Suzanne Vega

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- "Blood Makes Noise" -
- w/ a brief "Small Blue Thing" departure -

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Subj: Interesting Article in Magazine
Date: 96-08-08 20:43:48 EDT
From: Unique212@aol.com
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

Hi Webmates,

I opened my mailbox today and got a very pleasant surprise in the form of ELLE magazine. They're getting to have good taste -- Tina Turner on the cover last month, and lookee what I found today!! There's also the photo from the cover of the Caramel single, the one which you guys think looks like the cover of the "Pulp Fiction" video.

Later, U212

Begin Forwarded Text, reprinted without permission (oh well)

From ELLE Magazine, September 1996 edition, page 131

How She Changed Her Tune
Edgy folksinger Suzanne Vega reemerges as a cool pop chanteuse by Andrew Essex

When unsuspecting listeners hear the richly nuanced pop and par lor jazz of Suzanne Vega's new album, Nine Objects of desire (A&M), they may find it difficult to believe that this cool chanteuse is the same waifish singer-songwriter behind "Luka," the harrowing 1987 ballad about an abused child. All they're likely to recognize are her dark lyrics and insinuating voice.

"I suppose my new songs are a bit more adventurous," Vega says with characteristic nonchalance. "'Caramel' is supposed to sound like a bossa nova tune from the '60s. 'Birthday' is probably the heaviest thing I've ever done. Some of the stuff is based on the grooves. There's one love song ['World Before Columbus'], but we distorted the vocal to distance it from the sort of things I used to do."

Of course, the sort of things the thirty-seven-year-old Vega used to do -- the gritty-elegy-with-the-powerful-message that elevated her from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the mid-'80s -- succeeded in transcending the image of the female singer-songwriter as bandanna-clad, summer-of-love naif, and introduced a new generation to the music that landed Joan Baez on the cover of Time in 1962.

"I wanted to be a folksinger," Vega explains. "When I was fourteen, I used to listen to Woody Guthrie and write songs about living on freight trains. As I got older, I realized I didn't know a thing about freight trains -- I'm from New York City." In 1992, after a two-year layoff, she released a fourth album, the underrated 99.9 F (probably best known for the disquieting, AIDS-influenced "Blood Makes Noise"). Vega's tales of the city blended folk narratives with industrial noise and Latin rhythms (drawn from her childhood in Spanish Harlem) and gave birth to post-modern folk.

Though Vega isn't entirely comfortable with the "folk" label, she's hardly disowning it: "Folk is part of American culture," she says. "It's mostly about storytelling, not acoustic guitars and tie-dye. I wanted to be a mix of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Lou Reed; they're all great storytellers. I learned by playing solo at folk festivals. If you can win over a festival audience, you can pretty much work anywhere."

Subj: Interesting Article in Magazine (fwd)
Date: 96-08-08 23:34:36 EDT
From: paul@caverock.co.nz (Paul LeBeau)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Suzanne Vega List)

>album, the underrated 99.9 F (probably best known for the disquieting,
>AIDS-influenced "Blood Makes Noise").

Hmmm... I guess there a gazillion different interpretations for Blood Makes Noise. I guess AIDS fits, but did the interviewer get this from Suzanne - or is this his interpretation? :)

My interpretation is complete different and doesn't fit all the lyrics really either.. :)

What BMN always reminds me of is when I was a kid and I would be lying in bed at night with my ear against the pillow. Some nights, when it was quiet and I had my head resting just right, I could hear (what I assume now was) blood beating through a vessel in my ear or something.

It sounded like soldiers marching. I remember it frightened me at first but after a while it became comforting to hear those soldiers marching.

That's what that song reminds me of.

Maybe I'm strange - or have a deformed head... :/

Paul

Subj: Re: Interesting Article in Magazine (fwd)
Date: 96-08-09 03:48:14 EDT
From: dan20e@sfsu.edu (Daniel "TigerPunk" Matsumoto)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: paul@caverock.co.nz (Paul LeBeau)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Suzanne Vega List)

On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, Paul LeBeau wrote:

> Hmmm... I guess there a gazillion different interpretations > for Blood Makes Noise. I guess AIDS fits, but did the interviewer > get this from Suzanne - or is this his interpretation? :)

A gazillion? The one about AIDS is the only one I've heard and believed to be Suzanne's point of the song.

