Allentown By Billy Joel: Poem Analysis

Allentown by Billy Joel was a song that described the troubles of the late 20th Century blue collar worker. As workers moved away from cities and jobs moved overseas in the 1980s and 90s, the typical blue collar worker was hurt as their unions and workplaces were closed to make way for the new serviced based economy. Specifically, Billy Joel is describing Allentown, Pennsylvania. Of which was affected by the economic turn of the 80s because most of its residents worked in Bethlehem, PA at a steel works. He describes that they are closing the factories, and how it is “getting very hard to stay”. This is referring to how workers were moving away and going places with more opportunity during the time. He even goes as far as to explain how the