The great singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has had an amazing career that stretches back decades, and it’s not an exaggeration to call her a straight-up legend. But everyone feels small when they compare themselves to somebody else. Today, Vega has a new song that’s all about existing in someone else’s shadow. On “Chambermaid,” she sings about tending to a “great man”: “I revere the places he has stayed and clean crumbs from his typewriter.” It’s all about inspiration and maybe also insignificance — the ways that it can be hard to separate those two feelings.