> What BMN always reminds me of is when I was a kid and I would > be lying in bed at night with my ear against the pillow. > Some nights, when it was quiet and I had my head resting just > right, I could hear (what I assume now was) blood beating > through a vessel in my ear or something.

> It sounded like soldiers marching. I remember it frightened > me at first but after a while it became comforting to hear > those soldiers marching.

A very cool visual, Paul... :)

Subj: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-09 09:33:05 EDT
From: algranti@club-internet.fr (David Algranti)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

>What BMN always reminds me of is when I was a kid and I would
>be lying in bed at night with my ear against the pillow.
>Some nights, when it was quiet and I had my head resting just
>right, I could hear (what I assume now was) blood beating
>through a vessel in my ear or something.
>
>It sounded like soldiers marching. I remember it frightened
>me at first but after a while it became comforting to hear
>those soldiers marching.
No, you're not strange, or we're two.
Wow, that's just what I thought about the song too. This vessel often keeps me from sleeping too.
I think this song is about feeling too real, about realising that you actually have a body, you know, when you hurt yourself or see how you're getting old. I think there was something like that in Woody Allen's 'Interiors' (pretty pretentious movie though): Diane Keaton tells about how she once saw herself from very far above and she could hear her blood rush and all her veins beat and how it was really frightening. Sometimes when it's real quiet, I like to try to hear my heart beat, and it works sometimes. Anyway, I think 'Blood Makes Noise' is kind of the opposite song of 'As A Child' or 'Wooden Horse', that are (partly) about feeling unreal (Suzanne said somewhere that when she was a kid, she would look at her dolls and they seemed to be alive and then she would look at herself and seemed not to be alive).

I've got an other theory about this song but I don't like/believe in it: Some of you said that Bad Wisdom could be about incest. I disagree but if that's what you think, then BMN could be the same: a girl trying to speak to her doctor but she's scared of her father, and that's the same noise as in 'Blood Sings': the noise from the feeling of belonging to the same family, except that in BS it's a kind, sad, melancholic song whereas in BMN it's a threat song.

Anyway, can anyone tell me why this song would be about AIDS? Just because there's the word 'blood' in it?

David.

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-09 11:45:35 EDT
From: wchapman@mizar.usc.edu (Wendy Marie Chapman)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: algranti@club-internet.fr (David Algranti)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, David Algranti wrote:

> Anyway, can anyone tell me why this song would be about AIDS? Just because
> there's the word 'blood' in it?

Well, though I have always looked at the AIDS aspect of the song--I seem to remember SV being asked if it was about that and she said a writer writes about her time and all that but that it could be about anything--I think the fear aspect is what is important here. Well, maybe she was talking about Bad Wisdom and maybe I'm actually talking about Bad Wisdom.

Never Mind. But I think that BMN and BW are sister songs in a way and that while they could be about something specific they are also very universal. Therefore, I think everyone is right--it could be about incest or the sound blood makes against a pillow--or AIDS or even an unexpected pregnancy.

The sound I think she's trying to describe is that far away sound--where you can only hear the inner workings of your body and everyone sounds as if they are at the other end of a tunnel. You get this feeling when you are about to pass out--from fear or whatever.

Wendy!

Subj: Re: Interesting Article in Magazine (fwd)
Date: 96-08-09 12:13:25 EDT
From: tomh@thomsoft.com (Tom Halliley)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: dan20e@sfsu.edu (Daniel "TigerPunk" Matsumoto)
CC: paul@caverock.co.nz (Paul LeBeau), undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Suzanne Vega List)

> > Hmmm... I guess there a gazillion different interpretations
> > for Blood Makes Noise. I guess AIDS fits, but did the interviewer
> > get this from Suzanne - or is this his interpretation? :)
>
> A gazillion? The one about AIDS is the only one I've heard and believed
> to be Suzanne's point of the song.

I heard Suzanne say in an interview that Blood Makes Noise had nothing to do with AIDS, but rather with the more general anxiety about being sick and going to the doctor's.

TomH

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-09 14:14:12 EDT
From: guida@mail.telepac.pt (Guida Fonseca)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: dan20e@sfsu.edu (Daniel "TigerPunk" Matsumoto)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

On Fri, 9 Aug/96 Daniel replyied to Paul Lebeau:

>> A gazillion? The one about AIDS is the only one I've heard and believed to be Suzanne's point of the song.

> What BMN always reminds me of is when I was a kid and I would
> be lying in bed at night with my ear against the pillow.
> Some nights, when it was quiet and I had my head resting just
> right, I could hear (what I assume now was) blood beating
> through a vessel in my ear or something.

