You might not know the name Suzanne Vega, but I promise you know the low key, methodical intro to her song "Tom's Dinner". The well-known da da da da's are what gives the track it's unique ablity to get into your head and stay there.
Would you be surprised to learn that beat and those lines were not actually originally in the song? In the video below from BBC TV in 1994, Suzanne Vegas explains that the song was actually written about a place called "Tom's Restaurant" in New York City where she would stop in an have breakfast before work. The song, as you can hear in the clip, was a totally a cappella song and it wasn't until an English dance duo, D.N.A., covered it, that it became this big hit and started getting airplay on the radio!
This also gives me a great excuse to report this INCREADIBLE cover by the band Annen May Kantereit.
Photo: Getty