Suzanne's Website Audio Q/A Session
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Subj: A question from Brazil Dear Suzanne: I've just heard one of your latest songs, 'Caramel', and I'd like to know which brazilian influences did you have on the making of it? Who are your favourite brazilian composers? Thanking you in advance, Marcelo Ferroni
"I have to say that when I was a teenager, I had every record that I could find by Antonio Carlos Jobim - and, I also had many records by Joao Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto, both separately and together. But I have to say that it was really Antonio Carlos Jobim, was one of my favorite composers, especially at that time, when I was a teenager. So that's who I was thinking of when I wrote Caramel.
Subj: (no subject) Hi Suzanne: In "The Queen and The Soldier" which one is you? Thanks for all your music! Nuno Leite (Lisbon/Portugal)
"Most people assume that I am the queen and that some poor guy is the soldier, and that's not the true...I'd say that both of the characters are me on different days [laughs], depending on my mood! Sometimes it's the queen and sometimes it's the soldier, but I have to say that they're both parts of ... my character. It's the same with dreams; they say with dreams that actually all the characters that you dream about are yourself, and I'd have to say that that's true in this case as well."
Subj: Suzanne Vega is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello , My name is David. I'm a student in Belgium . A few months ago I had to do a yearwork about you and 5 of your songs. First I didn't know who you were. But when I started to analyse your songs I understood that you were a great singer. I did this work very well ,I got an A I have 1 question for you (The same my teacher asked me ): Is Bad Wisdom about Aids or about unexpected pregnancy ? I will be very happy if you answered me.
Thank you, P.S.: I hope you will come to oxford next year because I'll study there. P.S.2: Sorry for my English,but I will improve it in Oxford.
"The answer is actually neither. It's neither about AIDS nor about unexpected pregnancy. The problem I had in mind for that character when I was writing that song was the problem of incest. It's written from the point of view of a young girl who has experienced incest. I don't feel the need to put it in the song because, to me, it... I prefer to leave it out. [laughs] And to me, it just... once I'd left.. because originally, when I first wrote the song, I explained it in the first verse. And it just seemed like it was too much information for one song. And I...once I took out the first verse then I realized that it could be about almost any number of things, and I preferred it that way. But, the actual topic I was thinking of was incest, in fact."
Subj: Online Questions Hello, Ms. Vega. I have really appreciated your work over the years. I have two questions for you. In some cultures, artist and audience are considered two halves of a whole. What is you relationship to your audience and what role, if any, does the 'hearer' play as you compose and/or perform your work? Secondly, along a vaguely similar line, much of your work seems to deal with varying levels of isolation. I have always wondered what you might have to say about contact, since you've made such a deep inquiry into it's opposite quality. Thanks, in advance. Good luck to you and your family! With admiration, Tamara
"To me, it's very important... I always imagine that there's someone listening to the songs. I always imagine ...like, for example, when I was writing Luka, I was trying to imagine who the song would be sung to. I try to imagine, first of all, who's singing the song and secondly, who's the audience. It really means a lot to me that there's gonna be someone listening to the music.. There are sometimes, where even though I'll write a song and I'll think , well, it's too personal for an audience - like a song like, Tired Of Sleeping - To me it first seemed too personal to sing to an audience. Just that the fact that there's an audience there is very important to me, and I do think about that a lot - and, in fact, that's partly why this kind of thing is exciting to me - to hear people's questions, so that I can answer them. I don't just write for myself, I'm honestly writing for an audience, and it means a lot to me that people try to understand them, even if they don't always understand everything that I've written. It's very important - the role of the "hearer" and the rold of the audience to me."
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