When I first heard "Casual Match", I was actually thinking of "match" in terms of a couple, and the "very dry field" representing a geographical area with limited prospects for a man and a woman who are looking for the right partner. "What could be the season's yield?" could be like saying "Hey, it's just you and me on a desert island - what do you think will happen?"

Then, of course, the "fire and ash" representing the relationship gone sour because of a union of convenience only. The two were not really right for each other, and as a result, the relationship ends in disaster (hence "fire and ash").

I guess this comes from being in a "dry field" 15 years ago in Potsdam, NY when I was in college. At the time, I think they said my college was like 83% male, 17 % female, and there really wasn't much to choose from.

And now, of course, there's something called "the internet". So you can find practically anything anywhere.

WFOX

I also thought of the phrase "casual match" in terms of a couple-- perhaps a blind date of sorts. It wasn't until I heard some of the discussion on the Undertow that I started to see the fire imagery. "Match" as a firestarter hadn't even entered my mind up to that point.

But that's why I love it. There's this doublt meaning between the very literal narrative of a match casually discarded and setting a field alight. There's also the more subtle content about a relationship.

Guess what...I've just thought about the match-firestarter idea now for the first time!!! Well, I guess late is better than never....and thanks for highlightening it! I had noticed the fire imagery and some of the double meaning in "couple-fire-field", and I love that song for this too, but now also the title thing ! Soooo interesting and beautiful and challenging!

Miki

"...these words are too solid they don't move fast enough to catch the blur in the brain..."

Hi -

Here's what Suzanne said about "Casual Match" in an interview:

Q: "Casual Match." That's the kind of a match that you strike?

Suzanne: It's the match that you strike. The metaphor is a field and if you throw a match into it casually, then everything goes up in flames. But it's also casual match as in a match that's sort of about a fling that doesn't turn out well.

Of the 9 objects in "Nine Objects of Desire" three were men, and this song was inspired by one of the three men.

Eric

This song was once my inner "theme-song" to a break-up with a short-term girlfriend. As if the song was written for this.

Like phoenix from the ashes, this girl introduced me to my next gf, now-wife. :-)

Erik

I always thought of the "fire and ash" results being a reference to a lot of cigs being smoked between the couple as they got to know each other. In the end all that comes of the meeting are ash trays full of old butts. The "eyes have gone to coal" I always pictured being runny make-up as the woman cries in that moment when the heat of love became the chill of doubt. Of course the man appears unconcerned "it's nothing I would be concerned about" and just "observes" the moment. I always understood this song to be about a potential romance that gets ruined before it ever really begins thanks to some grave misunderstanding... like they fail to communicate their feelings to one another and play some game of veiled innuendo that just train wrecks when the right signals are received the wrong way.

The way Suzanne Vega uses the 'match' metaphor, to me, encapsulates the beauty and the skill of her poetry. With every song, you embark on a specific story but this story, multi-layered, always contains a universal/human truth. Her chronicles carefully leave some details out so that you can bring your own food to the table - your imagination and your experience. I guess this play on light and shadow and the choice of subject, the apparent one and the more hidden, explain why many people have said that her songs are emotionally engaging.

It's true she leaves out enough to give your imagination room to play... but the thing about Suzanne is that she always seems to leave "in" one or two little stumbling blocks.

The imagery of the lyrics reminds me of Paddy McAloon's 'Cornfield Ablaze', from the last Sprouts album.