Turn on the radio today and you might hear the familiar hook of Suzanne Vega’s popular ’80s hit “Tom’s Diner,” as rockers Fall Out Boy have sampled it to start their new song, “Centuries.”
Of course, the punk rockers aren’t the first to sample the hypnotic beat of the song as it’s been used by everyone from 2Pac to Aaliyah to Snoop Dogg.
“I love it. It’s really great,” Vega says. “I like Fall Out Boy. I really like the video for ‘Thanks for the Memories,” and I had gone to see Panic at the Disco with my daughter and we saw Pete Wentz walking around the balcony, and it’s exciting that it’s so popular.”
On Sunday, the “Luka” singer will be heading to our area as she plays the Washington Performing Arts Society at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
“I’m on tour with Gerry Leonard. I play acoustic as usual and he plays a number of guitars, he’s really something special,” Vega says. “It’s a combination of old favorites mixed in with the new material.”
That new music she’s referring to comes from “Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles,” Vega’s first new studio album in seven years. Each of the 10 songs featured tells a story that has to do with the material world, the spirit world and how they intersect.
“A lot of my older albums, especially the second one, was about being solitary,” she says. “This album has more of a sense of connectivity, there is a different spirit.”
Reminiscing about her first album, 1985’s critically acclaimed self-titled “Suzanne Vega,” the singer doesn’t consider her sound progressing as much as it is circling around territory that she covers.
“Anytime I make an album, I am always trying to mix up the acoustic guitar with whatever is current with the day and I think that’s true for this album,” Vega says. “It was true for my first album, and has been true of every album since. With this album, I sampled 50 Cent, and so I am both trying to write things that are classic and trying to write things that have a twist to them as well.”
Vega knew early in life that she wanted to be a performer. She wrote her first song at 14 and attended New York’s prestigious High School of Performing Arts. While in college, she played throughout NYC’s Greenwich Village and was signed by A&M Records in 1984.
“When I started, my goals were much shorter. I was always looking to see if over there was better than over here. My first goal was to be able to quit my day job, and that was simple,” she says. “I was rejected for two years by all the major labels and when I signed, suddenly I was selling millions of albums. My career took off so quickly. There was no way to prepare for that success.”
Today, Vega records for her own label, and likes the fact that she doesn’t have industry deadlines, but admits sometimes her self-imposed deadlines can be tough.
“I like the freedom and I am committed to my own career. If I was signed to a major label, I would always wonder how long it would last,” she says. “These days, you make deals yourself, you work yourself and that’s how you get it done. There’s no one to fight with.”
Not that she did much fighting. Vega says she was perfectly happy with her situation and that the changes in the music industry just made this way a life a reality.
“I’ve always been happy with the music I’ve made and felt I had a good relationship with A&M records and had big budgets and could get the producers I wanted, so all was good,” she says. “I do think the music industry was corrupt in the ’80s and rampant and out of control. I wish now that it wasn’t so lean and people would buy CDs. It’s hard for people to make a living and that’s why everyone is out on tour these days.”
