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Suzanne Vega — Songs in Red & Gray
Album: Songs In Red & Gray
Avg rating:
7.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1100









Released: 2001
Length: 4:13
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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The reproach in your daughter's most beautiful face
made me wonder just how she could know
of that something that happened between you and me
so much more than a long time ago

Her mother, I can see, lives within her still
cause she looked at me with her eyes
though I had only just met her right then
I feel that she peeled back my guilty disguise

Did i break the thread, or did you break the thread?
well at this point we could ask who cares
as for the promises broken and frayed
it's 19 years late for repairs

The grey pewter vase held the deep red rose,
one piece of coral shone white,
by the brass candlestick near your red velvet coat,
is everything I can recall of one night

Will you please tell me why I remember these things
after all of this time, I don't know
i must have left all those feelings inside
cause that year I had no courage to show

Was i the name you could never pronounce?
or did i even figure at all?
all of this happened before she was born
did i shadow her young pencil marks on the wall

Still i am sure i was only but one
of a number who darkened that door
of your home and your hearth and your family and wife
who'd been darkened so often before

Oh, the red leaf looks to the hard gray stone
to each other, they know what they mean
somewhere, their future is still yet to come
in ways that are yet as of now unforeseen
Comments (61)add comment
Up there in the top 10 female singer songwriters.
Posted 8 months ago by Devaplan    [ Reply ]
Ya know...she's been pumping out very good, provocative music for 37 years. 

That's approaching  Dylan and Van status.  
Posted 2 years ago by idiot_wind    [ Reply ]
My dyslexia kicked in and I saw "Songs in Red Gravy".
Posted 2 years ago by stegokitty    [ Reply ]
The entire album is amazing. 
Posted 3 years ago by jmkate    [ Reply ]
 hippiechick wrote:

This song is about meeting her lover's wife, after many years. You can feel the feelings in her words and music.


At least meeting the daughter of a man who was born after she had a one night stand with him 19 years prior.  The man was also frequently unfaithful to his wife back in that day.
Posted 3 years ago by the_jake    [ Reply ]
No comments in 2 years? I consider this her most profound album. First encountered on RP. And this piece always causes me to pause. And to write comments, sometimes.
Posted 3 years ago by bam23    [ Reply ]
such
beauty
in such an animal
as
we
{#Heartkiss}
Posted 6 years ago by DocStrangelove    [ Reply ]
OK red and grey is an interesting concept that allows surprising depth.  Very human.  I want to hear more. 
Posted 6 years ago by dziebell    [ Reply ]
Best track on her best album, I think.
Posted 6 years ago by Lyndont    [ Reply ]
The lyrics tell the story deeply and well.  Makes up for too many shallow lines and badly written songs. Thank you, Ms Vega.
Posted 7 years ago by LizK    [ Reply ]
fabulous song from a remarkable album.. {#Cheers}
Posted 10 years ago by moodfood    [ Reply ]
I'm amazed and so glad to see that a lot of people here love this song and the whole album.
It came out when you still could listen to new records/CDs/albums in stores (another time, another space) before buying them... and I very rarely actually bought new albums at the time.
But I listened to the two first songs and bought it right away. And boy didn't I regret it.
My personal favorite from it remains "Maggie May".

Judging from the relatively few comments, songs from "Songs from(!) red and grey" don't get a lot of airplay here.
Bill reigns on this marvelleous radio he created - still, I'll keep hoping he gives this album more room...

The mere fact it gets played at all is just one more testimony to how much RP's DNA is overlapping with mine
Posted 10 years ago by fedtho    [ Reply ]
Brilliant
Posted 11 years ago by ziakut    [ Reply ]
The track "Soap and Water" from this effort is stunning...
Posted 11 years ago by tulfan    [ Reply ]
 gjeeg wrote:
omg.
This is about the most haunting song I have heard in years.
Reading the lyrics afterward, I get the chills.
 
me too
Posted 12 years ago by gillespp    [ Reply ]
 bitbanger wrote:


What a great comment. Right on the mark!
 



Heartbreaking yes. But the love goes on unbroken in this music as it is in my soul.
Posted 12 years ago by Kimberly8    [ Reply ]
"Cause she looked at me with her eyes"

... as opposed to her ears? 
Posted 13 years ago by Papernapkin    [ Reply ]
 dogpound wrote:
listening to her is like failing in love and having your heart broken at the same time
 

What a great comment. Right on the mark!
Posted 13 years ago by bitbanger    [ Reply ]
 dogpound wrote:
listening to her is like failing in love and having your heart broken at the same time
 
wow, I can't believe I wrote that. How my life has changed since.
Posted 13 years ago by dogpound    [ Reply ]
omg.
This is about the most haunting song I have heard in years.
Reading the lyrics afterward, I get the chills.
Posted 15 years ago by gjeeg    [ Reply ]
Somewhere their future is still yet to come
in ways that are yet as of now unforseen.

