Suzanne about the Hunchback:

"No, it [the hunchback] was not a reference to my boyfriend. The thing is, the day that I was in Liverpool there was a Sunday where I was sitting in Liverpool and I was in the hotel that's across the street from the Cathedral, and the bells were ringing and ringing and ringing, and they rang for about an hour. And I guess that started me thinking of who might be ringing the bells. And so I started to imagine that it was some kind of...if not a hunchback exactly, he was some kind of crazy lovesick boy who was amusing himself by flinging himself across the bells in the tower. He's NOT committing suicide, by the way, he is only ringing a bell....and then the monk, I guess, is supposed to be my old boyfriend. So, if you see the video that's me twirling and dancing around with the tambourine and the curly hair. That's in fact me as the gypsy."

So, the boy that throws himself from the tower is not committing suicide, he's throwing himself down over the city with the sound of his bells.

Spikey

thanks spikey I found the Rusty Pipe now and all is clear, as a bell even !

It's RustED Pipe and thank you, that's exactly what the site was created for.

Spikes

I'm not exactly adding a whole lot to this conversation, but "In Liverpool" is a song that, while I initially recognized it as a good song, as one of her stronger ones, it has just done nothing but slowly edge its way up my "favorites" list of hers. It was when I first got that UK 4-track 99.9F degree single with "Men Will Be Men" on it that I noticed how exquisite and haunting this song could be when performed acoustically and well. I also was lucky enough to see her live, on the internet, when she played in Bonn during the summer of 1999 and when I heard "In Liverpool" during her set that day, I was struck at how dramatic the change in tone can be when the chorus "And the boy in the bellfry" comes in.

Then when the Retrospective +DVD came out and I saw the video, I just liked the song that much MORE. That is really just about her best video. Yes, "Tired of Sleeping" is a better video than "In Liverpool", but maybe it is the only one to be better?

Then I also splurged (yes, I have gotten "Retrospective" 3 times - thank me for supporting the "sucker" system) and got the UK import edition of retrospective that has "Anniversary" on it. Some of you also know that one of the tracks on that 8-track second disc on that import version is a reading of her journal in which she originally recorded the observations that she would turn into this magnificent song. That reading is just absolutely fantastic - not only the things she said, but her delivery, her READING of them was both evocative and powerful.

This song really is the stuff of genius. And as much as I gush about this song, I'd still wouldn't even put it in her top 5 songs.

Quite a bit to say about a person's talent, eh?

(Now, I am Canadian, of course. Officially, I am in Toronto for the long-haul._

-M

---

quote:

yes, I have gotten "Retrospective" 3 times - thank me for supporting the "sucker" system

---

Hail fellow sucker! I have only three Retrospectives as well, and I have three Songs in Red and Gray

I've always made a connection between this song and the insistent, "ringing in my ear" that Suzanne reports in "Blood makes noise".

Literally, if you follow the flow of the album, the last words of BMN and the first words of Liverpool run together as if to say:

"Blood makes noise in Liverpool"

Of course, we also know that "Blood sings"

But what's the temperature of that blood? Why it's 99.9 Farenheight degrees.

Suzanne needs a doctor right away! She'd like to help him, yes she really really would, but he knows something is wrong and doesn't dare ask the right question. If he were in her movie, he'd still be the doctor, but he could also be the priest, or why not the monk, who's forhead is high?

Suzanne is very well acquainted with the span of his brow, afterall.

to me, the "ringing in my ear" runs through the whole album. it's something "insistent", as you say, omnipresent, and which is the expression of something internal. throughout all the songs there's this duality of things internal and things external and the question of how to bridge the gap.

it seems clear to me that this gap is bridged through the body. it's as if the body has a language that's an extension of what is secretly spoken within. the inner world wants and needs expression, [the] "private goes public". it wants a vessel, a voice, or literally, a face ("face is the place where the private goes public") and a body. and the small fever, aroused by such feelings as fear, anxiety, but *also* love and recognition, is the perfect metaphor for that.

love,
fátima

Revealing duality of things – internal and external - this is something what communication between people is all about. It might be verbal or non-verbal comunication, but still needs a body – to speak, to listen, to read, to watch. Idea of a vessel for internal, which wants a body, seems to me so beautiful that I could hardly speak and my faith in people is growing. Some may say that a body needs internal life, in other case the body falls apart and that's all.

