel&pg=PT75|date=September 19, 1981|newspaper=Billboard|accessdate=2016-04-11|page=53}} A promotional single was released in Japan.

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Category:1974 songs

Category:Songs written by Billy Joel

Category:Billy Joel songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Michael Stewart (musician)

Category:Songs about Los Angeles