Editing Suzanne Vega (section)

== Songwriting ==
At the age of nine she began to write poetry. She was encouraged to do so by her stepfather.<ref name="sodajerker"/> It took her three years to write her first song, "Brother Mine", which was finished at the age of 14.<ref name="americansongwriter">{{cite interview |url=http://americansongwriter.com/2012/10/suzanne-vega/ |title=Suzanne Vega |date=October 1, 2012 |access-date=October 18, 2016 |last=Vega |first=Suzanne |interviewer=Schlansky, Evan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019074932/http://americansongwriter.com/2012/10/suzanne-vega/ |archive-date=October 19, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was first published on ''[[Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family]]'' (2012), along with her other early song, "The Silver Lady".<ref name="sodajerker">{{cite web |url=http://www.sodajerker.com/episode-49-suzanne-vega/ |title=Episode 49 – Suzanne Vega |publisher=Sodajerker |date=November 27, 2013 |access-date=October 18, 2016 |last1=Barber |first1=Simon |last2=O'Connor |first2=Brian}}</ref>

Vega has not learned to read musical notation; she sees the melody as a shape and chords as colors. She focuses on lyrics and melodic ideas; for advanced features – like intros or [[Bridge (music)|bridges]] – she relies on other artists with whom she works.<ref name="sodajerker"/> Most of her albums, except the first one, were made in such cooperation.<ref name="slugmag">{{cite web |url=http://www.slugmag.com/music-features/a-melody-a-chord-a-lyric-a-conversation-with-suzanne-vega/ |title=A Melody – A Chord – A Lyric: A Conversation with Suzanne Vega |publisher=SLUG Magazine |date=March 17, 2015 |access-date=August 2, 2016 |author=O Hillis, Dean}}</ref>

Vega finishes 80% of the songs she starts writing.<ref name="americansongwriter"/> She got the melody of "Tom's Diner" while walking down Broadway in New York. She was thinking of [[French New Wave]] films.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99PhzEIWuA | title=Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner &#124; Het verhaal achter het nummer | website=[[YouTube]] | date=July 23, 2020 }}</ref>

The most important artistic influences on her work come from [[Lou Reed]], [[Bob Dylan]] and [[Leonard Cohen]]. Some other important artists for her are [[Paul Simon]] and [[Laura Nyro]].<ref name="americansongwriter"/>