Her lyrics seem cerebral: poignantly fragile yet streetwise. A singer/songwriter of poetic and complicated songs, Suzanne Vega has always been a storyteller. Perceived by many as an "ice queen," she raised consciousness about children's rights and domestic violence in the 1980s with her song about an abused child, Luka.

The Melodies of Motherhood
"I think I've learned how to present myself to an audience in a more direct way," Vega says. "I think in the beginning I was and still am very shy and very private, but I think I've learned to relate to people more directly. And, some of it came from having a child. There is something about having a child that puts you in touch with a huge section of humanity."

Vega says motherhood has changed the part of her that remained distant and aloof, a part of her that inspired lyrics for songs such as Solitude Standing:

"Solitude stands in the doorway and I'm struck once again by her black silhouette, by her long cool stare and her silence. I suddenly remember each time we've met."

Taking time off to raise her daughter in the late 1990s, Vega now has 20 or so songs that are "percolating." A single mother, Vega writes her own lyrics. Her daughter, Ruby, is one of her best critics. Although Vega has not been the most prolific singer/songwriter in the past several years, it is easy for parents of young children to understand why.

When Vega was married to her former producer, Mitchell Froom, Ruby was an infant. Together they traveled to different countries, crossed time zones and still Vega found time to nurture and feed her baby.

That doesn't mean there weren't many difficult times. Vega recalls when Ruby was a toddler, they were on board a ferry in England and Ruby began pitching a fit after receiving a vaccination shot. Not the time to sit down and write a poetic song, she admits.

Still, Vega has learned much from her daughter, including the art of balancing motherhood and her music career, although at times "with great difficulty," she says.

A Mother's Musical Legacy
"I love being a mother," Vega says. "It's very satisfying to me but it is hard. I spend time with Ruby on the phone. When I'm on the road, I call in every day. I have her homework faxed to me so we can go over that on the telephone."

Ruby sings, plays the piano and is passionate about writing. Vega, who was a literature major at Barnard College in New York City, says Ruby writes stories that go on for pages.

Vega herself is an avid reader. She was influenced by everything she has read from Mark Twain, D. H. Lawrence, Emily Dickinson and John Steinbeck to Sylvia Plath, the wounded poet who took her own life and wrote poetry with the same kind of infinite sadness Vega portrays in many of her lyrics.

Vega, who sang in coffee houses and folk festivals during the genesis of her music career, had a book of personal poetry, lyrics and essays published in 1999 titled, The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega (Avon, 1999). Her minimalist writing style leaves open multiple interpretations for her work. "I have my own meaning but sometimes it has a double- or triple-meaning and so the works kind of stand up on their own," she says.

Meanwhile, her music has a hypnotic quality; she has always been drawn to rhyme. In the song Gypsy, for example, she writes, "Oh, hold me like a baby that will not fall asleep. Curl me up inside you and let me hear you through the heat." Ruby often listens to her mother's music, enraptured by the acoustical guitar and her mother's voice. "She knows all of the lyrics," Vega says. "It's really kind of funny because I remember singing to her as a baby and being kind of shy in the beginning singing to her because I wondered, 'What if she does not like it? What if she doesn't like my voice or she doesn't like something about it?' As it turns out she loves to hear me sing. And as she has gotten older she is starting to listen to the lyrics and asks questions about them."

Staying in Tune
Vega believes that Ruby has talent, although admittedly, Mother and Daughter have very different voices.

Because of the need to return to her child at home, Vega travels for only a few days at a time before returning. "I know what she is doing every moment of the day," she says. "I know who she is having a play date with and what she is up to. We are planning a birthday party together. We are trying to decide does everyone go to the movies or does this guy 'Reptile Rob' come to the house with his reptiles and tarantulas and stuff?"

Vega has always had the ability to bring out the kind of emotional extremes that characterizes teenage angst. Her song, Left of Center, from the motion picture soundtrack of Pretty in Pink, identified with the heroine played by Molly Ringwald.

Even now, Vega has flashes of Ruby as a teenager. She imagines what is coming when her daughter turns 13 or 14. "I mean, the thing about my daughter is, I know that she is one of these children who regulates themselves from the inside," Vega says. "She has a good sense of balance and that's what I am relying to get us through with the more difficult periods. There are other kids who need to be stopped from the outside. They need to be regulated. They need a lot of rules and they need you to really enforce the rules. And she needs that, too, but she also has an internal sense of rules and what's right for her so I trust that a lot."

Singing About Social Issues
Vega's works often centers on social issues. She is one of 16 Grammy Nominees who joined forces for a CD benefiting survivors of domestic violence – Respond II, a two-CD compilation, was released in 2003. Proceeds from the compilation will be donated to RESPOND Inc. and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

"The main thing I've always been concerned about is human rights," she says. "That comes out in the work on child abuse and domestic violence. It's something I've always felt strongly about and that will always be my main concern."