Classic SV. Awesome! 
Posted 15 years ago by kyleminor    [ Reply ]
Its the daughter of that wife she meets ("her mother's eyes live within her still", the wife is dead now).  Its a song of guilt for the affair... No one found out, no one ever knew, but she feels guilt over the act and wonders wether he feels the guilt she feels over this... she suspects he doesn't.  All this I think I get.  The verse I don't get is this one:

And the red leaf it looks to the hard gray stone
To each other, they know what they mean
Somewhere, their future is still yet to come
In ways that are yet as of now unforeseen 

Somehow I think she's the leaf and he's the hard gray stone... but... not sure.  I always love her imagery. 

 hippiechick wrote:
This song is about meeting her lover's wife, after many years. You can feel the feelings in her words and music.
 

Posted 15 years ago by greyfin10    [ Reply ]
 dogpound wrote:
listening to her is like failing in love and having your heart broken at the same time
 
she smirked goodbye as she sealed me in the vault

Posted 15 years ago by gutboy    [ Reply ]
Clicking " < click for info & purchase > " now.

awesome

Posted 15 years ago by TheKing2    [ Reply ]
 dogpound wrote:
listening to her is like failing in love and having your heart broken at the same time
 

What a wonderful description - I love it.
Posted 16 years ago by MrKite    [ Reply ]
odd style   -   8.
Posted 16 years ago by calypsus_1    [ Reply ]
radiojunkie wrote:
Suzanne Vega can do no wrong in my book.
Nor in mine.
Posted 17 years ago by nigelr    [ Reply ]
listening to her is like failing in love and having your heart broken at the same time
Posted 17 years ago by dogpound    [ Reply ]
This song is about meeting her lover's wife, after many years. You can feel the feelings in her words and music.
Posted 17 years ago by hippiechick    [ Reply ]
pretty
Posted 17 years ago by bobbyghanouj    [ Reply ]
brandog wrote:
I'm just saying that the negativity that bears such fruit gets tiring after awhile. It sucks to see the poet slowly die, alone, in the rain, of her own free will. Suzanne, on the other hand, seems to be in the same old rut of loss and less.
Obviously, I can relate heart and soul to this.. Edit:How can you say to see her die slowly? This CD is a masterpiece of her experience at the time!
Posted 17 years ago by Shesdifferent    [ Reply ]
Footbiscuit wrote:
She's playing in Prague tonight and I'm dog-sitting... oops. Ah well, she's been here twice this year, but it's nice little theatre she's playing in. Maybe next year.
I can't convey the envy. Oh how I miss Praha.
Posted 17 years ago by okobojicat    [ Reply ]
Ah, poetry in motion! excellent stuff!
Posted 17 years ago by Mari    [ Reply ]
This song is pure Vega all the way. The final lines are my favorite: "Somewhere, their future is still yet to come/ in ways that are yet, as of now, unforeseen." Who else could write a lyric like that?
Posted 17 years ago by kyleminor    [ Reply ]
Shesdifferent wrote:
However, Alanis did what all of two albums and now she is doing Jagged Little Pill Unplugged 10 years later? Come on....I don't consider that growing away from it. That's more like creative crash with no burn.
...I have agree whole-heatedly with that Alanis is in the category of industry created caricature (with IMHO no great talent to speak of) where-as Vega is at least a bonafide artist exploring and writing and performing and still occasionally producing great work.
Posted 17 years ago by go_ski_mully    [ Reply ]
She's playing in Prague tonight and I'm dog-sitting... oops. Ah well, she's been here twice this year, but it's nice little theatre she's playing in. Maybe next year.
Posted 18 years ago by Footbiscuit    [ Reply ]
Top of the mark for this song....she's brilliant
Posted 18 years ago by Shesdifferent    [ Reply ]
I knew that this was her the moment I first heard the song, right away and sounds very excellent.
Posted 18 years ago by kgish    [ Reply ]
A bit too annoyingly Sean Colvin.
Posted 18 years ago by kilroyjoe3    [ Reply ]
This song always moves me, even if I don't listen to the words. SV is a real poet.
Posted 18 years ago by hippiechick    [ Reply ]
I don't get the people complaining that Suzanne's always gloomy - did you listen to "Nine Objects Of Desire"? There's plenty of sweet and non-gloomy music on that one. And after a messy divorce I think she can be forgiven for some angst and gloom. :P
Posted 18 years ago by Sarcasm-hime    [ Reply ]
This is the most poetic description of the feelings of "the other woman" that I've ever heard. The line about being a shadow of the child's writing on the wall...damn. Garrison Keillor would do well to read this stuff instead of poems about garden hoses on his Writer's Almanac.