> It sounded like soldiers marching. I remember it frightened
> me at first but after a while it became comforting to hear
> those soldiers marching.

A very cool visual, Paul... :) <<

Yes I think it's a very cool visual but some years ago I've read that "Small Blue Thing" was about abortion - I also don't know if it was an opinion of the guy who wrote it or if it was Vega's explanation.

Whatever it was, I think that the artist's point of view is a lot of times (if not the whole time) missunterpreted by public opinion !

Personally, I've never thought BMN as an AIDS thing. To me "BMN" was always conected to "Bad Wisdom" ; I think that the Lyrics are sort of a complement of each other.
However I also feel that it doesn't really mind if it's this or that, 'cause that it's putting a "stamp" on a work of art. And a work of art looses it's beauty when we can't no longer think it as "soldiers marching".

Guida

Subj: Re: Interesting Article in Magazine (fwd)
Date: 96-08-09 15:53:28 EDT
From: guida@mail.telepac.pt (Guida Fonseca)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: tomh@thomsoft.com (Tom Halliley)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

At 08:55 AM 8/9/96 -0700, Tom Halliley wrote:

>I heard Suzanne say in an interview that Blood Makes Noise had
>nothing to do with AIDS, but rather with the more general anxiety
>about being sick and going to the doctor's.
>
>TomH

I couldn't agree more with your opinion Tom !

Guida

Subj: Blood Makes Noise (In did it makes!:)
Date: 96-08-09 17:54:15 EDT
From: guida@mail.telepac.pt (Guida Fonseca)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: algranti@club-internet.fr (David Algranti)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

At 03:24 PM 8/9/96 +0200, David Algranti wrote:

>I've got an other theory about this song but I don't like/believe in it:
>Some of you said that Bad Wisdom could be about incest. I disagree but if
>that's what you think, then BMN could be the same: a girl trying to speak to
>her doctor but she's scared of her father, and that's the same noise as in
>'Blood Sings': the noise from the feeling of belonging to the same family,
>except that in BS it's a kind, sad, melancholic song whereas in BMN it's a
>threat song.

David, it would never(and I really mean never) happen to cross my mind that "Bad Wisdom" was about incest. (?!?!?!?)
I'm wondering where the hell that whole ideas came from ...
More and more, I start to only believe on intuition.
Well, did you ever wonder about this -> " Knowledge stimulates uncertainty and that uncertainty stimulates anxiety " ?
And that's why I've always thought "BMN" and "Bad Wisdom" to be the mirror of one who has experimented the terrible feeling of an endless anxiety/anguish.

Am I too far ? :)

Guida

Subj: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-09 19:29:01 EDT
From: 100232.712@compuserve.com (Julie Chan)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (all)
CC: guida@mail.telepac.pt (Guida Fonseca)

On 09 Aug 1996 Guida wrote:

>... Knowledge stimulates uncertainty and that uncertainty stimulates anxiety
>... BMN and Bad Wisdom to be the mirror of one who has experimented the terrible feeling of an endless anxiety/anguish.

I totally agree with your take on Blood Makes Noise and Bad Wisdom. I've always thought the doctor character in both are connected. I've also read that Leonard Cohen thought the line, "I will pay for my life with my body," is the most beautiful in the album. It sort of sums it all up.

Julie

Subj: Re: Interesting Article in Magazine (fwd)
Date: 96-08-10 01:49:54 EDT
From: s3033469@student.anu.edu.au (Robin Shortt)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

>On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, Paul LeBeau wrote:
>> Hmmm... I guess there a gazillion different interpretations
>> for Blood Makes Noise. I guess AIDS fits, but did the interviewer
>> get this from Suzanne - or is this his interpretation? :)
>
>A gazillion? The one about AIDS is the only one I've heard and believed
>to be Suzanne's point of the song.

Heck, I go for the schizophrenia one myself. I'm sure we could come up with at least half a gazillion ...

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-10 10:05:24 EDT
From: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Undertow)

At 19:07 9.8.96 +0200, Guida wrote:
>Yes I think it's a very cool visual but some years ago I've read that "Small
>Blue Thing" was about abortion - I also don't know if it was an opinion of
>the guy who wrote it or if it was Vega's explanation.

No, it's hardly Suzanne's explanation -- she usually says that Small Blue Thing is a love song and kind of a children's game. Like, what would it be like if I was a small blue thing...

