Songwriters on Songwriting: Suzanne Vega

“You’re drawing the listener into this world with very simple, basic information. And it then proceeds to state the problem without ever saying what the problem is.”

I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me to take a year off from pursuing a doctorate and led me down the circuitous path that has been the rest of my life.

I don’t write songs much nowadays, more focused on screenplays and writing about writing, but I can’t help but think at least some of who I am as a writer derives from all that time studying and composing songs.

Which is why I say that one of my favorite ‘screenwriting’ books is “Songwriters on Songwriting,” a collection of interviews by Paul Zollo with some of the great songwriters of our time, from Mose Allison to Frank Zappa. For what are songs but stories?

Each day this week at this time, I will post insights from a songwriter about their craft in the hope their words may inspire us as writers.

Today: Suzanne Vega.

With “Luka,” you had a character in mind?

Yes, but I wasn’t sure what the character would say. I knew what the character’s problem was, but I didn’t know how to get the listener involved. I wanted it to be from the point of view of a person who is abused. Now the problem that that person has is that they can’t say it. So how do you get the problem out if you can’t say it? How do you involved the listener? Well, you introduce yourself: “My name is Luka.” And “I live on the second floor, I live upstairs from you,” and so therefore you’re engaging the listener. “I think you’ve seen me before,” so I start to listen. You’re drawing the listener into this world with very simple, basic information. And it then proceeds to state the problem without ever saying what the problem is. That was my problem as a songwriter: How do I give this information without ever giving it?

It’s easy to point a finger. It’s easy to say, “Child abuse must stop,” and everybody knows this.

And so much tension is created with the line “just don’t ask me what it was,” that this person is holding a lot inside, and doesn’t want to talk about it.

Or can’t talk about it.

It’s a technique that Randy Newman often uses, though few others do, of using a character to make a point by what he doesn’t say.

Yeah. The listener has to work a lot. It’s true. There’s no getting around that.

There’s a lot here:

• Notice she started with a character, but did not know what the character would say. This speaks to something I posted before: Believing is seeing. That is, if you believe your characters exist and get to know them, you will see them… or in the case of “Luka,” hear them.
• The character’s problem is not only the abuse, but the fact “they can’t say it.” This reminds us to explore not only conflict between characters, but inner conflict as well, to delve into our characters and see what they are hiding, repressing, or avoiding. This opens a window into their psyche and can provide rich narrative material to explore.
• “You’re drawing the listener into this world.” As screenwriters, we have a similar goal — to create some sort of connection between our story universe and its characters, and the script reader. Almost invariably we accomplish this through the characters we craft and the circumstances into which they become enmeshed.
• With the character not saying everything and withholding key information, we are in effect using silent subtext. And while that doesn’t lay everything on the line, it can actually engage the script reader as an active participant in the story. As Vega says: “The listener [reader] has to work a lot.” This can be a good thing.

Here is Suzanne Vega performing “Luka”:

How about you? Any favorite Suzanne Vega songs? Any lessons here about starting your writing process with characters?

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For more of the Songwriters On Songwriting series, go here.