07.23.06
The Hungry Cabbie Eats The Outer Boroughs: Tom’s Diner
I am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner. I am waiting at the counter for the man to pour the coffee. And he fills it only half way, and before I even argue, he is looking out the window at somebody coming in. “It is always nice to see you,” says the man behind the counter to the woman who has come in. She is shaking her umbrella. And I look the other way as they are kissing their hellos. I’m pretending not to see them. Instead I pour the milk.- Suzanne Vega, Tom’s Diner, 1987.
These are the words Tom’s Diner inspired me to write:
www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/07/23/the_hungry_cabb_14.php
bionicgrrl said,
July 24, 2006 at 10:40 pm
the suzanne vega refers to the tom’s diner uptown near barnard & columbia…..
Nit Picker said,
July 25, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Wrong Tom’s Diner.
Tom’s Restaurant
2880 Broadway
at W. 112th
Administrator said,
July 25, 2006 at 6:32 pm
You are both right. I just found a quote from her on the internet saying she wrote it the Tom’s of Seinfeld fame (she didn’t mention Seinfeld in the quote).
I don’t have the heart to tell Gus at Tom’s in Brooklyn though. He’s got the lyrics up on the wall. That’s where I got the wrong idea.
nani said,
August 7, 2006 at 4:52 am
i still cling to my belief that the song is about tom’s in brooklyn, not the uws. clearly, suzanne vega was smoking something and, really, how much can you trust the media? i dare you to call suzanne herself and hear it from her. tom’s diner in brooklyn is way way better than tom’s diner on the uws.
Administrator said,
December 21, 2006 at 12:35 am
Okay everyone who still cares about this months later (me). I talked with Gus at Tom’s in Brooklyn about it. He’s got the lyrics framed and signed on his wall. I know it says its about the UWS Tom’s on her website, but Gus told me that Susane Vega herself came in and told him that she wrote it about “any and all places like Tom’s.” He said she said she’d never been to either the UWS Tom’s or the Brooklyn Tom’s before she wrote it. So there you have.