In my opinion, Guida, Bad Wisdom could very well be about incest -- or any other bad experience that makes a child grow up quickly and painfully.

/Hugo

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-10 16:48:01 EDT
From: guida@mail.telepac.pt (Guida Fonseca)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

At 03:58 PM 10/8/96 +0200, Hugo wrote:

>No, it's hardly Suzanne's explanation -- she usually says that Small Blue
>Thing is a love song and kind of a children's game. Like, what would it be
>like if I was a small blue thing...
>
>In my opinion, Guida, Bad Wisdom could very well be about incest -- or any
>other bad experience that makes a child grow up quickly and painfully.
>
>/Hugo

Hi Hugo !
Well, today (Saturday) it's my first week on the Undertow :) And I must say - what a week !! One time I think that I could win on a sort of Trivial Pursuit all about Suzanne Vega, and the other I feel very far from that.
Though, I'm amazed wiht all interpretations that were given here about either "99.9º" or "Bad Wisdom" and now "Small Blue thing" I still think that it all depends on your point of view .
I didn't make a judgement ;) I said what I think the song was all about to me.

On what concerns to "Small blue thing", I really don't think that I share the "...kind of a children's game..." opinion .Even if that was what S.Vega said. (?)I like so much that song, that even if it were about abortion I'd would never think of it as that.

As I said before, we all put something of our own experience on eveything we admire/contemplate !
And that is what 'enriches' a work of art. "I like to keep prespective" Don't you think so?
When it comes to explanations, I always remember Woodie Allen and Dianne Keaton on "Annie Hall" when they are on that line to enter in to the cinema and there's this guy who "spits" his interpretation of the author's intention about the movie. "If life was as simple as that" Woodie says when he intruduces the guy to the author !:)

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-10 17:28:02 EDT
From: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Undertow)

At 21:39 10.8.96 +0200, you wrote:
>As I said before, we all put something of our own experience on eveything we
>admire/contemplate !
>And that is what 'enriches' a work of art. "I like to keep prespective"
>Don't you think so?

I completely agree with you here -- and I certainly didn't want to judge your point of view. And I guess even Small Blue Thing could be about an abortion -- if that's what you feel when you've had one. But to me it's a far happier song than that. I don't think I'd skip on the sidewalk if I'd just killed a baby...

The strengt of Suzanne's art, of course, is that there are no fixed interpretations -- anyone can fit in their personal point of view. But it's also fun to *discover* new points of view in the songs, either by listening or, for instance, by reading this mailing list...

Later,
/Hugo

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-10 18:02:40 EDT
From: BobandSooz@aol.com
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se, undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

I have this slim little volume of SV song lyrics and some commentary/interviews called "Bullet in Flight," published by Omnibus Press (out of London) . . . anyway, in it, Suzanne says this about "Small Blue Thing"

(p. 75) "I wasn't using a character in the first album as much as I was using the voices of things. . .Like 'Small Blue Thing' . . . I was trying to write and sing in the voice of a small blue thing."

So . . . I vote for Paul's interpretation of "Blood Makes Noise," even though it's on a later album. I have the same memories of my ear on the pillow when I was a kid. . . and it makes me feel secure to think about 4 billion people also going to sleep and hearing their own heartbeats every night.

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-10 22:57:03 EDT
From: wchapman@mizar.usc.edu (Wendy Marie Chapman)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund)
CC: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu (Undertow)

On Sat, 10 Aug 1996, Hugo Westerlund wrote:

> The strengt of Suzanne's art, of course, is that there are no fixed
> interpretations -- anyone can fit in their personal point of view. But it's
> also fun to *discover* new points of view in the songs, either by listening
> or, for instance, by reading this mailing list...

Ah yes, this is what I've always said--see my essay: "The Minimalist Styles of Raymond Carver and Suzanne Vega" in the About Suzanne section.

This is exactly what I've always loved about her music--the specific/universal aspect of it.

I was wondering about "Caramel" today. She said she starts with something specific and works her way out from there--and for those who have read or heard the Learning Annex Talk, you are familiar with the Small Blue Thing example. So I was wondering where Suzanne might have started with this song. It's about "Addiction" but I think that's where she ended up and not started. Do you think that she was eating a Caramel Candy and decided it was really good and decided to have another and then another--and there it is "Caramel"--but seriously--where do you guys think she started?

Wendy!

