Last Year's Troubles

Last year's troubles are so old fashioned
The robber on the highway the pirate on the seas
Maybe it's the clothing that's so entertaining
The earrings and swashbuckling blouses that please

Here we have heroes of times that have passed now
But nobody these days has that kind of chin
Over there the petticoats of ladies of virtue
You can hardly tell them from the petticoats of sin

Last year's troubles
Look at all the waifs of Dickensian England
Why is it their suffering is more picturesque?
Must be cause their rags are so very Victorian
The ones here at home just don't give it their best

Last years troubles they shine up so pretty
They gleam with a luster they don't have today
Here it's just dirty and violent and troubling
etc. etc. etc.

Last year's troubles
But trouble is still trouble and evil still evil
Sometimes we wonder; is there more now, or less?
If we had a tool or could tally the handfuls
Measure for measure it's the same would be my guess


Single Release :	2001
Lyrics :	Suzanne Vega
Copyright :	© 2001 Waifersongs Ltd. & WB Music Corp.
Album :	Songs In Red And Gray
"Songs In Red And Gray" - tracklist : Penitent Widow's Walk (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May It Makes Me Wonder Soap And Water Song In Red And Gray Last Year's Troubles Priscilla If A Were A Weapon Harbor Song Machine Ballerina Solitaire St.Claire Golden* * Available on the Japanese Release only

Notes:

"I was thinking about images of the past, and how they're misleading. And that led directly to the song "Last Year's Troubles." It's about how you see these romantic images of pirates and stuff, and how exciting it is. But really they were just troublemakers, just nasty guys. Why are those pirates so entertaining? Are people more evil now or were they more evil then? I wrote the song before the World Trade Center attack, so the question is more in the air now than when I wrote it."
In Acoustic Guitar, February 2002, No. 110 (http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag110/feature110.html)

"We tend to idealize the past. You see these romantic images of pirates, for example. There are still pirates today; they just don't seem the same."
In Acoustic Guitar, February 2002, No. 110