Spring na sa paligid pero tanghali na at mainit sa labas kaya anong puwedeng gawin kundi makinig nitong album ni Suzanne Vega na nakuha kong mura (300 yen yata) dahil galing sa rental shop? Mid-80’s music.
Gusto kong tanggalin ang sticker pero baka dumumi lang ang cover kaya hindi ko na ginawa.
Self-titled ang unang album na ito ni Suzanne Vega, pero sa Japanese ang title ay Neighborhood Songs (街角の詩), no doubt kinuha sa pagsampung kantang “Neighborhood Girls.”
Ininglish ko ang isang parte ng liner notes ni Midori Tsukagoshi:
When I listen to Suzanne sing, scenes float before my eyes. Sometimes it is the evening of a winter’s day. Other times it’s a room in a palace. As she herself says, “A song is like a picture. I like songs with a proper theme and angle.” Her songs, which seem to capture a slice of everyday city life, make you feel like you’re watching a short film or reading a witty novel.
I look over the lyrics. I wonder what kind of life she has lived for the past 25 years.
When I come across the expression “My heart is broken, it is worn out at the knees,” I can’t help but smile. I would never be able to come up with such words.
The everyday life of the city and the women who live there captured by her eyes. Suzanne’s songs express a woman’s feelings freshly, casually and unassumingly–clear, refreshing and somewhat nebulous, just like the rain that falls quietly on a city in the morning when it is still sleeping. And yet, they have the strength to stand there, backs straight, no matter what time of day it is.
Standing on stage with an acoustic guitar, Suzanne is said to be a petite woman who makes the guitar look big. There is a photo on the back of the album jacket. Standing with the sun in the background, Suzanne looks as if she is not very comfortable at posing for the camera.
She’s not a particularly raving beauty, and in her songs, with the innocence and purity of a child without makeup, lives a little girl who is a little bit more lonely than most. And every time I listen to her sharp-eyed songs, I feel closer towards this woman known as Suzanne Vega.
Suzanne sings lyrically and without hesitation about feelings that are familiar to everyone’s heart–loneliness, the joys of love, and the frustrations. Once you have listened to her songs and read her lyrics, you will find this little fairy quietly and unobtrusively dwelling in your heart.
Suzanne Vega–mornings and evenings, and again today her album “Neighborhood Songs” is on the turntable spinning.
Sabi sa Rolling Stone review:
Vega’s prowess with simile and metaphor dominates the entire album, perhaps most effectively on songs like “Undertow,” “Freeze Tag” and “Straight Lines.” But Vega’s sphinxlike wordplay reaches its apex on “Small Blue Thing,” a ballad more reflective of an intangible feeling than a literal object. “The song is actually pretty straightforward — it’s not a riddle,” she says with a laugh. “I never try and be tricky. At the time, I felt like a small blue thing. I never expected that people would think that it stood for something. Some people even asked if it’s a fetus. It’s not that at all — it’s a mood.”
Kailangan ko yatang basahin ang lyrics, kagaya ng sabi ni Tsukagoshi.