Vienna chords and lyrics

- Billy Joel

Chords: C7 Dsus4 D7 D D7 E♭ E♭dim7 E♭m/G♭ F F7 F♯7 F/A Gm/F Gm G7 Gm7 A♭ Am11 Am7 B♭ B♭aug B♭aug/A♭

Music Key: B,flat major

Tempo: 63 BPM

Lyrics length: 287 words

Last updated:

Release date: 1977-01-01

Intro

Verse 1

Slow down, you crazy child
you're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do and only
so many hours in a day

Chorus 1

But you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want
or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Verse 2

Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight Tonight...
Too bad but it's the life you lead
you're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong,
you know You can't always see when you're right. You're right

Chorus 2

You've got your passion, you've got your pride
but don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Solo

Chorus 3

Slow down, you crazy child
and take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
it's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Chorus 4

And you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
Why don't you realize Vienna waits for you?
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Outro

Fun fact

Billy Joel was inspired by visiting the city of Vienna and his father, who left the family when Joel was just a child.

The title ”Vienna” is used as a metaphor, and the song is ultimately about getting older, and that life is not over just because you get older. ”You have your whole life to live”, Billy once stated in an interview. ”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. Vienna waits for you…” There are a lot of interesting chords in this song.

At the end of the chorus, Billy is using the the tritone substitution when going from the C chord to the F chord. Instead of playing just a C chord that leads to F, you can play a Gb chord (or F#) (which is a tritone away from C). This creates interesting tension. The tritone substitution concept is a great lesson to study! Enjoy ”Vienna”!

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