I think this has to be my favorite song. My alter ego, human radio station WFOX, would certainly have this as a #1 hit on the charts for a long time. The fact that you don't hear this song on the radio just goes to show how clueless today's radio is when it comes to good music.
With Suzanne analogizing between relationships and ships/harbors in this song and in Widow's Walk, I'd probably play them back-to-back on a "2 for Tuesday".
Considering my next 3 favorite SV songs are Widow's Walk, World Before Columbus, and Wooden Horse, it's amazing that "Harbor Song" doesn't start with "W".}

After listening to this song again for the umpteenth time, I want to put a band together, comprised of the following:

Neil Young, vocals, acoustic, electric guitars, harmonica, whatever else he wants to play
Suzanne vega, vocals, acoustic guitar
Jorma Kaukonen, vocals, all kinds of guitars
Jack Casady, bass
Ginger Baker, drums
(and maybe me on background vocals and homemade percussion).

But I have no way of consummating this}. Sh*t.

I think this song has a great jazz vibe to it. I can just see Suzanne singing this as part of a trio in a small jazz club! Does Mike V play the big upright bass?

my interpretation of this song is very touching. i was listening to "songs of red & gray..." around the time when my mother passed away.
this song always brings tears to my eyes....the words "thats when i know i'm longing for you...thats when i know your longing for me" & " you were layed out, on your final day....i stood in line to see that beautiful face once more....that had been so dear to me. i kissed you as you lay, and looked to dear to me, i kissed you as you lay"

Douglas,

Sharing your thoughts on this song, in particular, struck me. To be quite honest, when I first heard it, I was ambivalent, and moved on.

There's something that happens for me with new CD's—I find myself drawn to certain songs that take hold to the point where I can't fully listen to the rest in their entirety, and therefore, miss out on things until I am ready for them. Sometimes this takes years—then, like an unfound treasure, they breathe new life into something I've had for a long time.

This one came to me late—but, when it did, it was the words that you've posted which reeled me in. I continue to listen to it to this day. I'm not drawn to the 'relationship' factor of the song, as much as I am the sense of "longing, loss, remembrance"—which, you have gracefully pointed out, reminding us that feelings are interchangable, depending on their personal meaning to you.

Loss of a mother is one of the most significant I can think of—while late, my thoughts and condolences are with you. For myself, in this same context, they serve as a hazy memory that is somehow sad and comforting at the same time; it will be 22 years this October when my own mother passed away. Some memories linger forever...

My Best—Catherine
* William—I happen to love those same "W"'s, too!

---

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

—Chinese Proverb

i have a similar experience with the song "blood sings". i've always connected it with the death of my father and then my uncle. at their heart, "harbor song" and "blood sings" are linked through the feeling of recognition of someone who is gone but there at the same time, within us and through us. this feeling of sensing loss and presence and giving it a voice is at the core of the blues and this is what "harbor song" has always been to me: a blues.

in this foreign time when all words
waver, the body stretches itself like a
sail in a harbor of memories. and its
history lives within and through its skin,
in song and in cry, in recognition of
a voice and a story like its own:
home.

---

chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance

Fátima,
(just arrived from
http://www.suzannevega.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi ?126/4073)

I wonder how few people have written in here.
I overlooked this song almost completely, until yesterday.
At the moment the only thing I can say, it doesn't work on me at a personal level.

I see her, the protagonist, from a distance.
Question is, where would she go from there?
Does she become the one who
Feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China?
Gets you on her wavelength
And lets the river answer

And to avoid saying more stupid things I’ll regret very soon
I better speak when the words have grown.
Please give me time

-klaus

klaus, all i wanted to point out to you, on the other thread and on this one as well, is that i too hear this song as a blues (and not just this one but this one in particular). that was essentially it.

what a song does for you, how it grows with and within you, how you make it yours, how the song lets you inside it, is for you both to discover. by both i mean you and the song, literally, because it's a give and take situation and a very personal one. and time is of great and, at the same time, of very little importance, since it's the journey of discovery that's important. so just sail on.

---

chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance

I think, „Harbor Song” is very personal. Longing is the first feeling I can see in it. What struck me is that there are so few external objects or interactions with outer world. All is happening in one’s head. It is untypical of Suzanne, because there is always some pointing out at some kind of relation to outer world or other people deeds. To quote a few from “Songs” – “Now what would you have me do”, We watch the wind and set the sail”, The face you see in light of day”, “She made me a doll”, “For your approval”. It is always the second perspective. Not here. Here is only description of one’s feelings or behavior.

I really appreciate your memories about beloved who passed away while listening to this song. My experience is different in that matter. I understand the final day and being laid out, but I always remember that “I saw you in my mind’s eye” .It happened to me sometimes that I am trying to imagine people (not excluding myself) who I look at how they will look on that final day. It brings me pain even scares that everyone will pass away one day. This is the core of longing when we have to say goodbye forever. This is a “final” longing. That’s true. Longing as much that someone’s death appeared to us.

Harbor and shipyards in that song mean to me arrival and departure like ships bringing people and taking them away.

Anna

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

As i got something in my head to post, i see that i was the one who initiated this thread 5 years ago.

And the song still stays with me.

Only this time, i have this movie concept. Where i own a house on the beach or the sea & so i must have some sort of fishing or coast related job. Maybe as a first mate who bates hooks for stripe bass deep sea fishing for example. And this woman who is escaping a bad life or situation knocks on my door & expresses a desperate need to stay with me.

During this, the woman develops a passion for this mystery man who was kind enough to take her in, & she is intrigued by his mystery & drawn by his kindness. Especially because he demonstrates reserve & doesn't try to sexually go after her right away, despite him obviously being a man's man (definitely not gay) & being single.

Then eventually there comes a point where she is drawn to his sense of mystique & maturity (because he hasn't gotten aggressive with her or taken advantage of her & yet demonstrates a manly focus toward a manly job), & he senses that she needs to be sexually satisfied so that she can move on with her life (& thus move out from his shore home).

But they don't stay together after the few successive sexual encounters. Maybe he learns through this experience that he needs, or is better to have,  a woman to help him along (just not this woman). And she finally learns to move on strong with her life, & just close the film with a promising indication that that's what will happen. Then leave the rest open.

So if i get the academy award, i'd be like "First off, i'd like to thank Suzanne Vega for writing such a beautiful song that would not only inspire, but somehow stay with me & inspire ideas for years afterward, despite all the other great songs i've been exposed to during the same period of time."

 Then i'd be like "Well this was a role i really wanted because i wanted to try a role where i helped out a desperate woman who was turned on to me that my real life horniness wouldn't preclude what was happening` in the moment. Yet there was mutual gain, in terms of not only instant gratuity, but development to move on & progress, 

r