Vienna chords and lyrics

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”!