My name is Vega

Suzanne Vega is probably best known for Luka which was her most successful composition. However I have a special preference for Tom’s Diner.

The diner in question actually exists, but is called Tom’s Restaurant and is located in New York City. It has also featured in the American sitcom Seinfeld.

I open
Up the paper
There’s a story
Of an actor

Who had died
While he was drinking
It was no one
I had heard of

Apparently these lyrics were used to date the composition of the song pretty accurately to 18 November 1981. The death was that of actor William Holden who suffered a fall after drinking excessively. Strange though that Vega had never heard of him prior to that.

Another interesting snippet about Tom’s Diner is that it was used by Karlheinz Brandenburg to develop the MP3 audio compression technique. Vega has since informally been known as the “Mother of the MP3.”