Suzanne Vega Song Quotations

I refuse to slap some stupid words on the stupid paper just so we have a stupid song finished.

But I never want to get to the point where I write a safe song or one that represents my sense of a subject in order to appear civilized.

I think that if you have a strong narrative, if the idea of the song can be boiled down to the basics, it won't change that much.

It's striking how commercially viable that impulse for instant intimacy is right now, especially in songs and writing.

A lot of my writing is not terribly civilized. Sometimes I listen to songs by very smart writers who assume that the world is a civil place with certain formalities that people follow, but I don't see things that way. My own experience tells me that life is not like that. That's why I write the way I do.