Chords for Suzanne Vega - Luka: The Story Behind The Song

_ [B] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[C#] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
[G#m] Luca was [B] a big hit in [F#] 1987 and [D#] it's probably my most [F#] well-known song [C#]
and
it's [B] about a boy named Luca [C#] who was abused by his [B] parents and [C#] most people
want to know was there a real Luca and yes there was he lived upstairs for me
but he himself was not abused [B] by his parents.
[C#] _ _
_ _ This one I remember thinking no
this can't be a single because of its [Bm] subject matter which is kind of I think
[C#] unusual for sort of top ten [D#m] type songs.
_ _ [C#]
Well the subject [D#m] it's it's a song
written through the eyes of a nine [C#]-year-old boy who [F#] if you kind of
read between the lines of the [C#] songs you song you find out [F#] that _ he's [C#]
abused
basically.
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [C#]
So yeah but again you have to listen to it carefully and you have to
kind of fill in the blanks it's not graphic it's not it's [G#] not like Hell is
for children you can kind of [C#] have that.
Sorry you know it's not like not [F#] like
that I didn't want it to be anthemic [C#] or kind of [B] it's not a song about an issue
it's a song about a [C#] kid.
For me there's a difference.
_ [D#m] _ _ [C#] So I _ I [D#m] think I still think
it's a very strange [C#] single.
I'll be if it does go top ten [B] I'll be very surprised
_ _ [C#] _
_ you know [F#] I I think I don't know what [C#] we'll see what happens.
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [C#]
Actually the one
comment that I've heard a lot from them is that _ the version on the album is
rather [F#] produced I mean it's very it's probably the [C#] hardest hitting song [F#] _ on the
album except for [C#] maybe Solitude Standing which is also pretty [F#] strong.
_ _ _ [C#]
I used to
sing it [F#] by myself which also has its own appeal [C#] you know that to have the
single the [B] solitary voice and guitar it's also [C#] very affecting in a way.
_ [F#] _ So
they some of [C#] them said that they like it better the simpler [F#] version without
[C#] everybody playing on it.
But _ [D#m] it's a song you couldn't really go halfway [C#] with.
It's like
either you do it alone or you do it [D#m] with everybody and so we chose [C#] to go with
everybody.
_ [B] Sometimes I'll create a character and the obvious [C#] example I guess
is Luca which [B] was written from the point of view of a nine [F#]-year-old boy [D#] who was
abused by his parents.
[B] _ _ And the thing [C#] is I mean [F#] in that particular case there [C#] was a
problem because there was a boy in my [B] building named Luca [G#] who lived upstairs
for me who was not [F#] abused _ at [C#] all and I never [F#] expected the song to become
popular so it never [C#] occurred to me to he was [D#m] nine and I think I met [C#] him this is
confidential [D#m] yeah _ _ _ [D#]
because he had the same last name [B] _ his name was Luca Vega
[C#] and I had received his junior scholastics [F#] so _ he [C#] rang my buzzer one day
and I and I [B] opened the door and I said oh you're Luca Vega and I [C#] said my name
is Suzanne Vega and we have [D#m] the same last [D#] name and he looked at me like yeah big [C#] deal.
I need to go upstairs and use the [D#m] bathroom.
So that was [C#] really the only time I ever spoke to him.
But [F#] after the song became popular [C#] I heard from my old roommate who said that he [B] had come back [C#] _
to my old apartment [B] with a girl when I guess [C#] he must have been 15 or 16 by the time the song was really big.
_ And he asked my roommate he said would you please tell this girl that Suzanne Vega really did live here.
[F#] _ _ So he did know that I lived downstairs and he was not [F#] he was not getting some traumatized by it.
He was using it [C#] to get girlfriends.
[D#m] _ _ _ _ [C#] I remember sitting down writing the whole song in about two hours [B] and thinking to [C#] myself I don't think the record company is going to like this one you know thinking _ even if they understand what [F#m] it's about they're not going [D#m] to like the subject.
I [C#] _ _ _ _ [D#m] _ _
got [C#] thousands of letters people [G#] telling me about their own experiences when they were children.
All different kinds of people men women some were well spoken some were not well spoken.
Some were some were written like on [F] napkins or pieces of paper [G] and others were written on beautiful elegant [G#] stationery.
But all of them telling me about their own experiences that they had as children or as adults.
[F#] _ _
_ So this [D#] made me feel that I had an effect in the world which [C#] _ was [B] a very strange feeling because [C#] I had written it in a very solitary house all by myself in my [F#] room not knowing if it was going to come out [C#] how it was going to come out.
And I [B] felt _ _ [C#] glad that I was able to have [F#] some kind of effect.
[D#] Yes I'm comfortable with being remembered for Luca and [B] Tom's Diner.
I feel that they are [C#] smart songs and especially Luca I felt was a really important song for me in my own life.
_ _ [G#]
I'm happy that people are familiar with the other things as well like Cracking [D#m] and The Queen and the Soldier but I think that to [D#] be remembered for Luca is not a bad [D#m] thing.
_ _ [C#] And I'm glad that it was that song [F#] instead of like the Rent song or some [C#] horrible song that I wrote for my early [F#] 20s.
_ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ [N] _