Suzanne Vega And The (Un)common Folk

Suzanne Vega was a weird kid, by all accounts. While her pals from New York’s High School of Performing Arts (of Fame fame) were sneaking into trendy Manhattan clubs in the late ’70s to catch the latest from Talking Heads or Television, wee Suzanne sat at home in the dark listening to Leonard Cohen. “I guess I was kind of withdrawn,” admits Vega.

“I spent a lot of time by myself, at my dance classes, or just writing in my notebook,” she explains of her adolescence. “And discovering folk music was another way of finding a place that wasn’t violent or noisy or threatening as so much of New York living can be. I was attracted to folk music for its simplicity, its timeliness, and a means of putting things together.”