Talk:Tom's Diner

A capella?
This song is not a capella. Just sayin'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.23.196.129 (talk) 04:48, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The song was originally a capella, released in 1987 by Vega herself. The version that is well-known was an unauthorized remix of the song. Vega wanted to pursue legal action against the remixers, DNA, but thought it would be better if the new version with the music was released as a single. So basically, it is an a capella song with a more well-known remix. --Darkdan 20:00, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * In point, A&M wanted to pursue legal action, and Vega stopped them. Once she made it known that she would not go after any other performances, it was open season, which is what created enough songs to make Tom's Album. The liner notes cover this, but I'm not sure where my copy of the cover is.--Thespian 05:51, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

What is the name of the Public Enemy song where it is sampled? --Cog11 (talk) 19:34, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Tom's?
Out of curiosity, is there any evidence to support that the song is about the Tom's in Manhattan? It seems to be the most common position, but I've seen the framed lyrics on the wall in the Tom's in Brooklyn that she signed, "I came. I saw. I wrote." (I also have a photo.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.112.172.59 (talk) 01:47, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I've seen that sheet at the Brooklyn Tom's myself (I just now got back from eating lunch there), but I don't know the story behind it. Vega may have visited, and signed it to flatter the owner. The Tom's of the song, however, is the Manhattan Tom's. Vega has said so explicitly, for one thing (see the notes on this page). For another, she went to Barnard College, which is right near Tom's in Manhattan, so she'd probably have eaten there frequently. Avram (talk) 20:07, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * According to her September 2008 NY Times piece, it is confirmed that the diner is the one in Manhattan, not the one in Brooklyn:"Sorry, but I have never been to the one in Brooklyn, though I hear it’s really cute. The real one isn’t cute, and isn’t atmospheric. It’s just plain, which is why I liked it."--ThatsNotFunny (talk) 18:19, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

I went to Columbia, and the "welcome to NYC guide" that Columbia gave us indicated that it was the Tom's in Brooklyn which inspired the song, and not the one which was right across the street from my apartment in Morningside Heights. The Manhattan Tom's diner, I might add, is so terrible yet overpriced, that there is no excuse for eating there twice. Had the song indeed been about the Tom's in Manhattan, it would have been about indigestion and being mugged by the waitress upon finishing a meal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.244.203.178 (talk) 03:13, 23 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I also got a "welcome to NYC guide" at Columbia, and it's not a reliable source. I don't know if the staff at Tom's by Columbia should be considered reliable by objective judges who don't know them, but as someone who knew them I'd trust them. The blasé counterman in the song was Pete (whose last name I never knew) and he told me she was there quite frequently. At that time Tom's was underpriced vs. two or three nearby competing diners, but some of their food wasn't as good, so you got what you paid for, and if it was breakfast, well, it's hard to scramble eggs wrong. Finally, you got the bells of the Cathedral. Obviously St. John The Divine. I'm not going to look up the Cathedral that is nearest to Tom's Diner of Brooklyn, but if YOU want to do that, and if YOU find that it's in earshot of one of the Cathedrals in Brooklyn, type it here and I'll say you're starting to make your case. (It seems like Manhattan must've had a dozen or more Cathedrals, and I formed an impression that in the Eastern Orthodox Churches every different country, or ever different language, has its own separate ecclesiastical hierarchy, so that the Serbs had a Bishop, the Ukrainians had a Bishop, et cetera. I imagine Brooklyn could have even more.) As to "mugged by the waitress", I might have met her. One day there wasn't anywhere to siet at the counter, but almost all the booths were empty. I didn't see how one person eating at a four-topper could be a problem with so much emptiness. I ate as much as two normal people, and I took twice as long, but I tipped twice as much too (although not as much as a party of four would have tipped--but then again, I wasn't DISPLACING a party of four, as the joint was empty). And she actually grumbled to me about it. I might have tipped less because my right arm, broken, was in an above-elbow cast and I sat facing Broadway. She had put hot plates at the extreme right edge of the table, meaning I had to reach across my body with my left arm and pull them in front of me.2600:1700:6759:B000:E894:BFCC:705D:880 (talk) 00:55, 27 May 2024 (UTC)Christopher Lawrence Simpson