I agree that a small fever is a great metaphor for communicating of this duality. If I understood well, this is such a fever in a body which reveals our internal life, as if the body was stronger and more demanding than our own will hidden in internal life. The tension to revealing is so strong. I can say this, looking at my own life, but it seems that some people can control such tension more efficiently ;-)

be well

Anna Maria K.

---

"like a shadow, I am and I am not"

hi anna,
yes, you understood it well. to me, all the songs in this album refer, in one way or another, to that "tension" you talk about. the characters defy things external with the belief in their inner world, ultimately they want to dare to reveal it, and, even more daringly, they want it to be understood ("see if they see what you mean").

to me, this album is about showing that tension at work: showing the clash, the noise, the pain, the memories, the love, the unknow melody (as in "blood sings"), the solitude - all blended together in that image of the small fever - that it creates, but wanting to reveal and assert one's individuality. it's about not wanting to "jerk like a thing on a string" anymore, it's about daring to get rid of the "code", dropping the "mask", showing the "face" and saying, "excuse me/if i may/turn your attention/my way". it's about looking at things internal and external "in the eye", "hit(ting) my mark", showing "my horizon", through the canvas that is the body. "and what's so small to you/is so large to me/if it's the last thing i do/i'll make you see", says small david to the giant goliath. this isn't just the clash of two bodies, it's also the clash of what those two bodies harbor and express.

and don't worry, anna, you're not the only one feeling the intensity of that "tension". it's only human, but, from my experience, i'd say it's better to find a balance to it than to control it.

love,
fátima

Dear Fatima,

After reading your words on 99.9 I would like to give my love and understanding to everyone who tries to communicate something. :-)

For 4 years I have been trying to understand Suzanne and I am still projecting myself. It seems to me that I understand her, but I know this is untrue. But anyway "my Suzanne" is all I know of her.... I understand 99.9 better now. Thank you! I didn't know by now, that this is so important album in Suzanne's career. It seems she was very, very insightful into her own mind that time.

You know, there were days when my mind took over my body completely. So it is something, what may be strange to many people. It was ill, but as my therapist said you have a psychosis for whole your life. Like an alcoholic can not drink, but he is alcoholic. So it is with me. I am just trying to adapt my "tension" to creative and positive things and balance it all. I mean, I am trying to be useful for others. This is a measure of my health. I do my best to live right and Suzanne....well, she sometimes destroys my efforts, but I like it :-)

love,
Anna Maria K.

---

"like a shadow, I am and I am not"

PS. After a while I change my last sentence, but it seems changes are only on the Message Board. I think, I wrote last sentence in more expilicit way. Suzanne doesn't destroy my peace of mind, but my EFFORTS to live right in spite of my illness! BTW I wrote piece of mind instead of peace of mind :-( Anyway, I don't know what it is in fact :-) Sorry! I always type too fast....

---

"like a shadow, I am and I am not"

dear anna,

whenever i write about suzanne's work i know i'm projecting myself in it, but then i try to take out of it what helps me see the projection of myself (my inner world), the projection of the world around me (my outer world) and what links the two. i'm aware my words reflect a very personal view of suzanne's music, but i try to communicate it anyway, because i feel i understand myself and others better if i do it. i don't pretend to show that i'm right in any way. i only try to share what i've learned through suzanne's music.

also, i don't pretend to know what it is like to live with a disease like yours. i have a medical background but still i can't really say what it's like. and yet i can understand you when you say your "mind took over [your] body completely". it isn't strange at all to me. my emotional state took my body for ransom, so to speak, about 4 years ago, and i am still trying to get my health and my energy back. just like you, i have been "trying to adapt my "tension" to creative and positive things and balance it all" and i have been "trying to be useful for others". this is a measure of my efforts to get my health back and, in a way, a part of me back too.

