Vienna (Billy Joel song)
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Vienna
| cover = Viennabillyj.jpg
| alt =
| type = song
| artist = Billy Joel
| album = The Stranger
| A-side = Just the Way You Are
| released = 1977
| recorded = A & R Recording, New York City
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = *Soft rock
- pop rock{{cite web | url=https://www.popmatters.com/essential-pop-rock-songs-accordion/2 | title=41 Essential Pop/Rock Songs with Accordion, Page 2 | date=May 26, 2022 }}
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=34}}
| label = Columbia Records
| writer = Billy Joel
| producer = Phil Ramone
| prev_title = Only the Good Die Young
| prev_year = 1977
| title = Just the Way You Are
| title2 = Vienna
| next_title = The Stranger
| next_year = 1978
}}
"Vienna" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 album The Stranger, released as the B-side to his "Just the Way You Are" single.
Despite its initial release as a B-side, the song's popularity has grown considerably in the decades after its release. {{as of|2025|04}}, it is Joel's third-most-streamed song on Spotify, achieving more than 760 million streams on this platform alone.{{cite web | url=https://kworb.net/spotify/artist/6zFYqv1mOsgBRQbae3JJ9e_songs.html | title=Billy Joel - Spotify Top Songs }}
A video for the song was released in 2024.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jL4S4X97sQ |title=Billy Joel - Vienna (Official Video) |language=en |access-date=2024-04-26 |via=www.youtube.com}}
Composition
The song begins with a piano melody in the right hand and chords in the left, ultimately cadencing to the tonic chord of B{{music|flat}}. However, the first chord of the verse is a Gm, which is the relative minor chord of B{{music|flat}}. A change to the vi chord doesn't always indicate a change in key, but each verse ends with a V-i authentic cadence in Gm, indicating that a key change has taken place. The chorus begins with an E{{music|flat}} chord, the IV chord in B{{music|flat}}, which is a half step up from D, giving a rising feeling going from the verse to the chorus. The end of the chorus cadences back to the tonic of B{{music|flat}} with the chords C, G{{music|flat}}, F, B{{music|flat}}. G{{music|flat}} is the tritone substitution of the V chord for F, and F to B{{music|flat}} forms another authentic cadence.
Lyrically, Joel was inspired by visiting the city of Vienna and his father, who left the family when Joel was a child.{{cite web |url=https://www.onefinalserenade.com/vienna.html |website=One Final Serenade|title=Vienna by Billy Joel}} Joel has stated that "Vienna" is a metaphor for old age, but also may have been subconsciously about his father. Speaking more broadly about the song's message, he said in a 2008 interview that it conveys "you don't have to squeeze your whole life into your 20s and 30s trying to make it, trying to achieve that American dream, getting in the rat race and killing yourself. You have a whole life to live. I kind of used 'Vienna' as a metaphor, there is a reason for being old, a purpose".{{cite news|url = https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2008/07/billy_joel_exclusive_interview.html|title = Billy Joel - The Republican interview|newspaper = The Republican|location = Springfield, Massachusetts|date = July 6, 2008|accessdate = April 25, 2022|last = O'Hare|first = Kevin}} He also said: "We treat old people in this country pretty badly. We put them in rest homes, we kinda kick them under the rug and make believe they don’t exist. They [the people in Vienna] don’t feel like that. In a lot of these older places in the world, they value their older people and their older people feel they can still be a part of the community and I thought 'This is a terrific idea' – that old people are useful – and that means I don’t have to worry so much about getting old because I can still have a use in this world in my old age. I thought 'Vienna waits for you…'"{{cite web|url=https://happiful.com/10-song-lyrics-that-get-mental-health-right-2/|title=10 song lyrics that get mental health right|last=Wheeler|first=Kathryn|date=6 May 2022|work=Happiful|accessdate=12 May 2022}}
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|type=single|artist=Billy Joel|title=Vienna|award=Gold|relyear=1977|certyear=2024|id=13573|access-date=February 27, 2024}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Billy Joel|title=Vienna|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1977|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=December 21, 2024}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Billy Joel|title=Vienna|award=Platinum|relyear=2004|certyear=2024|id=7988-1999-1|access-date=June 24, 2024}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Billy Joel|title=Vienna|award=Platinum|relyear=1977|certyear=2021|access-date=March 18, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
Reception and legacy
It was played in a 1981 episode of Taxi called "Vienna Waits". Marilu Henner's character Elaine Nardo refers to the song while on vacation in Europe with Alex Reiger, played by Judd Hirsch. Due to licensing restrictions, the song has been omitted from the episode on DVD, though is intact on the Hulu versions of the episode.