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise
Date: 96-08-11 16:02:46 EDT
From: psychdoc@netcom.com (beej)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

I'm remembering when I first heard "BMN" and thinking, "Gee, a song about mental illness" - what it feels like to hear something that's not really there... or is it? Of course, I may be reading into it, and I am a psychiatrist, so I've been accused of doing that :) But my association between hearing something and hearing voices/ hallucinations was way too strong.

&&&&&&&&&& psychdoc@netcom.com &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& b.j. mora &&&&&

From: bll22536@infolink.net.il (Yehu Moran)
To: veganet@aol.com
Date: 96-08-13 07:51:39 EDT

hello Suzanne fans!
Blood makes noise is one of my most favourite SV songs.and i must say i have spent many time in understanding it.My own opinion is that the song is about AIDS....but i have read your opinions about the song,and i must say there is a point in all your different opinions....you see this is the beuty of suzannes greatest songs....everyone can find everything inside it....every person can understand it in a different way,but still almost everyone enjoys it.
there is an interesting thing about her songs...they touch you inside.when i hear BMN,"pilgrimage","the queen and the soldier" or any other suzanne song it does something to me..something unique..and i am sure it does something unique to any other person.
You people should listen to suzanne music and respect each others unique opinions.I think it's kind of annoying when you are discussing the meanings of the songs....i think it kills the unique feeling...the unique atmosphere of suzannes music.....so listen to Suzannes music and have fun!

Yehu Moran,Israel.

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise -Reply - mental illness
Date: 96-08-14 10:41:50 EDT
From: rossc@slf.org
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

I bet suzanne simply heard a recording of a heart and was inspired. The rhythm track is very similar to the actual sound of a heart recorded from inside the bloodstream. It's an amazing sound and musicians tend to be very audio oriented as far as the imagination (audigination?).

But mental "illness" in lyrics is a big deal these days. Seems like every song by Counting Crows and Freedy Johnston (who I both like) deals with some unbalanced point of view.

Many grunge and junior punkster types flaunt their lack of sanity -whether real or put-on. It's big biz these days!

Suzanne seems more just your basic introspective type who looks through many eyes in her songs. A good way to practice compassion.

Charles Ross
rossc@slf.org

From: seankmd@global.co.za (Sean Yeomans)
To: VegaNet@aol.com
Date: 96-08-13 13:55:41 EDT

On Tuesday, August 13, 1996 6:40 PM
Yehu Moran wrote

>opinions.I think it's kind of annoying when you are discussing the
>meanings of the songs....i think it kills the unique feeling...the
>unique atmosphere of suzannes music.....so listen to Suzannes music and

Gotta disagree with you here. You seldom learn from people who agree with you. When some one has a different view or interpretation it forces you to take another look at what you believe. Most of the time you won't change around to agreeing with them but you will learn something new about yourself.

>other suzanne song it does something to me..something unique..and i am
>sure it does something unique to any other person.
>You people should listen to suzanne music and respect each others unique

*absolutely* (and yes I know I've put the earlier bit second). That's why Suzanne's music is so brilliant. You can always listen to a new song as you can listen to one of your favorites and try to hear it through someone else's ears. Not many artists can write lyrical poetry like this and it is definitely what I enjoy most about Suzanne.

When an artist tells what a song is about I feel um, err, I suppose betrayed. I have to accept their meaning and it takes away the special gift of the song that the artist have given to *me personally*.

Subj: Re: Blood Makes Noise -Reply - mental illness
Date: 96-08-14 19:42:53 EDT
From: s3033469@student.anu.edu.au (Robin Shortt)
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

>I bet suzanne simply heard a recording of a heart and was
>inspired. The rhythm track is very similar to the actual sound
>of a heart recorded from inside the bloodstream. It's an
>amazing sound and musicians tend to be very audio
>oriented as far as the imagination (audigination?).

Which is not to say they're all in the same groove ... the sound of a heart, then, gives us on the one hand "Blood Makes Noise", and on the other, "Closer" ...

Any chance of a Vega/Reznor duet anytime soon? "I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Date: 96-08-15 08:59:37 EDT
From: rossc@slf.org
Sender: owner-undertow@law.emory.edu
To: undertow@serv4.law.emory.edu

Ah yes, in my champions of mental unhealth sample list I forgot to add Trent Reznor!

That _would_ be an interesting team-up. NIN is one artist I have tried to listen to but just don't "get". Some of it's kind of catchy but it's toxic to me when I hear the words.

Charles Ross
rossc@slf.org

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