Suzanne Vega On Her New Album And First Album Four Decades Later

Forty years ago, New York-based singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega released her brilliant eponymous debut. A critically acclaimed folk collection, the superb debut pre-dated Tracy Chapman’s landmark debut by three years and Lilith Fair by 12 years. When Sarah McLachlan kicked off the Lilith Fair at the Gorge in Washington in 1997, Vega was the very first main stage performer.

Yeah, Suzanne Vega deserves a lot of credit for the trailblazing role she played in the Eighties and Nineties.

Four decades later Vega is back with the excellent Flying With Angels, her first album of all-new material in over a decade. I spoke with her about the two albums, political songwriting, Joey Ramone and more.

Steve Baltin: You have always been a very distinctly New York artist and “Rats” is a song that could only written by someone who lives in New York.

Suzanne Vega: Thank you. I take that as a compliment.

Baltin: It is a compliment. It feels like it was written for a Broadway show.

Vega: I was thinking of the Ramones, honestly. I was thinking of The Ramones and there’s a band called Fontaines D.C., which is sort of a new punk band out of Ireland. So, I could see how it has a Broadway feel. It’s just a lot to sing on stage.

Baltin: Oh, so you’ve done it live already. Have you done a lot of this material live?

Vega: Oh, we’ve done about half the songs live.

Baltin: I’m going to come back to this in one second. I must ask as a big fan. What do you think The Ramones would do with it as a cover?

Vega: Oh my God. Well, first of all, it’s a little more complicated than The Ramones songs tended to be, it’s a little longer than they might have. So, they probably would simplify it. I don’t know. I’m in awe just thinking of those words coming out of Joey Ramones mouth. That would be amazing. I met Joey once or twice; our paths would cross from time to time. But I don’t think he thought of me as the kind of artist that he would cover. Although there was a really good thrash metal version of “Luka” by the Lemonheads. I thought that worked pretty well. So, I think if people are inclined to do punk rock covers of my songs that it works pretty well.

Baltin: What would be the one song of yours you would love to hear someone do a punk rock cover of?

Vega: Well, the other song that did get a punk rock treatment was “Blood Makes Noise” by a band called Acid Rain. I thought they did a good job of that as well. Are there other songs? Yeah, probably. It’s not up to me to think of them, though. Like, I never would have thought of a thrash metal version of “Luka,” because my brain doesn’t work that way. But people kind of know when something is right for them.

Baltin: I love the wonderful new record, but obviously it’s been a while since there’s been all-new material. Were these songs written in a concentrated period or over time, because it feels like “Rats” and “Galway” were like 100 years apart?

Vega: They were a year apart, but not 100 years. But I know what you mean, because stylistically, they’re at the opposite ends of the spectrum. That’s just how I work, though. I have different moods. So, it’s not like I have periods where I’m like, “Oh, in a folky period,” and then I slowly transition. No, it’s more like a mood. Okay, today, working with Jerry, say, we’d be in a punk rock mood. Then the next time it might be time, so it changes pretty quickly.

Baltin: I talk with artists about writing being subconscious. So, were there songs on this record that really surprised you?

Vega: Oh yeah. The trick was following them down the rabbit hole in spite of the fact that they were a surprise. I’d say half the album was like, “Whoa, where are we going with this?” When I first conceived of the idea of “Love Thief,” “I am the love thief” I was like, “Okay, this is a totally different sound for me.” And I just sang it into my phone the way I just did to you and sent it to Jerry going “Here, have fun.” Then he sent it back to me with a really good musical bed for it. So that that was a surprise. The other surprise was “Witch,” I didn’t know what was going to happen with that song. That’s sort of a prog rock song, which again, I couldn’t have foreseen how we were going to go with that. It has a folky beginning and then what I think of as prog rock. It’s sort of like my Pink Floyd moment.

Baltin: One of the other ones I love on the record is “Chambermaid.” You’re one of the few people I know who can write a really good story song. Tom Waits does it as well, Dylan, of course can write story songs. But “Chambermaid” almost reminded me a little bit of “Queen and the Soldier” 40 years later. Not in terms of theme, but stylistically, because it’s writing a true narrative from the perspective of someone else.

Vega: Yeah, I really had fun with that. I really was able to step into her shoes and see the room she was cleaning and imagine the details; maybe he’s got cuff links he leaves out on the table but she knows that he wouldn’t leave anything genuinely valuable on the table. It’s this way of creating all the details of this imaginary world. I really had fun with that and that took about an hour and a half.

Baltin: Do you find that the current political climate has affected you artistically?

Vega: Yeah, I feel it has affected me artistically, but I kind of also want to say that whenever I write a song and I feel the politics creeping into it, I want people to know that I’m writing as a citizen. I vote, I read the newspaper, I’m affected by the political atmosphere just like everybody else is. I’m not writing anything as a celebrity. I’m not trying to tell anybody to do anything in particular. I am expressing a feeling through my art, which is my prerogative.

Baltin: For you, who does that well? Who are the best political songwriters? For me it always starts and ends with John Lennon because for me he did such a phenomenal job of mixing the personal and political, so he made the political feel very human.

Vega: I see your point. That had not occurred to me but I think I think you’ve got a point. There are two people that come to my mind immediately; the main one of course is Bob Dylan, who was able to write a song like “Masters of War,” which is really personal but really political at the same time at such a young age. And he was also able to write a song like Medgar Evans (“Only A Pawn In Their Gane”), which is almost journalistic in its approach. It was iso factual. There was not a single metaphor in that song. I don’t think. I think he’s the epitome of great political songwriting. The other song I’ve always loved is “Biko” by Peter Gabriel. He wrote about his political situation in a soulful and meaningful way that didn’t have the dead language of jargon and slogans. I don’t consider myself a political writer, but I feel that I have the right to voice my feelings from time to time if I’m moved to.

Baltin: It’s crazy to think that we’re weeks away from the 40-year anniversary of your first album. Are you able to look at those songs now almost like a fan because the songs are almost like from someone else, they are so long ago?

Vega: It’s a different life yes, but my life is not like a lot of people’s life, and I’ll give you an example. There’s a song on the first album called “Freeze Tag.” I wrote that for my boyfriend at the time whose name was Paul Mills, and he had also influenced some of “Marlena on the Wall” because he was a film fanatic and he had taught me all this stuff about film. So, jump ahead to now, Paul Mills and I got back together again in 2006 and got married. I am actually married to that guy from the first album. So, the songs still have a relevance to me and still are alive in a certain way that I don’t think happens in a lot of people’s lives. A lot of people live episodically. Mine is really truly more of a circle