In a July 2008 New York Times article, Joel cited this as one of his two favorite songs, along with "Summer, Highland Falls".{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/arts/music/13barr.html?pagewanted=1 | work=The New York Times | first=Dan | last=Barry | title=Just the Way He Is | date=July 13, 2008}}
Writing in 2022, Tim Grierson of MEL Magazine attributed the song's endurance to it being featured in the 2004 film 13 Going on 30, prominence on social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok through the early 2020s, and its messaging, leading to a popularity that he identifies as particularly strong among younger people. He further wrote, "unlike something like 'Piano Man,' it hasn’t been shoved down our throats for the entirety of our lives. 'Vienna' feels like something you get to discover on your own and then claim for yourself".{{cite news|url = https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/billy-joel-vienna-song-history|title = How Billy Joel's 'Vienna' Went from a Deep Cut to His Most Popular Song|date = April 17, 2022|accessdate = April 25, 2022|work = MEL Magazine|last = Grierson|first = Tim}} Joel also attributed its late popularity to the film, adding “That’s a movie that was popular with girls, and girls are who most of the enthusiasm for the song comes from ... It’s a coming-of-age song: ‘Slow down you crazy child.’ So I guess it resonates with younger people.” He has also said that the lyrics reminds listeners “you don’t have to squeeze your whole life into your 20s and 30s trying to make it, trying to achieve that American dream, getting in the rat race and killing yourself. You have a whole life to live.”{{cite news |last1=Demopoulos |first1=Alaina |title='No one understands a woman in her 20s like Billy Joel': gen z finds solace in anti-hustle anthem Vienna |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/01/billy-joel-vienna-tiktok |access-date=2 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=1 July 2024}}
PopMatters critic David Pike rated it one of the "41 essential pop/rock songs with accordion."{{cite web|title=41 Essential Pop/Rock songs with Accordion|author=Pike, David|publisher=PopMatters|accessdate=2023-02-05|date=May 26, 2022|url=https://www.popmatters.com/essential-pop-rock-songs-accordion/2}}
Britain's Far Out magazine called the song one of the most beloved ballads in history.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-18 |title=What is Billy Joel song 'Vienna' about? |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/story-behind-billy-joel-song-vienna/ |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}
Cover versions
In 2013, Christian Borle's character sang a cover of this song on Season 2, Episode 14 of the hit TV show SMASH.
In 2015, Mac Miller covered the song under his alias Larry Fisherman.{{cite news|url = https://ew.com/article/2015/12/28/mac-miller-cover-vienna-billy-joel/|title = Mac Miller covers Vienna by Billy Joel|last = Robinson|first = Will|date = December 28, 2015|accessdate = April 25, 2022|magazine = Entertainment Weekly}}
In the 2019 Netflix show The Politician (TV series), Ben Platt covered the song. The version was also released on the show's official soundtrack.
In 2021, Laura Zocca released an acoustic cover of Vienna.{{cite web |title=Vienna - Laura Zocca|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU77irJaCAk |website=YouTube| date=May 20, 2022 }}
In 2023, Couch released a cover recorded live during The Sweater Sessions.{{cite web |title=Couch - "Vienna" (Billy Joel Cover // The Sweater Sessions) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ciGrvioSTc&feature=youtu.be |website=YouTube| date=June 30, 2023 }}
In 2024, Ken Marino and David Wain's Middle Aged Dad Jam Band released a cover of the song to their official YouTube channel featuring Weird Al Yankovic playing the accordion solo.{{cite web |title=Vienna (Billy Joel) - Middle Aged Dad Jam Band w/ "Weird Al" Yankovic |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0mhMo12Dz0 |website=YouTube| date=August 24, 2024 }}