"I can already tell you this isn't poetry because it doesn't rhyme. Poetry needs to rhyme." - Opinionated 10 year old I'm currently babysitting.
Billy Joel's most commercially successful album, The Stranger, features nine songs that were produced by the famous Phil Ramone. Ramone has worked on dozens of Platinum albums, ranging from works by Paul McCartney to Simon and Garfunkel. On this album, the B side begins with the song "Vienna." The writing of the song is the first characteristic that sets "Vienna" apart from his usual works; Billy Joel has often in interviews explained how he can't understand how people write poetry and then fit it into music, because he'd rather "be freer than that, express myself". So we often see his work written slightly differently from his original story or theme because he's centering the lyrics around the music itself. However, the song "Vienna" was inspired by a trip he took to Vienna, Austria, to see his father who had left him in the states after his mother and father separated. During his visit, Joel began to realize the elderly population was treated similarly to all other age groups surrounding them, as many still had public jobs, did yard work, went to cafes, etc. While on a tour of the area with his father, he asked why anyone would let an old woman tend to her yard and rather not have someone younger do it. His father replied saying “She’s got a job, she feels useful, she’s happy, she’s making the street clean, she’s not put out to pasture." Throughout the remainder of his time in Vienna with his father Joel thought heavily about how the United States treats their elderly and he expanded this idea into the romanticized heavier meaning the song holds now.
To fully grasp Joel's goal of this song, the listener needs to first understand the city of Vienna. Billy Joel encompasses the history in an interview with the New York Times;
"Vienna for a long time was the crossroads. 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. So the metaphor of Vienna has the meaning of a crossroad. It’s a place of intercourse, of exchange – it’s the place where cultures co-mingle."
Joel's idea of these crossroads of a choice to be who you are, when you are there, is what helped him pair music and the meaning behind these lyrics. He proves this statement about life, that young people should relish in what they have whenever they have it, because the world isn't going anywhere, is something he emphasizes in his lyrics.
Joel's ability to make his experiences with Vienna into a metaphor on life is parallel to what Perrine states in his work. His idea was that poetry has to give the reader an experience, rather than just information. Joel's ultimate warning from this song was for people to think about their own "Vienna."
Off the bat, the song begins with a question, "But then if you're so smart, tell me, why are you still so afraid?" Which requires his audience to question themselves, to think deeper than catchy lyrics, and wonder how they relate to what's being said. Joel is able to put fault onto the reader, forcing them to form opinions already. He follows this line with another antagonizing question, "Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?", using an exaggeration to tell the reader to calm down with a visual rather than just a command. The next stanza is the first time he refers to Vienna in the song, where directly before the statement he had mocked the audience saying, "That you can get what you want or you could just get old" about how an old societal norm forbids a nonchalant mindset. His oversimplification of life helps perpetuate the very idea he's disestablishing. The song begins to come off angry and frustrated, having asked if people are aware Vienna, or life, waits for them. Quoting, "You can't be everything you want to be before your time, although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight..." Joel uses the word romantic to signify success, an easy out, or temptation. His entire song has now completely given off the slightly judgmental but mostly warning vibe about going on a "boardwalk" to early in life. His continuous use of irony and sarcasm are seen again a stanza later, drilling this idea into his readers, specifically young readers; "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?"
Billy Joel's use of irony and diction, specifically his sarcastic and bluntly honest lyric writing helps articulate himself in a way that comes off wise beyond his years.
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