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Suzanne
Vega
Biography
 Widely
regarded as one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation, Suzanne
Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early
1980's when, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, she sang contemporary
folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. Since the release
of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has given
sold-out concerts in many of the world's best-known halls.
With the
release in 1987 of Solitude Standing, her second album, including the
hit single "Luka", Ms. Vega vaulted to a position of prominence
in the world of pop music. In 1986 Vega wrote the lyrics for two pieces
in Philip Glass's song cycle Songs from Liquid Days. She collaborated
with Anton Sanko to produce her third album, Days of Open Hand (1990).
Inspired
in part by the British group DNA's successful remix of "Tom's Diner",
from Solitude Standing, she released 99.9F, which won a New York Music
Award as Best Rock Album of 1992.
 She
has collaborated with Philip Glass, Joe Jackson, Arthur Baker, They Might
Be Giants, and The Lemonheads. She has contributed her work to the Disney
compilation, Stay Awake, the Grateful Dead tribute Deadicated; Pavarotti
& Friends; the Leonard Cohen tribute, Tower of Song; and to the soundtracks
for the films Dead Man Walking and The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Her
most recent album, Songs in Red and Grey' was released in 2001.
In 1999 she
released a book, The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings of Suzanne
Vega, published by Spike/Avon Books.
For more
information on Suzanne, please visit her website at: www.vega.net
Comments
about 'It Hit Home':
A collection
of feelings, thoughts and observations from someone trying to make sense
out of something seemingly senseless. I lived 15 blocks from the World
Trade Center for 10 years, and my own brother had been working there,
but called in sick on that day. So I am speaking literally as well as
figuratively.
- Suzanne Vega
'It
Hit Home'
[ mp3 sound clip ]
no
one admits they ever cry in public
lately we all do because we must
we do because a man stands at
the bottom of a building
looking for his brothers body in the dust
it
hit home
it still does
it hits home
it
makes me feel a pain within my person
like the breaking of a heart or of a bone
to think about that day and to imagine
every moment of my neighbors
in that devastated place close to my own
it
hit home
it still does
it hits home
i
am no great patriot
i never wear the flag
and i only sing the songs that I'm supposed to in a crowd
but if i travel to Chicago or just take the train downtown
i see the grace that's under pressure, that's what i report out loud
it
hit home
it still does
it hits home
people
when they're hungry become crazy
if its a baby or a nation we discuss
anger turns to action turns to danger
we get mean, and feel that living
isn't worth much, and it’s either them or us
it
hit home
it still does
it hits home
i
am no great patriot
i never wear the flag
and i only sing the songs that I'm supposed to in a crowd
but if i travel to Chicago or just take the train downtown
i see the grace that's under pressure, that's what i report out loud
it
hit home
it still does
it hits home
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