THE STORY OF A SONG: Suzanne Vega - "Tom’s Diner"

New York City–based poet-turned-folk singer Suzanne Vega made a huge impact with her 1987 album Solitude Standing, above all for its mesmerizing hit single Luka.
Her poetic gift for elevating careful narrative observation into art showed another side with Tom’s Diner, which she recorded with no instrumental accompaniment whatever.
Her tale of the comings and goings at Tom’s Restaurant in New York was given a new twist when two British DJs attached Vega’s vocal to a dance beat by the group Soul II Soul.
Initially released without authorization on plain white labels, when the record began catching on with disk jockeys, Vega gave permission for the single to be officially issued on her label, A&M, and it became a delightfully unconventional smash. The record’s success encouraged Vega to weave elements of jazz and techno into her always original brand of folk-rock.