Suzanne on the inspiration for "Predictions":
"Leonard Cohen's "Who By Fire" was an influence on "Predictions." One day, I was looking up a word or something, and I suddenly came across this weird list of ways that people have told the future. And each of these ways had its own name, its own -ology. I thought the images were so beautiful and pure. And all of these objects - the hatchet, the nails, the dough of cakes, the wax in water - are the kind of things you'd find around your house. I loved the idea of magic being contained in these everyday objects."
"The Open Hand Book - Notes on her New Album", Musician, 1991, also published in Language and in the Limited Edition of 99.9F° (http://www.vega.net/handbook.htm) transcribed by Eric Szczerbinski

Suzanne on why "Predictions" is inconclusive:
"Some people don't like it because it's inconclusive: "What happens? Nothing happens. It's a list. How can she sit there and sing a list? I don't like it." [Laughs] But to me, just the images as they are, are fine. That's what it is. There's nothing wrong with it. Each image has its own beautiful space."
Interview with Paul Zollo in Song Talk, Vol. 2, #16, Winter 1991, also published in "Language", 5:1 August 1992, (http://www.vega.net/songtal1.htm) trancription by Steve Zwanger

Suzanne on the the long list of images for telling the future:
"In my mind, they were all clear. I was looking up a word in the thesaurus, and these were listed in the footnotes of a certain section. Each one of those has its own name, some kind of 'ology' goes along with it. Telling the future by mice. There's a name for that. Telling the future by dice has its own name, and by ashes and by the rays of the sun... But there was something about the way that it was listed.
[...]
I rearranged it. I didn't use all of them. I only used the ones that had that special resonance to me. Then I rearranged it so it would sing right. People go, "Well, what's the fortune at the end? She doesn't give the fortune." But that's not the point of the song. Again, that was an experiement. I don't know that I would sing that for the rest of my life. "
Interview with Paul Zollo in Song Talk, Vol. 2, #16, Winter 1991, also published in "Language", 5:1 August 1992, (http://www.vega.net/songtal1.htm) trancription by Steve Zwanger