Suzanne Vega

On Sat, 15 Jul 1995, Matt Mullen wrote:

> I especially like this song, because the lyrics are brief and leave room
> for plenty of intepretation. My interpretation is of the strength we all
> possess and can give to one another. I envision Suzanne (as the singer) as
> having had rough existence ("The spine is bound to last a life / Tough
> enough to take the pounding") and dreaming of finding strength from
> someone else ("I took your urgent whisper", "Yours is there my word of
> honor") to overcome the past and accomplishing great, even magical, things
> ("Stole the arc of a white wing / Rode like foam on the river of pity /
> Turned its tide to strength / Healed the hole that ripped in living").
>
> Am I _way_ out there? I'd love to hear others' comments, as well!

Matt, I've heard the same elements in the song, but interpreted them quite the other way around. To me, the narrator dreams of *giving* strength, not taking it. She takes the urgent whisper, and heals the hole that ripped in living. By way of synecdoche, I think she says that she takes the whole other person, and heals the hole in that person's existence.

Indeed, the narrator may have had a rough existence, but that might be the very reason her spine is so tough. Here's what Suzanne said in an interview for the Sunday Times (UK) 17 April 90: "I've always been fond of the image of the diamond and the bullet as having the qualities that I'd like to have for myself. They're streamlined, compact, strong, powerful -- but small. They're concentrated and that's how they make their impact. I also like the diamond because it comes from coal, from dirt, and tremendous pressure turns it into the precious stone. So if you're under great strain, instead of just cracking, you consolidate into this shiny, very tough entity."

Isn't this image beautiful and poetic? And I'd say that many, if not most, of Suzanne's songs have exactly this quality, and my image of the poet is indeed very similar.

[ -- cut -- ]

Last, but not least, nice to have you back on the list, Suzanne!

Yours,
/Hugo

Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 13:01:59 -0400
From: WChapwomyn@aol.com
To: Undertow@law.lawlib.emory.edu
Subject: Re: Book of Dreams

Do you guys notice, that I have a response for everything--I think it's because I'm overoppininated (sp?) or something.

Book of Dreams:

I have just a very simple interpretation of the song--the narrarator is gathering strength from her dreams--not giving to or getting from another person, in particular, but from the dreams.

I mean this in a sense that a lot of times people, children especially, who have rough lives, revert to a sort of dream world for protection. I think that SV is talking about just such dreams that protect or have protected her from the "real world" say. I certainly think that this is a theme that runs throughout the whole album.

The spine is bound to last a life
Tough enough to take the pounding
Pages made of days of open hand

These lines refer to the essence of what I'm talking about. Her dreams--"Bood of Dreams" are always there to protect her--"the spine is bound to last a life/Tough enough to take a pounding..." Where the narrator may feel weak in her own life, her dreams are a place she can go for solace and comfort. I remember years ago hearing about "Programming" your dreams. That, by thinking about certain things before you go to sleep, you can control them and program them. I think this may have a connection to that. In the narrators dreams, she can "[ride] like foam on the river of pity/[and] turn it's tide to strength..."

The "pages [are] made of days of open hand..." this line has always meant, to me, someone trying to grasp some kind of meaning from life. In the narrators "book of dreams" each page is a movement towards that--each dream pushes the narrator futher to some kind of understanding of life. I'm kind of getting away from my first interpretation about the dreams being there to protect, but let me see if I can make this connection using earlier strains that we've been discussing.

The "real world" may represent some kind of pain and hostility--as we've discussed earlier it is where we learn about the "darker side of humanity" in the narrators dreams, there is protection from that, her dreams are a place where these kinds of things can be dealt w/ and perhaps defeated. It is the place, perhaps, where a line like: "It's a one time thing/It just happens a lot" can find it's posative turn. That is to say, where w/ in the cracks of life, light comes in.

If I'm making too much of a stretch, just throw me out the door. But, I think all these things connect on a certain level--I think artists evolve and move forward--not linearly perhaps but the thread connects throught a body of work--where the artist has been/is now/where she is going. "Travel arrival/years of an inch and a step toward a source/I'm comeing to you/I'll be there in time..."

