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Vienna (Billy Joel song)

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A-side
  
She's Always a Woman

Format
  
7", 12"

Length
  
3:34

Released
  
1977

Genre
  
Soft rock

Recorded
  
A & R Recording, New York City

"Vienna" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 album The Stranger, released as the B-side to his "She's Always a Woman" single.

Contents

In a July 2008 New York Times article, Joel cited this as one of his two favorite songs, along with "Summer, Highland Falls".

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. "Vienna" can also be found on the soundtrack of 13 Going on 30.

Cover versions

  • American singer and Victorious actress Ariana Grande covered the song in 2011, initially sending the MP3 to her fans if they donated to her 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami appeal, and then later making it available to the public via her YouTube channel.
  • American Idol contestant Elise Testone performed the song on the 11th season of the show the week the contestants sang Billy Joel's songs, managing to break her previous trend of landing in the bottom 3 the previous weeks, being declared safe for the first time.
  • Christian Borle performed it in "The Phenomenon", the 14th episode of the second season of Smash.
  • Mac Miller also made a cover in 2012 under his alias Larry Fisherman.
  • In 2015, the Austrian band Granada released their version, "Wien wort auf di", sung in an Austrian dialect of German.
  • In 2016, contestant Andrew DeMuro performed the song at the Blind Auditions on The Voice of the show and was made a part of Adam Levine's team.
  • "Vienna" is featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo

    • References

    Vienna (Billy Joel song) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA