“Vienna”

Billy Joel, 1977

This song was a surprise hit in 2024, when it became hugely popular. The song checks all the boxes for language learning–it has clear lyrics, a memorable official video, a useful expression (you’d better) to practice, a compelling backstory, and a theme that invites discussion.

Choose from the following activities:

  • Listening Fill in the rhyming words in the lyrics. Then listen to the audio-only video while reading the lyrics. The lyrics below are intended for nonprofit educational use only.

Vienna, gap fill.pdf          Vienna, gap fill (webpage)

  • Reading Read the Story Behind the Song.
  • Listening Watch the official video. (Look for the old woman mentioned in the Story Behind the Song.)
  • Grammar The advice to slow down is expressed in different ways throughout the song. The line “You’d better cool it off before you burn it out” is an example of using the expression you’d better to give strong advice. Permission is granted to duplicate the worksheet below for classroom use. 

You’d better.pdf         You’d better (webpage)

  • Discussion These discussion questions, all contributed by teachers, are from the website Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom. They are under the topics “Stress” and “Time” and would be an appropriate follow-up to this line in the song: “You’ve got so much to do, and only so many hours in a day.”
  1. What would you do if you had a few extra hours in a day?
  2. Would you rather have more time or more money?
  3. In what way does a too full schedule lead to stress?
  4. Do you like being busy?
  5. What advice would you give to someone who is very busy?
  6. If you are very busy at work or at school, do you have ways to balance your life?
  • Discussion In the song “Vienna,” which Billy Joel wrote when he was in his 20s, he describes himself and his friends. Almost 50 years later, the song is especially popular with people about that age. You could ask students if these lines from the song describe them or anyone they know.

You are ambitious.
You are afraid.
You’ve got so much to do, and only so many hours in a day.
You can see when you’re wrong, but you can’t always see when you’re right.
You’ve got passion.
You’ve got pride.

  • Discussion In 1977, Billy Joel gave this advice: “Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while. It’s alright, you can afford to lose a day or two.” Is it really possible now to turn off your phone and disappear for a day or two? Write YES on one side of the board and NO on the other side. Ask students to stand near the word YES, NO, or somewhere in between.

  • Discussion One line in the song is: “Dream on, but don’t imagine your dreams will all come true.” Ask students to think about one dream they really want to come true. Follow up by asking what steps they’re going to take to make sure that dream comes true. You could structure of the discussion with the worksheet below. Permission is granted to duplicate for classroom use.

your dream.pdf          your dream (webpage)