And instead I pour the milk
Suzanne Vega is coming to the Rex Theater on Friday. I haven't decided whether to go. I probably will if it's not too expensive.
Suzanne is best known for Luka, the abused child anthem from 1987, and a song we used to parody in middle school when we had a student teacher named Mr. DeLuca (My name's DeLuca... I teach on the second floor...)
My favorite Vega song is the DNA remix of Tom's Diner from 1990, the absurd song that is nothing more than a list of observations from a coffee shop. I didn't know until a couple years ago that the song was written about Tom's, the coffee shop at 112th & Broadway, the same one whose exterior is featured on Seinfeld. It was cool to sit in that diner and replay the song in my head, thinking that Suzanne was actually sitting here when she wrote it.
The video for the song is ridiculous. Imagine being the director - you have a song about nothing, and an artist who refuses to appear in the video. What do you do? Answer: You film synchronized hip hop dancing, silhouettes of hot women, and close-ups of an eagle. Duh!
3 comments:
Have you heard R.E.M.'s cover of "Tom's Diner"? Billy Bragg and Robyn Hitchcock are with it on them, and it's pretty funny.
My fave Suzanne Vega tune is "Blood Makes Noise."
Ah, Beth, "Blood Makes Noise" continues to bang on all the pots & pans of my world! Scotty: It looks to me as though much of this video's footage is "borrowed" from other videos of the period. I could be wrong...The song, though, was the first time, I think, that I really started to take an active interest in beats and dance-music, so it holds a special place in my nostalgia file. (I have the 12" vinyl record, as well as Tom's Album, with bunches of different versions, as well as a remix by DNA of "Rusted Pipe", from Suzy's Days of Open Hand, which borrows heavily from one of the tracks on Enigma's MCMXC A.D.. Trivia...)
Ooh Beth, I will have to track that down...
Ray, I can't believe anyone has Tom's Album! But I like the idea of a fusion between Suzanne and Enigma...
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