i understand the impact suzanne has on you. i can only tell you what her music does for me. it helps me to find ways within myself to live with that "tension" better, it reminds me to get out of my own self and look at that of others, it teaches me to be aware of details, while always viewing the whole and all perspectives. or to put it all in one sentence, it gives me hope and courage and belief.

much love,
fátima

hello tow,

this is me talking mostly to suzanne, so forgive me if this post doesn't make much sense.

three weeks ago i went into the psych ward of a hospital. i was very depressed, suicidally so, and i went to have ECTs (shock therapy), which would hopefully help me regain some balance in my mind. the first ECT i had, i woke up in my room afterwards very frightened. my consciousness was outside the bright lines of speech. but gradually, through the muck of the anesthesia, "blood makes noise" came into my head, and i began to sing along quietly to myself.

i've had six ECTs now, and after every one, i sang suzanne vega songs to myself to quell my fear. i'm out of the hospital now, and i very much want to tell suzanne thank you for being with me during my time in the ward. you are the most brilliant sun, and i will never forget your face, which was often in my mind. a lost life has come back, speeding along the lawns.

suzanne, you have brought back to me the deep station of feeling. you give hope to my zero. thank you, and nightly may you be swayed to find comfort in your mind.

love,
paula

Dear Paula,

I think your post makes perfect sense. I'm sorry to hear of your illness, but happier to hear that when you were ready, when you needed something to hold on to—it was Suzanne's songs which continued to replay in your mind (and you remembered them)!

At different times in life, it seems we all need someone or something to hold on to—this gets us through the things we don't think that we can do on our own—a life raft of sorts.

I am always struck by the courage and candor that comes from people like yourself—not an easy thing to do, to share these kinds of things on a web site, and yet exactly what you probably needed to do for yourself. Bravo.

I know the feeling of being in a terrible frame of mind and having Suzanne's songs as the only things that you can relate to at the time—nothing else will do—it almost happens by itself, without any effort from you. Just read these threads and you'll see people talk about their failed marriages/relationships, their feelings of hopelessness, illness, and also the good things—which all somehow bring to mind Suzanne's music.

Her words continue to be the "outstretched hand" that we all grasp at times, and it seems like that "hand" helped bring you back to better health and firm footing.

May you always have that—you deserve it, just as we all do.

Much Love and Warm Wishes—
Catherine

---

"If we don't change the direction we are headed,
we will end up where we are going."

—Chinese Proverb

Hi all,

I've just recently 'discovered' Suzanne Vega after stumbling across the marvellously evocative "In Liverpool".

The song has a special resonance for me because it is my home town. Also, I believe I can name the hotel where Suzanne stayed that Sunday all those years ago.

The Atlantic Tower hotel is situated just off the dock road, very near to the Pier Head and opposite St Nicholas church, otherwise known as the Sailors' Church. It is quite large and gothic with a tall tower so I suppose it could be mistaken for a cathedral! More information about the church here: http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Leisure_and_culture/Pa rks_and_recreation/Parks_and_gardens/St_Nicholas_C hurch/index.asp

The hotel is designed to resemble a sail so it is tri-sided. One of the sides has a great view of the River Mersey, particularly the themed suites on the top floor.

I know all this because I used to work there as a hall porter in the 80s.

Another clue is in the line "No traffic on the avenue". The hotel is situated in the business sector of the city so it is very quiet on a Sunday.

Anyway, enough of the detective work!

I just wanted to say I absolutely love this song. I truly believe it to be a work of genius. I dabble in song writing purely for my own pleasure and this song has done more to simultaneously inspire and crush me than anything else I have ever seen or heard before.

Anyway, it has encouraged me to explore Suzanne's work so that has to be a good thing, right?

Cheers.