Suzanne Vega

They only hit until you cry,
After that, you don't ask why.

Suzanne Nadine Vega (born 11 July 1959) is an American singer-songwriter known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.

Song lyrics

I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
Only first I am asking you why.

Suzanne Vega (1985)

• The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door,
  He said "I am not fighting for you any more."
  • The Queen and the Soldier

• "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
  And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
  But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
  Only first I am asking you why.
  • The Queen and the Soldier

• I have swallowed a secret burning thread.
  • The Queen and the Soldier

• I won't march again on your battlefield.
  • The Queen and the Soldier

• If you were to kill me now right here,
  I would still look you in the eye
  • In the Eye

Left of Center (1986)

(written by Suzanne Vega and Steve Addabbo)

• And when they ask me, "What are you looking at?"
  I always answer, "Nothing much" (Not much)
  • Left of Center

• I think they know that
  I'm looking at them
  I think they think
  I must be out of touch
  But I'm only
  In the outskirts
  And in the fringes
  On the edge
  And off the avenue
  And if you want me
  You can find me
  Left of center
  Wondering about you
  • Left of Center

Solitude Standing (1987)

(All lyrics were written by Suzanne Vega except where noted)

I am sitting in the morning
at the diner on the corner
I am waiting at the counter
for the man to pour the coffee

• I am sitting in the morning
  at the diner on the corner
  I am waiting at the counter
  for the man to pour the coffee
  and he fills it only halfway
  and before I even argue
  he is looking out the window
  at somebody coming in.
  • Tom's Diner

• "It is always nice to see you"
  Says the man behind the counter
  To the woman who has come in
  She is shaking her umbrella
  And I look the other way
  As they are kissing their hellos
  And I'm pretending not to see them
  • Tom's Diner

• I open up the paper,
  there's the story of an actor
  who had died while he was drinking,
  it was no one I had heard of.
  • Tom's Diner

• My name is Luka.
  I live on the second floor.
  I live upstairs from you.
  Yes, I think you've seen me before.
  • Luka

• If you hear something late at night,
  Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight,
  Just don't ask me what it was.
  • Luka

• They only hit until you cry,
  After that, you don't ask why.
  • Luka

• The light and sweet coffee color of her skin
  • Ironbound / Fancy Poultry by Suzanne Vega & Anton Sanko

• Kids will grow like weeds on a fence
  She says they look for the light, they try to make sense
  They come up through the cracks like grass on the tracks
  She touches him goodbye
  • Ironbound / Fancy Poultry by Suzanne Vega & Anton Sanko

• By day give thanks
  By night beware
  Half the world in sweetness
  The other in fear
  • Night Vision by Suzanne Vega and Anton Sanko

• When the darkness takes you
  With her hand across your face
  Don't give in too quickly
  Find the thing she's erased
  • Night Vision by Suzanne Vega and Anton Sanko

• Solitude stands by the window
  she turns her head as I walk in the room
  I can see by her eyes she's been waiting
  Standing in the slant of the late afternoon
  
  • Solitude Standing by Vega, Sanko, Shulman, Michael Visceglia, Stephen Ferrera

• And she turns to me with her hand extended
  Her palm is split with a flower, with a flame
  ...And she says, "I've come to set a twisted thing straight",
  And she says, "I've come to lighten this dark heart"
  • Solitude Standing by Vega, Sanko, Shulman, Michael Visceglia, Stephen Ferrera

• If language were liquid
  It would be rushing in
  Instead here we are
  In a silence more eloquent
  Than any word could ever be
  These words are too solid
  They don't move fast enough
  To catch the blur in the brain
  That flies by and is gone.
  • Language by Vega & Mike Visceglia

• I'd like to meet you
  In a timeless, placeless place
  Somewhere out of context
  And beyond all consequences
  ...And we'll sit in the silence (That flies by and is gone)
  That comes rushing in
  And is gone
  • Language by Vega & Mike Visceglia

• You come from far away
  With pictures in your eyes
  Of coffeeshops and morning streets
  In the blue and silent sunrise
  But night is the cathedral
  Where we recognized the sign
  We strangers know each other now
  As part of the whole design
  • Gypsy

• You're the jester of this courtyard
  With a smile like a girl's
  Distracted by the women
  With the dimples and the curls
  By the pretty and the mischievous
  By the timid and the blessed
  By the blowing skirts of ladies
  Who promise to gather you to their breast
  • Gypsy

Days of Open Hand (1990)

(All lyrics were written by Suzanne Vega except where noted)

• Oh Mom, the old man is telling me something
  His eyes are wide and his mouth is thin
  And I just can't hear what he's saying
  Oh Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking
  It's just that there's so much to do
  And I'm tired of sleeping
  • Tired of Sleeping

• Those whole girls...
  Breathe with ease
  Need no mercy
  Move in light
  Run in grace
  • Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)

• Travel, arrival
  Years of an inch and a step toward a source
  I'm coming to you
  I'll be there in time
  • Pilgrimage by Suzanne Vega & Anton Sanko

External links

• Official website
• Audio interview with Suzanne Vega on the Sodajerker On Songwriting podcast
• Suzanne Vega on A&M Records
• Suzanne Vega on IMDb
• Love Songs review by SLUG Magazine (23 March 2010)
• Suzanne Vega recording of 'Streets of Laredo' for Pioneers for a Cure

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