Michael Jackson's Funeral Pushed to September 3rd

Michael Jackson's burial at Glendale, California's Forest Lawn Memorial Park has been pushed back to September 3rd, the Jackson family announced in a statement today. The family originally planned for Jackson to be laid to rest on August 29th, the day that would have marked Michael's 51st birthday. As Rock Daily previously reported, the funeral will take place at Forest Lawn's the Great Mausoleum for family members and close friends.

Michael's father Joe Jackson had hinted to TMZ that the funeral would be delayed until August 31st, but as that day marks the first day of school in that area of California, the burial was pushed to September 3rd. As the Jackson family previously said in a statement, they "wish to express its gratitude to Michael's fans around the world for their support during these difficult times."

Related Stories:
• Michael Jackson Burial Scheduled For August 29th at Forest Lawn
• Photos from Jackson's All-Star Los Angeles Memorial
• Look Back at Jackson's Life and Career, In Photos

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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