Suzanne Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her poetic lyrics
and eclectic folk-inspired music. She was huge in the 80's with songs like
"Luka", and Tom's Diner". Her last album came out in
2001.
Vega wrote the song Tom's Diner based on a comment by her friend Brian Rose, a
photographer, who mentioned that in his work, he sometimes felt as if "he
saw his whole life through a pane of glass, and [...] like he was the witness to
a lot of things, but was never really involved in them."
In order to confront stage fright, Suzanne Vega opened her appearance at the
Prince's Trust Concert on June 20, 1986, with "Tom's Diner", intending
to walk off stage afterwards if it wasn't well-received. It was, and she
performed a full and equally well-received set.
In 1990, two secretive British record producers remixed "Tom's Diner"
without Suzanne Vega's permission, grafting her vocals onto an infectious dance
beat from Soul II Soul, and turning her simple ad-libbed outro - "Doo doo
doo doo, doo da-doo doo" - into the song's driving hook. They took the name
"DNA", later calling themselves The DNA Disciples to distinguish
themselves from no wave band DNA, and released their work on a limited basis for
distribution to clubs as "Oh Suzanne", by "DNA featuring Suzanne
Vega". Vega's record company of the time, A&M, decided to buy the
single and release it themselves rather than taking DNA to court for copyright
infringement after consultation with Vega, who liked the interpretation, and
DNA, who conducted the whole deal through intermediaries in order to hide their
true identities.
Is anyone esle a fan? Do you at least know her music? So few people do.
Tom's Diner is definitely a catchy little tune, I remember hearing it ages ago
and several years later I'm scouring the internet for the song since I didn't
know the title and I wanted to cut and sample it.
Some time in the future I hope to drop my own vocals over that beat.
Suzanne Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her poetic lyrics and eclectic folk-inspired music. She was huge in the 80's with songs like "Luka", and Tom's Diner". Her last album came out in 2001.
Vega wrote the song Tom's Diner based on a comment by her friend Brian Rose, a photographer, who mentioned that in his work, he sometimes felt as if "he saw his whole life through a pane of glass, and [...] like he was the witness to a lot of things, but was never really involved in them."
In order to confront stage fright, Suzanne Vega opened her appearance at the Prince's Trust Concert on June 20, 1986, with "Tom's Diner", intending to walk off stage afterwards if it wasn't well-received. It was, and she performed a full and equally well-received set.
In 1990, two secretive British record producers remixed "Tom's Diner" without Suzanne Vega's permission, grafting her vocals onto an infectious dance beat from Soul II Soul, and turning her simple ad-libbed outro - "Doo doo doo doo, doo da-doo doo" - into the song's driving hook. They took the name "DNA", later calling themselves The DNA Disciples to distinguish themselves from no wave band DNA, and released their work on a limited basis for distribution to clubs as "Oh Suzanne", by "DNA featuring Suzanne Vega". Vega's record company of the time, A&M, decided to buy the single and release it themselves rather than taking DNA to court for copyright infringement after consultation with Vega, who liked the interpretation, and DNA, who conducted the whole deal through intermediaries in order to hide their true identities.
Is anyone esle a fan? Do you at least know her music? So few people do.
I flipped up her song Tom's Diner into a rap beat.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=181724&songID=3138679
Tom's Diner is definitely a catchy little tune, I remember hearing it ages ago and several years later I'm scouring the internet for the song since I didn't know the title and I wanted to cut and sample it.
Some time in the future I hope to drop my own vocals over that beat.