"Vienna Calling" is a song by Austrian musician Falco, released in September 1985 (and in 1986 in Anglophone markets) as the second single from his third studio album, '' Falco 3'' (1985).

Background

The song was written by Falco and Dutch music producers

Bolland & Bolland Bolland & Bolland are two Dutch music producers and brothers, Rob Bolland (born 17 April 1955) and Ferdi Bolland (born 5 August 1956). They were born in Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Career The duo produced and wrote for such artists as F ...

. The rapped German-language lyrics tells about Falco's hometown of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, its development and lifestyle. On the one hand, reference is made to the increasingly international environment of the city and the telephone as a rapid means of communication; the question "where are your wives?" ("wohin sind deine Frau'n?") is also asked, suggesting that they are elsewhere; this culminates at the end of the song with the alarm being "red" and "Vienna in need" ("Wien in Not"). For example, the first verse tells of a woman named Stella who "sits" in

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

and "lies" in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, to indicate that she is not at home when she is called. The fast pop-rap song is accompanied by a flute motif and a bluesy, clean guitar. Some samples ("hello") are also used, which support the telephone theme. At the end the flute plays a solo. Falco enjoyed a limited international success with "Vienna Calling" in late 1985, following the worldwide hit of his previous single "

Rock Me Amadeus "Rock Me Amadeus" is a song recorded by Austrian musician Falco (musician), Falco for his third studio album, ''Falco 3'' (1985). The single was made available for physical sale in 1985 in German-speaking Europe, through A&M Records, A&M. "Roc ...

". In addition to reaching the top 10 in several European countries, it also made the top 20 in New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

Music video

The accompanying music video, directed by Frank Alchezcar and

Rudi Dolezal Rudi Dolezal (, born 5 February 1958) is an Austrian film producer and film director best known for his music videos. He has directed and produced videos for artists such as Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Michael Jacks ...

, features Austrian actress Brigitta Cimarolli. The video shows Falco performing the song with

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

in a traditional Austrian bar, while other people dance a choreography. Continuity is occasionally cut with scenes of phone calls, including Falco calling insistently in a

telephone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the boot ...

in the bar.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1985 singles 1985 songs 1986 singles A&M Records singles Falco (musician) songs Songs in German Songs about Vienna Songs written by Falco (musician) Songs written by Ferdi Bolland Songs written by Rob Bolland {{1980s-song-stub