"Vienna"

On the Massachusetts news and media website, MassLive.com, Billy Joel talked about his estranged father.

“My dad and mom split up when I was pretty young.  He went back to Europe, and I pretty much never heard from the guy again.

“When I did my first tour of Europe [in my early 20s], I got word that my father was working in an office in Vienna, Austria. I tracked him down and went to visit him.”

It turned out to be a profound experience.  Connecting with his estranged father, Billy suddenly got a perspective on his own life.  He didn’t have to accomplish everything right now.  He realized, “You have a whole life to live.”

On the “official travel guide” for the city of Vienna, they quote Billy as saying, “Slow down, look around you and have some gratitude for the good things in your life.  That’s what Vienna represented to me.  By going to Vienna, suddenly things started to make sense in the world for me.”

Like I said, it was a profound experience.

Plus he got a song out of it.