Songoftheday 7/10/15 - I think it's 'cause I'm clumsy I try not to talk too loud, maybe it's because I'm crazy I try not to act too proud...

"Luka" - Suzanne Vega
from the album Solitude Standing (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's SOTD comes from Suzanne Vega, a folk-rock singer/songwriter from California that grew up in New York City, where she attended the school for the arts. After playing the club circuit, Suzanne released her debut album in 1984, which got first big attention in England, sending the single "Marlene On The Wall" to #32 on the UK pop chart and #9 in Ireland. The following year she nabbed a spot on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack with her classic "Left Of Center", which also made the top-40 in the UK and was played on American college rock stations.

Vega released her sophomore album Solitude Standing in 1987. The first single in America, "Luka", stood far away from the usual pop music fare, dealing with the stark reality of child abuse, and society's reluctance to get involved. Amidst the jangly guitars was the most heartbreaking of stories to be told by music that year...

"Luka" defied the odds and climbed all the way to #3 on the American pop chart in August of 1987. The single also did the same on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio list, reached #15 on their Mainstream Rock chart, and even crossed over to the Latin Songs list at #48. Internationally, the record went top-10 in Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Austria, while stopping at #23 in Britain.

While Suzanne's next single, the sonically riveting "Solitude Standing", would only scrape the pop chart at #94, though in 1990 a remix of another song from the album, "Tom's Diner" with DNA, would return her to the top of the pops at #5.

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Here's Suzanne performing "Luka" at the Grammys, where it was nominated for Record and Song of the Year as well as Female Pop Performance...

...and her performing the song on Letterman in 1987...

Live again in Europe in 2010...

On Suzanne's 2014 album Queen Of Pentacles, she revisited the "Luka" story in the mind of the titular character several years in the future, as "Song of the Stoic"...

Up tomorrow: An international star hooks up with Reggie for a fiery hit.