Vienna Waits For You

She is a great kid, with sense, brains and ambition. Though she takes off sometimes like a rocket with a short fuse, she has far more direction – and we all love her. This week she sent us all presents from Peru.

Here, Billy Joel’s ‘Vienna Waits For You’ has lyrics that in many ways are apt for Josephine:

Slow down, you crazy child
you’re so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you’re so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid?

Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about?
You’d better cool it off before you burn it out
You’ve got so much to do and
Only so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want or you get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even
Get halfway through
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you’re doing fine
You can’t be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight
Tonight,…
Too bad but it’s the life you lead
you’re so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you’re wrong, you know
You can’t always see when you’re right. you’re right

You’ve got your passion, you’ve got your pride
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?

Slow down, you crazy child
and take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
it’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize,..Vienna waits for you?
And you know that when the truth is told
that you can get what you want or you can just get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even get half through
Why don’t you realize,. Vienna waits for you
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

You get smaller as the world gets big
The more you know you know you don’t know shit
“The Whiz Man” will never fit you like “The Whiz Kid” did

So why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?
It’s OK if you don’t know everything
So why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?
It’s OK if you don’t know everything

Kids today gettin’ old too fast
they can’t wait to grow up so they can kiss some ass
They get nostalgic about the last ten years
before the last ten years have passed

So why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?
It’s OK if you don’t know everything
So why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?
It’s OK if you don’t know everything

I’m working at two schools this year and so it has been harder to get to know people and for them to get to know me. It’s true that sometimes “you wanna go where everybody knows your name,” (Cheers). There’s so much to do and less time to do it in but I know that if “you give [me] any chance [I'll] take it,” (Laverne and Shirley). Slowly but surely I’m making inroads. There’s just one teacher I haven’t yet been able to talk to; he “”will never speak unless he has something to say,” (Mr. Ed).

—————————————

I stand looking out the window
And the picture makes me sad
Will the springtime as it passes
Take with it the hope we had?

For the prophet becomes the clown now
And the clown becomes the king
We have lost most everything yeah
But this dream to which we cling….

Things will get better
They’ll get better, yeah
If we hold together now
Though the night be dark
There’s a saving spark
If our hearts will show us how

I watch our children put on wings
And fly off to the killing field
Though their dreams will not see daylight
With the guns they bravely wield
All the pain and fear and hatred
Slowly steal our very breath
While between acts of atrocity
We breathe a moment’s peace from death

Things will get better…

In the coming summer sky
As the fire of bullets rain
Spins a gleaming streak of silver
Maybe another hijacked plane
A government of generals
Divides our troubled land
This for them and that for us
To the left and the right hand

Things will be better…

May we one day live together
Underneath the olive tree
Leave a land unto our children
Without the bombs and boundaries
May these graves seed the future
In a sweeter soil of peace
Let these bitter years of struggle
Finally one day cease

Things will get better
They’ll get better, yeah
If we hold together now
Though the night be dark
There’s a saving spark
If our hearts will show us how

Desmond has his barrow in the market place…
Molly is the singer in a band…
Desmond says to Molly “Girl, I like your face”
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on.

Desmond takes a trolley to the jewelry store…
Buys a twenty carat golden ring… (Golden ring)
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door…
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing… (Sing)
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on.

In a couple of years they have built a home sweet home,
With a couple of kids running in the yard,
Of Desmond and Molly Jones… (Ha ha ha ha ha)

Happy ever after in the market place…
Desmond lets the children lend a hand…
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face…
And in the evening she still sings it with the band…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on.

In a couple of years they have built a home sweet home,
With a couple of kids running in the yard,
Of Desmond and Molly Jones… (Ha ha ha ha ha)

Happy ever after in the market place…
Molly lets the children lend a hand…
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face…
And in the evening she’s a singer with the band…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on…
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!…
Lala how the life goes on.

My Reflection: And this reminds me of a song that I wrote a few years ago with my older band. The song is called: Stockbroker’s Blues.

Listen to the song:
http://www.box.net/shared/static/onnppg0i1l.mp3

Lyrics:

THE STOCKBROKER’S BLUES

I got the stocks
I got the bonds
I’ve got the whiskey
to tie one on
I’ve got the money
I’ve got the gold
I’ve got companies down on their knees
being sold

You know it’s funny
these games we play
All of that money
Bound to drive a man insane

I’ve got the mansions
I’ve got the cars
I’m laughing and smoking
Cuban cigars
Living the high life
Making the calls
Hoping and praying the market
doesn’t fall

You know it’s funny
these games we play
All of that money
Bound to drive a man insane

Now I’ve got nothing
I lost it so fast
One day I’m up
and the next day I’ve crashed
Five-cent deposits
Thunderbird wine
That’s how I spend my days,
killing time

You know it’s funny
these games we play
All of that money
Bound to drive a man insane