Posted 18 years ago by crockydile    [ Reply ]
Posted 18 years ago by Danny_G    [ Reply ]
Posted 19 years ago by nohopenofearnoname    [ Reply ]
Roverfish wrote:
Likeable tune, and the album is probably her best work since Solitude Standing. P.S. I see no comparison to Alanis. Suzanne's a legitimate singer song-writer.
Exactly right.
Posted 19 years ago by veegez    [ Reply ]
I like it. Very recognizable. Don't know weather I like her early works better or her later stuff. In the early days it was realy new, now it is comfortable.
Posted 19 years ago by Tux    [ Reply ]
Phew..all very profound.. Can I just say... I like it? :nodhead:
Posted 19 years ago by Huey    [ Reply ]
Good discussion. Interesting note: Mitchell Froom, the ex-hubby who ran off with Vonda Shepard, not only produced Suzanne on 99.9'F and Nine Objects but also Crowded House (Neil Finn follows this tune). This album marked her first original work post-divorce and a number of other personal changes/events. As to the gloomy music, she was a folk-influenced singer with an urban upbringing who saw Lou Reed in concert and knew that's what she wanted to do. I don't think it's so much that she flew the red flag of fatalism or self-pity as she wrote songs about tragic subjects (e.g. "Luka" about child abuse). Don't shoot the messenger. Likeable tune, and the album is probably her best work since Solitude Standing. P.S. I see no comparison to Alanis. Suzanne's a legitimate singer song-writer.
Posted 19 years ago by Roverfish    [ Reply ]
brandog wrote:
I'm just saying that the negativity that bears such fruit gets tiring after awhile. It sucks to see the poet slowly die, alone, in the rain, of her own free will. I'll go out on a limb here and compare Suzanne to Alanis Morisette in that Alanis' earlier writing was pretty sad and or angry, but she grew up, got therapy, smoked pot, whatever, and grew from it. Suzanne, on the other hand, seems to be in the same old rut of loss and less. I am lamenting this for her sake - a bit of compassion for a beautiful human spirit and an artist I deeply respect.
Well, I understand your point but I don't really see it as negativity, I see it as observance, and introspection in relevance to understanding. That's sort of what poets do, they suffer a bit because they see through things. As for Alanis, she was great when she was angry and it fueled her creativity, much like Fiona Apple. However, Alanis did what all of two albums and now she is doing Jagged Little Pill Unplugged 10 years later? Come on....I don't consider that growing away from it. That's more like creative crash with no burn.
Posted 19 years ago by Shesdifferent    [ Reply ]
brandog wrote:
I've always thought Suzanne a wonderful performer / songwriter. I would probably have fallen in love with her if the red flags of despair and self-martyrdom did not fly so high through her lyrics - besides, she sounds like she's still complaining, 15 years, and she's no less unsatisfied... Poor Suzanne.
Well if you had listened to this album it appears to be about the break up of her marriage-a complaint worth hearing in such poetic and wonderful melodies in my opinion!!!!!!! radiojunkie wrote:
Suzanne Vega can do no wrong in my book.
I whole heartedly agree!! This CD that this song comes from is a masterpiece!
Posted 19 years ago by Shesdifferent    [ Reply ]
Suzanne Vega can do no wrong in my book.
Posted 19 years ago by radiojunkie    [ Reply ]
Thanks RP to help me discovering Suzanne Vega... Now, I'm fan !
Posted 19 years ago by davveld    [ Reply ]
brandog wrote:
I've always thought Suzanne a wonderful performer / songwriter. I would probably have fallen in love with her if the red flags of despair and self-martyrdom did not fly so high through her lyrics - besides, she sounds like she's still complaining, 15 years, and she's no less unsatisfied... Poor Suzanne.
:-({|= :-({|=
Posted 19 years ago by ironlung    [ Reply ]
great imagery in this song
Posted 20 years ago by B-dub    [ Reply ]
Pretty vocals, but too damn gloomy. And I'd probably like it more if it didn't remind me of the sadder aspects of a past relationship. :(
Posted 20 years ago by Alexandra    [ Reply ]
jdorn1 wrote:
Thanks for playing this. This eminds me what a great songwriter she is and what a smooth voice she has!
Great song, it really Wowed me
Posted 20 years ago by masterhead    [ Reply ]
I used to listen to Suzanne Vega a lot, but haven't lately. This has prompted me to pull out a CD or two again. Sweet.
Posted 20 years ago by Dais    [ Reply ]
Thanks for playing this. This eminds me what a great songwriter she is and what a smooth voice she has!
Posted 20 years ago by jdorn1    [ Reply ]
Sweet tune, but maybe not among the best on this excellent disk.
Posted 20 years ago by rulebritannia    [ Reply ]