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Suzanne Vega on the Best and Weirdest Moments of Her Career
Plus: When she flaked on Prince.
A leader of the ’80s folk revival, Vega brought to the scene a journalistic eye and a flaneur’s disposition, keenly observing her surroundings and distilling them into song with clean precision. Though it contains her usual bedrock of austere folk, this time the music comes ornamented by unlikely flourishes of soul, post-rock, and prog, which add an ironic depth to Vega’s lyrics about the unraveling of democracy and the rats of New York City. The one I liked best was this woman named Nikki D, who did a version called “ Daddy’s Little Girl.” I also went back and listened to Tupac’s “ Dope Fiends Diner ” recently, which was kind of interesting to see now in the fullness of history.
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