![]() ![]() We put them in rest homes, we kinda kick them under the rug and make believe they don’t exist. We treat old people in this country pretty badly. ![]() I say to my father “What’s this nice old lady doing sweeping the street?” He says “She’s got a job, she feels useful, she’s happy, she’s making the street clean, she’s not put out to pasture”. She must have been about 90 years old and she is sweeping the street. So I go to visit my father in Vienna, I’m walking around this town and I see this old lady. It was a place where cultures co-mingled. You get great beer in Vienna but you also get brandy from Armenia. It’s a place of inter…course, of exchange – it’s the place where cultures co-mingle. So the metaphor of Vienna has the meaning of a crossroad. During the Cold War, between the Eastern Bloc, the Warsaw Pact nations and the NATO countries was the city of Vienna… Vienna was always the crossroads – between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. He lives in Vienna, Austria which I thought was rather bizarre because he left Germany in the first place because of this guy named Hitler and he ends up going to the same place that Hitler hung out all those years! Vienna, for a long time was the crossroads. I didn’t see him from the time I was 8 ‘till I was about 23-24 years old. “Why did I pick Vienna to use as a metaphor for the rest of your life? My father lives in Vienna now. In an July 2008 New York Times article, Joel spoke about the track and how it was one of his two favourite songs (as well as “Summer, Highland Falls”): “Vienna” is a soft rock track about not being too quick to grow up and to enjoy your life while you can. The track was written by Joel and produced by Phil Ramone. The overall message reminds me of John Lennon's "Instant Karma" - "we all shine on/like the moon and the stars and the sun." Basically, everything is going to be alright.“Vienna” is the fifth track from American composer, singer and songwriter Billy Joel and his fifth studio album “The Stranger”, which was released in 1977. It isn't going to pass him by because "Vienna waits for you". Vienna symbolizes some kind of future happiness. He's encouraging him to keep looking forward to the future ("dream on/But don't imagine they'll all come true") without committing himself to it yet ("you can't be everything you want to be before your time"). He's telling the kid to calm down because there is plenty of time to get life in order. Maybe he's a college student who is freaking out about having to go into the real world soon ("if you're so smart tell me why are you still so afraid?"). The narrator is just telling this "crazy child" to enjoy life more. Anyway, to me, this song is pretty self-explanatory. I searched all over the Internet last year until I found it, and then I bought The Stranger album. I heard it for the first time on a rerun of Taxi when I was probably 10 years old. I can't believe nobody has posted on this one yet. Why don't you realize Vienna waits for you? It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh You've got your passion, you've got your prideīut don't you know that only fools are satisfied?ĭream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true, oohĪnd take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile You know, you can't always see when you're right, you're right You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need You can't be everything you wanna be before your timeĪlthough it's so romantic on the borderline ![]() ![]() When will you realize Vienna waits for you? You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh That you can get what you want or you can just get old You'd better cool it off before you burn it out Where's the fire, what's the hurry about? But then if you're so smart, well, tell me ![]()
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