In a world in which music is in great abundance, what Suzanne Vega does is as rare as things can get, exemplified by her recent run of shows for “An Evening of New York Songs & Stories”. The shows hark back to the old style music revue with Suzanne playing the role of raconteur and show-woman, complete with top hat. And those songs! In Episode 1 of Season 3 of The Art of Longevity we get under the skin of her wonderful career in song.

When Suzanne Vega played a short residency at New York’s exclusive, super high-end Cafe Carlisle in 2019 (for the second time in her career) she wanted to put on a show, something special:

“I thought, let’s make a show out of it. I wanted to make it like an old style revue, since it’s a small and very upper crust place with out-of-towners and locals as well, from all over New York. So I thought we’d make it about New York songs. It seemed to go down really well. I heard the elevator boys talking about it after the show so I knew it must be good”. 

Who knows if the Carlisle Hotel elevator boys knew who she was before those shows, but there can be no doubt about Suzanne Vega’s mastery of the craft of songwriting, and of performance, something that comes together perfectly for Suzanne’s current project “An Evening of New York Songs & Stories”. The show comes complete with Suzanne the songwriter but also the raconteur and the ‘show-woman’ (complete with top hat) - something she never expected to become when she was starting out in music at the beginning of the 80s. After all, as a child, she hated being looked at. 

My chat with Suzanne starts with the concept of storytelling through song - but also between the songs, and why that’s so rare on the music scene these days. We explore the early years of course, and the various lives of some of her greatest songs, like ‘Tom’s Diner’ and ‘Marlene On The Wall’. 

I wanted to know if she still felt that a song should be an essentially sad thing and I had to ask her about one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard and a personal obsession for 35 years - her song ‘Ironbound/Fancy Poultry’, from the 1987 masterpiece Solitude Standing. 

Just about a year ago, Suzanne met the late great Stephen Sondheim, who had come to see her musical interpretation of ‘Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice’ (which closed too soon due to the pandemic) and Suzanne was impressed with the way Sondheim talked - weaving into the conversation questions about her own music as well as ruminate on his troubled childhood relationship with his mother (a sad thing when you consider this was Sondheim aged 90, since his recent passing aged 91). My own talk with Suzanne covers her encounter with Sondheim, the sadness of songs in A Minor, and days out in New York. Of course, we cover the secrets to career longevity in the music business and also the everlasting and sometimes changing nature of a song. 

I was excited to hear about the prospect of a new album of brand new Suzanne Vega songs in 2023 and she is to begin the European leg of the New York Songs & Stories tour early in 2022 (pandemic permitting). Whatever you do don’t miss it. 

Portrait cover art by Mick Clarke.

The Art of Longevity is produced by Audio Culture in partnership with Project Melody. Original music is by Andrew James Johnson.