Wendy!

Subj: Re: Book of Dreams & Cracking
Date: 95-07-24 22:37:59 EDT
From: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund ipm)
To: undertow@law.lawlib.emory.edu (Undertow)

Wendy et al.--

Sorry I'm late in responding. I've been away for a while and found this amazing collection of interesting messages in my mailbox, and I feel I can't resist the temptation to comment on a few of them...

> Book of Dreams:
>
> I have just a very simple interpretation of the song--the narrarator is
> gathering strength from her dreams--not giving to or getting from another
> person, in particular, but from the dreams.

I love the idea of gathering streangt from dreams, both day and night dreams. Here I think she's talking about day dreams, and I definitely think there's a generous element in the song -- a wish to give something to other people.

> I mean this in a sense that a lot of times people, children especially, who
> have rough lives, revert to a sort of dream world for protection. I think
> that SV is talking about just such dreams that protect or have protected her
> from the "real world" say. I certainly think that this is a theme that runs
> throughout the whole album.

That certainly happens a lot. But I don't think you should contrast the dream world with the "real world" -- the inner world is as real as the outer world, and when we forget this growing up, we lose the contact with our inner Self. Sometimes children who live under great pressure preserve and refine the inner world to an unusually high extent, but, unfortunately, this treasure must be kept hidden, and the contact with the outer world may be more or less broken -- that's why the dream world may seem so weird and disconneted from outer life.

> I remember years ago hearing about
> "Programming" your dreams. That, by thinking about certain things before you
> go to sleep, you can control them and program them. I think this may have a
> connection to that. In the narrators dreams, she can "[ride] like foam on
> the river of pity/[and] turn it's tide to strength..."

Programming your dreams? Why would you do that? You can daydream instead. Why not let the dreams speak for themselves, so you may learn from their wisdom. Some people say that they can program themselves to remember their dreams, and that's something I envy.

> The "pages [are] made of days of open hand..." this line has always meant,
> to me, someone trying to grasp some kind of meaning from life. In the
> narrators "book of dreams" each page is a movement towards that--each dream
> pushes the narrator futher to some kind of understanding of life. I'm kind
> of getting away from my first interpretation about the dreams being there to
> protect, but let me see if I can make this connection using earlier strains
> that we've been discussing.

I really think dreams have this functions -- they're like messages from the Unconscious, messages that speak of some deeper meaning in life. But we can't revert to a dream world all together -- we need both the inner and the outer world, and the cracking may open a breach between the two worlds. Often, this happens under great strain:

And something is cracking
I don't know where
Ice on the sidewalk
Brittle branches
In the air

The sun
is blinding
Dizzy golden, dancing green
Through the park in the afternoon
Wondering where the hell
I have been

Something is cracking -- obviously the narrator is cracking. But in this cracking, she suddenly notices the world outside her misery. First the ice and the brittle branches that are like her, frozen and cracking, but then she also sees the sun, the green colour, and she suddenly sees herself from the outside.

So I think the "one time thing" may refer both to some kind of repeated trauma, perhaps abuse, but also to the rare glimpses of a world beyond suffering.

Later,

/Hugo

Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se

Subj: Re: Book of Dreams & Cracking
Date: 95-07-25 12:15:23 EDT
From: WChapwomyn@aol.com
To: Undertow@law.lawlib.emory.edu

Hugo,

I must say, I enjoy your interpretations very much--you always seem to take things a step further than anyone else. I especially like the bit about "Cracking" and "Book of Dreams" and how the inner and outer worlds connect. That's somewhat of what I was getting at in a crude way. I guess using "the real world" instead of "outer world" made my point weak. But, my point was that the inner world is a place to gather strength and deal with things that go on in the outer--stress, abuse, anything really.

I don't know if everyone has this experience, but it has been my dream experience that whatever is going on in my life--whether related or not, will somehow all end up in the same dream together--doesn't always make sense--but I guess it's my minds way of working through stressful situations.

Wendy!

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Hugo G. Westerlund <Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se>