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From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Review of "Suzanne Vega"
Message-ID: <4791@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 27-Jul-85 18:23:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4791
Posted: Sat Jul 27 18:23:09 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Jul-85 06:40:19 EDT
Distribution: net.music
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 42

[Jane Siberry's album "no borders here" is wonderful!]

> From: ryan@fremen.DEC (Mike Ryan	DTN 264-8280 MK01-2/H32)

> Glad you like Suzanne, Doug

So am I!

> [The Fast Folk reviewer] Missed the suicide interpretation [of
> "Straight Lines"] completely (straight lines can be the way she cuts
> her hair, bars on a window,...  or slashed wrists). A very powerful
> song.

Wow, thanks!  I missed the suicide interpretation too.  But you're
definitely right.  It seems so obvious now...

> "The Queen and the Soldier" is the closest thing on the album to a
> more typical folk song, carrying (what at least appears to be) a
> straight-forward story. Most of her lyrics are more abstract, and rely
> more on evoking images than telling stories.

I actully think the lyrics for "The Queen and the Soldier" are some of
the best lyrics on the album.  It seems to tell a straight forward
story, but some of the things in the story are very strange and  hint at
other meanings.  Lyrics like

	And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread
	It cuts me inside and often I've bled"
	He laid his hand on top of her head
	And he bowed her down to the ground

signal that there's more going on than just the surface-level story (I'm
just not sure exactly what, though...).  This type of layering of
meaning (which I also rave about so much in Kate Bush lyrics) I find
really fascinating.  This way the lyrics can be just as deep as
something that at first appears more abstract, but it also gives you
something to grab onto at the beginning other than just confusion.

			"You can't talk down to symmetry"

			 Doug Alan
			  nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)