LUKA

Hi again :)

Today I would like to tell you a few words about a very famous and well-known Susanne Vega's song, called "Luka". This song is also very interesting because many people aren't conscious of the proper subject of this track. You can be a little bit suprised but this song deals with the issue of domestic violence...  Don't you trust me? Have a look at the lyrics!

My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you have seen me before

If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble. Some kind of fight
Just don't ask me what it was

If you read just these seven first lines you can realize very quickly that this is a song about violence and problems in family. Moreover, Luka, the main character is a boy! Some people think that Luka is a girl but even in the music video you can see a litte boy who was played by Jason Cerbone, chosen after the directors auditioned more than 90 children.

To be honest, music of this song can be a little bit deceptive because it isn't sad or melancholic, that's way I didn't notice this important song's message at once.

This song was released as a single in 1987 and it was nominated at the 1988 Grammy Awards, including Record of the year, Song of the year and Best female po vocal perfomance. You can find "Luka" on the album "Solitude Standing" recorded in 1986 and in my opinion this is also a very significant title isn't it?

Moreover, when a song concern some social problem, then it is called a protest song. As we can suspect Susanne Vega wanted to draw attention of public opinion to the problem of beating the children. Unfortunately nowadays there isn't many songs about the social problems such as the kid's suffering or domestic violence.

Do you know some other song which deal with this kind of problems?