Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing

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Free Music Notes for Solitude Standing

Free Music Review: Solitude stands in the doorway...
Hit: 5 Stars

The Toms Diner here is an a capella portrait of her observations at the title place, be it rude waiters who only fills her coffee halfway or the woman who seems to be looking at Vega through the window but only sees her own reflection, symbolizing the insular nature of people.

This is quite an unusual song to become a single, as it deals with the POV of an abused child. but Luka was a hit in painting a portrait of low self-esteem, a bit shy. I guess I like to be alone/with nothing broken, nothing thrown he says. The two refrains are equally poignant: You just dont argue anymore and Just dont ask me how I am. Only Vega could do this song.

Ironbound/Fancy Poultry is a portrait of the city and a woman takes her child to the schoolyard before going to the market. The way the poultry parts are described seems to be an observation of how we only look at certain parts of people and not the whole: breasts and thighs and hearts/backs are cheap/and wings are nearly free.

The slightly more uptempo In The Eye is a song addressed to a would-be mugger or armed assailant. Instead of fleeing, she sings I would live inside of you/Id make you wear me/like a scar. This is reminiscent of when the Doctor in Dr. Who says to a would-be gunman, So look me in the eye, pull the trigger, end my life to which the gunman loses his nerve. A standout cut.

And she turns to me with her hand extended/Her palm is split with a flower with a flame. With a pulsing bass and upbeat guitar, the title track is one of my favourite songs here, as it personifies solitude. The lyrics are sung more quickly than the other tracks and theres a sense of haunting introversion here. She says Ive come to lighten this dark heart/And she takes my wrist, I feel her imprint of fear/And I say Ive never thought of finding you here.

Calypso is based on the nymph who was Odysseuss lover until he decided to leave her after years with her, and the song tells of the loneliness shell feel: I have let him go/in the dawn he sails away/to be gone forever more.

The way language can be distorted is the meaning behind the philosophical Language, where silence is more eloquent than any word. Id like to meet you in a timeless/placeless place/Somewhere out of context/and beyond all consequences, she sings.

Gypsy with its poetic imagery of coffeeshops and morning streets is a loving acoustic number of the title character, someone from afar who spins gauzy tales. The song indicates a sad parting: And well blow away forever soon/and go on to different lands.

The haunting Wooden Horse (Caspar Hausers Song), replete with drums and bass and Vegas quiet voice, seems to be about the mysterious German youth who had been penned up all his life in a cabin without social contact until age 16, with a wooden horse being one of the toys he had with him. Apparently, his father was a cavalry officer. Hauser was later murdered under mysterious circumstances. The realization of the boys fantasies in the afterlife is seen here: But when Im dead/if you could tell them this/that what was wood became alive. The album ends with an instrumental of Toms Diner.

A collection of mellow, acoustic folk which added a quieter shade of music in the 80s. However, I couldnt help but notice the date on some these songs, many of them before the albums release date of 1987. Gypsy and Calypso were written in 1978, if that gives one an idea. Still, a wonderful and quiet album that one should listen to when solitude stands in the doorway and walks in the room.

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