Vienna here refers to the song by Billy Joel. When he was young, his parents divorced and his fatherโoriginally from Germanyโleft him behind to grow up with his mother.
He eventually reunited with his father on his first European tour, in Vienna.
He was young and feeling desperate to achieve everything he wanted before he grew old, but then he started to notice that elderly people seemed to have more of a place in daily life in Austria than they do in America. He saw them out and about more, socializing, working, enjoying life.
He later said in an interview,
โI realized they [Europeans] donโt throw old people away like we tend to do here in the States. They allow for people who are aged to have a useful place in the scheme of things, and I thought, โya know thatโs a good metaphor for someone my age to consider.โ You donโt have to squeeze your whole life into your 20s and 30s trying to make it, trying to achieve that American dream, getting in the rat race, and killing yourself. You have a whole life to live. I kind of used โViennaโ as a metaphor, there is a reason for being old, a purpose.โ
Itโs a song about relaxing about growing old and taking life as it comes. That some of the things you want can wait, and other things you want might never happen, and thatโs all okay.