Best Songs: Ludlow Street by Suzanne Vega

Tim Vega, brother of Suzanne Vega, died in 2002. In 2007 Suzanne Vega put out the album Beauty and Crime which she dedicated to her brother. On this album you will find the wonderful song "Ludlow Street."

I have never heard a song that so simply captures the loss of someone close to you the way this song does. All those memories, all the places that you and that person shared, will never be the same again because they are no longer in this world.

Here are the lyrics as taken from Suzanne Vega's web site.

Love is the only thing that matters.
Love is the only thing that’s real.
I know we hear this every day.
It’s still the hardest thing to feel.

This time
When I go back to Ludlow Street,
I find each stoop and doorway’s incomplete,
Without you there.

Another generation’s parties.
And it is still the same old scene.
I can recall each morning after.
Painted in nicotene.

This time
When I go back to Ludlow Street,
I find each stoop and doorway’s incomplete
Without you there.

All of the people I once knew.
All of the ones I was close to.

Love is the only thing that matters.
Love the only thing that’s real,
And when I think about you now
Love is the only thing I feel.

This time
When I go back to Ludlow Street,
I find each stoop and doorway’s incomplete
Without you there.

Tim, this time
When I go back to Ludlow Street
I find each stoop and doorway’s incomplete
Without you there.

The lyrics are wonderfully simple and I think this is what makes it so perfect. Loss and grief are in many ways very powerful but very base feelings.  Loss and grief impacts the way you see and look at everything around you in life and the image she condors up of these youthful memories and home places being permanently affected by the loss is brilliant.

But of course it's music and so the lyrics are only half the story.  Vega is a wonderful singer and performer and she brings emotion to this song and has constructed a haunting melody to go along with her words.

If you can't tell I really like this song a lot and can't say enough positive things about it.  I want to be able to break this song down and explain to you why it works as well as it does, but I'm not sure I can.  For me this song simply hits me on a level that I can't escape.  Whenever I hear this song I can't turn it off and I can't get away from the emotional pull it has on me.  Each and every time it's the same and it's been that way since the first time I heard it.