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From Musician to Mom
An Interview with Suzanne Vega
By Laura Paul
Because of the need to return to her child at home, Vega travels for only a few days at a time before returning. "I know what she is doing every moment of the day," she says. "I know who she is having a play date with and what she is up to. We are planning a birthday party together. We are trying to decide does everyone go to the movies or does this guy 'Reptile Rob' come to the house with his reptiles and tarantulas and stuff?"
Vega has always had the ability to bring out the kind of emotional extremes that characterizes teenage angst. Her song, Left of Center, from the motion picture soundtrack of Pretty in Pink, identified with the heroine played by Molly Ringwald.
Even now, Vega has flashes of Ruby as a teenager. She imagines what is coming when her daughter turns 13 or 14. "I mean, the thing about my daughter is, I know that she is one of these children who regulates themselves from the inside," Vega says. "She has a good sense of balance and that's what I am relying to get us through with the more difficult periods. There are other kids who need to be stopped from the outside. They need to be regulated. They need a lot of rules and they need you to really enforce the rules. And she needs that, too, but she also has an internal sense of rules and what's right for her so I trust that a lot."
Vega's works often centers on social issues. She is one of 16 Grammy Nominees who joined forces for a CD benefiting survivors of domestic violence – Respond II, a two-CD compilation, was released in 2003. Proceeds from the compilation will be donated to RESPOND Inc. and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
"The main thing I've always been concerned about is human rights," she says. "That comes out in the work on child abuse and domestic violence. It's something I've always felt strongly about and that will always be my main concern."