To me this is one of the most mysterious SV songs. Nobody ever talks about it, and I've never been able to put together what it's about.

I had a weird theory for a while that it was about The "Readers Guide to Periodical Literature" as archived in a public library. I guess because the ones I saw always had green covers.

It was the only theory that could tie together "private people in this public place" and "find my name inside that book". Suzanne is in fact in that book... just before Vegatable.

I also used to ponder over possible connections to "Private Goes Public" and "Book of dreams" in which she says "Your [name] is there, my word of honor". Both songs from this same album.

Does anybody know what this song is REALLY supposed to be about?

Suzanne's word from "Open Hand Book";


"Institution Green" could be about a mental institution, going to vote, a police station or waiting to get blood taken in a doctor's office. The context isn't so important. It's whether I hit the emptional bull's-eye that makes a difference to me. The actual events here are a combination of a doctor's office and voting. When I was a kid, I'd go to the clinics with my mother. If you don't have any money, you go to free clinics, which means you wait for hours. And it's all dependent on this one person in charge, who, if she's dropped your card on the floor or she's having a bad day - well, you'll wait forever. It's extremely dehumanizing to feel that you're just one of a million people, and that a lot of people have your last name and no one cares enough to pick you out. That's where the rage comes in. You want to say, "I want to go in now," because you've waited for hours and hours.

Greetz
Spikey

Thank you Rutger! You're the answer man!

I guess that makes me the question man?

I never even heard of "Open Hand Book"!

WELL THEN

you should go to

http://www.vega.net/handbook.htm

and enjoy the explanations of Suzy herself, instead of me quoting her.

Spikeyspike

This is one of those songs that, maybe within 3 or 4 days of hearing it, pops into your head while you're doing something like looking for something in the basement or driving alone at night and watching the road for sudden animals to run across or something like that. You hear "Institution Green... then all the bass riffs that accompany it..kind of like a suspense movie where you're not expecting much suspense.

But just enough to have this song go through your head...and think it's a really good tune to have go through your head at the time.

for me, i like to think its about a mental istitution, because i have been in a few myself and the lyrics discribe it as vividly as i remember it. everything she says in that song, i felt.

I hate it when this song pops up in my discman when I walk in Central Station. Millions of faces passing by, people crawl like ants through a haystack, everything starts to motion slow in the Institution Green. I feel like I'm a chicken among poultry heading for a slaughter house.

That's a disturbing feeling. Now the other they, "another brick in the wall (II)" by Pink Floyd popped up in my discman on Central Station, and it gave me pretty much the same feeling.

Spikey

I like this song a lot. I haven't found "the open hand book" but I certainly heard all of the things she talks about in Spikeys' note from a year ago. I think one of the things that we all Like about Suzanne is that you do have to think about what she means by things. More specifically, what she means may have more than one interpretation (isn't the basis of humor --often the multiple, unexpected interpretation?)

I had this tune stucked in my had waiting in security zone at JFK. Yeah fingerprinting and taking photos afgter 8 hrs on plane !!! could there be posibly something more mean ? Institution green for me is every time I have to deal with US immigration officers.

i agree that institution green is a very mysterious song. whatever the song is about, it has a suspenseful atmosphere created by the music and by some sound efects... in the instant 0:57 you can hear something like a sinister laughter, had you noticed?

here you can find suzanne's explanation to this song:
http://rustedpipe.vega.net/institution_green.htm

Listen for the barking dog near the very end as the song fades...