Useful article for refs, by Suzanne, about this song
http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/toms-essay/index.html

--81.105.242.11 (talk) 00:30, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Strange wording
What's this supposed to mean: dozens of critically listening material was involved? 77.4.42.122 (talk) 22:17, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

conflicting page
The page about the DNA disciples (linked to from here) reads

>They have been mistakenly acredited with the name the DNA Disciples > apparently to avoid confusion with the no >wave band—this is in fact untrue.

Reading that, I'm not sure what exactly is untrue, though :-)


 * -pike

92.254.50.195 (talk) 20:44, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Popular hit
"It was not until the a cappella track was used as the basis for a popular remix by the British group DNA, in 1990 that the song became a popular hit." This confuses me, as Vega had a following on the then "alternative music" scene since her first, self-titled album. Her second album, Solitude Standing, which include both "Tom's Diner" and "Luka", went platinum before the DNA song was released. Can we work out some more accurate language? --Knulclunk (talk) 04:00, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Your confusion here appears to arise from taking two meanings of popular: 1) selling records to the small alternative scene, and 2) having a chart hit single. Hyacinth (talk) 05:27, 8 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I fell off the turnip-truck and landed at Columbia University in August of 1987, and some reference (possibly a newspaper article) to this song was framed in Tom's Diner the first time I ever ate there. In 1987. And when I read the blurb I knew that I'd already heard the song. But the fact that I'd heard it doesn't mean it was a hit. I was probably listening to Vin Scelsa's "Idiot's Delight" on WNEW, and his show did not adhere to a Programmed (i.e. "Oldies", "Classic Rock", "Adult Contemporary", or any of the other 300 overlapping genres) playlist. Then there's also Columbia's own college-radio station, which I would guess would play this song a lot in those days.2600:1700:6759:B000:E894:BFCC:705D:880 (talk) 00:55, 27 May 2024 (UTC)Christopher Lawrence Simpson

Playground Spoofs?
Does anyone else remember spoofs of this song, such as one beginning "I was standing on the corner selling condoms for a quarter. I was making a big profit 'till the cops came to stop it"  ? I remember hearing (and singing) this song on the playground in the early 90's. Anyone else remember this, or other version. 71.198.178.175 (talk) 05:12, 13 August 2010 (UTC)Jon


 * Yeah, I do, but not about condoms. Hyacinth (talk) 05:28, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

2Pac version
"The song has also been re-invented posthumously by 2Pac, for his song "Dopefiend's Diner" on Best of 2Pac" makes it sound like 2Pac recorded this song after his death, which I doubt is the case. Was this a track that he had recorded much earlier that was only released after his death?99.112.127.147 (talk) 15:01, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Soul II Soul reference
Is this song based on Soul II Soul's hit "Keep On Movin'"? – Cannot (talk) 21:50, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Too Many Seinfeld References
This article is ostensibly about the Suzanne Vega song, yet it it contains three (!) references to the TV show Seinfeld which has virtually nothing to do with the song and is covered under the article about the actual restaurant Tom's Diner. I would argue that these references be removed as completely unnecessary for the article and subject matter.45.48.1.197 (talk) 06:09, 27 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I removed two of the three references. --hulmem (talk) 03:28, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

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External links modified
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What would be an example of a reliable citation to answer the "citation needed" flag for the bells/chimes of St. John The Divine?
Why does that need a citation? The article states that Tom's is at 112th and Broadway in Manhattan. I imagine the article on St. John The Divine (the cathedral, not the person) says it occupies an estate on Amsterdam (one block east) running from 110th to 113th. There's also Google Maps. So, just wondering, what would be an example of something that would fit the bill?2600:1700:6759:B000:E894:BFCC:705D:880 (talk) 00:55, 27 May 2024 (UTC)Christopher Lawrence Simpson