"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel, featured on his 1977 album The Stranger as the opening track.

The song critiques the ambitions of working- and lower-middle-class New Yorkers who strive for material success as evidence of social mobility, working long hours to afford the outward signs of having "made it". Joel describes characters with blue-collar occupations attempting to distance themselves from their working-class roots by acquiring status symbols, such as upgrading from a Chevy to a Cadillac or purchasing a home in Hackensack, New Jersey. He implies these efforts are ultimately futile. According to Joel, Anthony is not a real person, but rather "every Irish, Polish, and Italian kid trying to make a living in the US".

The recording concludes with the sound effect of a car, bass player Doug Stegmeyer's 1960s Corvette, starting and driving away, symbolizing departure.

Live performances of the song can be heard on 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert and 12 Gardens Live.

Reception

Billboard described "Movin' Out" as an "upbeat narrative that is sort of a commentary on upward mobility". Cash Box said that "growling cellos and a pulsating rhythm section set the mood for Joel's threatening indictment of middle-class values" and that it has "one of the best choruses he has written in some time, combined with unusual echo effects, a yapping horn section, and a melodic guitar finale that wraps it all up nicely." Record World said it is "a typically expressive Joel song, with New York City references and an unusual, piano-dominated structure."

Versions

The 45 rpm single slightly differs from the album version as the sound effects of the car near the end of the song were removed. The single was originally released in autumn of 1977, but was pulled when Joel's next single ("Just the Way You Are") started climbing the charts. It was re-released in March 1978.

| style="text-align:center;"|99

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|Canada RPM Top Singles

| style="text-align:center;"|11

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|Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)

| style="text-align:center;"|6

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|New Zealand

| style="text-align:center;"|31

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|UK Airplay (Radio & Record News)

| style="text-align:center;"| 2

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|US Cashbox Top 100

| style="text-align:center;"|14

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Year-end charts

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!align="left"|Chart (1978)

! style="text-align:center;"|Rank

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|Canada RPM Top Singles

| style="text-align:center;"|106

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|U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)

| style="text-align:center;"|118

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Certifications

References

  • Billy Joel official website