Writing is always personal in some way but not always in a direct way.

(The UK version of Retrospective included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing twelve songs. In early October 2006 Vega took part in the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) in Olomouc the Czech Republic the oldest festival of documentary films in Europe in which Suzanne Vega appeared as a main guest. "
"Tom's Diner" takes place in Tom's Restaurant at 112th Street and Broadway in New York City.

Two of Vega's songs (both from her second album Solitude Standing 1987) reached the top 10 of various international chart listings: "Luka" and "Tom's Diner". The latter was originally an a cappella version on Vega's album which was then remade in 1990 as a dance track produced by the British dance production team DNA.