submissions
| Suzanne Vega – Caramel Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I agree that this is more about self-preservation. It’s that mental conversation some women have when they physically want a man, when the chemistry is so strong, but they know the object of their passion is unavailable (married/committed), and for purposes of self-preservation, they deny temptation because “a single bite” will just not do, especially when the relationship “could never burn true.” |
submissions
| Suzanne Vega – Calypso Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I was visiting Rome the year "solitude standing" was first releasead, "Luka" was the hit, and Vega began touring. While walking through the Sistine Chapel with some friends, a group of guys approached us and we struck up a conversation. They were a mix of bandmates and soundguys touring with Suzanne, and they invited us to her show that night with guest passes. I was able to sit beside one of the soundguys for the duration of the show. All this background to share this: I had not heard Calypso until this concert. When she began playing the song, the soundguy volunteered, "this song was written from the perspective of Calypso" because Suzanne felt that the poems in the Odyssey always reflected the male point of view, and not the women, and she wanted to represent how the woman, in this case Calypso, might have felt. There you have it from the horse's mouth. This song-that night- sparked in me a subsequent passion for mythology. While we can interpret it for our own needs, in this case I know the intent of Vega matches up exactly with "kezz's" input. I'll add that while studying the Odyssey in college, my mythology professor added that while keeping Odysseus captive all those years, her last desperate attempt to keep him on the island was by changing herself into the image of Penelope, the beloved wife Odysseus pined for. Yet, this too failed, and that is when in her heart Calypso knew she had to "let him go." |
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