Thin Man

Thanks to Nine Objects of Desire, I will always think of Suzanne Vega whenever I see a Granny Smith apple. The saturated green of the apple, contrasted with the bronze of Suzanne’s hair, promised an expultation of earthly delights, and that was before you leaned …

Straight Lines

Suzanne Vega was only 26 when her first album came out, but she was writing with the wisdom of someone twice her age. If she wasted her early years writing about teenage love, it hasn’t come to light. Even as an ingenue, she was more …

Stockings

Nine Objects of Desire is the right title for an album that explores just that, although, granted, in Suzanne Vega’s usual deeply cerebral style. She would never be so gauche as to write explicitly about lust or to stoop to using the all-too-common crutch of …

Song of Sand

For me, Suzanne Vega’s 99.9F° is one of the seminal records of the 90’s. Obviously, 1992 was a very impressionable year. Nine year old me had very passionate opinions about music, and when I had a favorite record, it was locked in for several years. …

Solitude Standing

Suzanne Vega does not write about ordinary things the way ordinary songwriters do. That is, she certainly writes about ordinary things. She writes, as most people do, about her interior life, about love, and about the human condition. It’s what she has to say about …

Rusted Pipe

This reminds me of when I saw Suzanne Vega play in a lovely church a few years ago. It was probably about four or five years ago, during SXSW. It was a very beautiful and unexpected venue and it was perfect for Suzanne. She’s not …

Room off the Street

I love pulling out the most obscure songs from albums I haven’t listened to in a long time, which you’ve probably listened to never. It’s like opening up a box in the attic. It’s memories and it’s feelings I don’t remember. I also really love …

Predictions

Let’s tell the future. The more you enumerate the many ways people have tried, the more you’re reminded that it can’t be done. That makes this a very existential song in its own mild way. It’s existential because it’s not existential. Suzanne Vega doesn’t muse …

Pilgrimage

This is a new reworking of a very forgotten gem. Suzanne Vega has been steadily rerecording acoustic versions of old material, arranging the results by theme; love, family, states of being. Coming from most artists, such a project would be presumed to be an easy …

Penitent

This, a song about asking forgiveness, feels a little mournful for today. But also thought provoking, if you want to dwell on thoughts about grace. Penitence, grace, and forgiveness are pillars in the doctrines of every faith I know of. Perhaps guidance for navigating those …