Tom's diner - DNA featuring Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega originally wrote 'Tom's diner' as an acapella song in 1981. It was released on her album 'Solitude standing' in 1987. The acapalla track was then used by two British record producers in 1990 to create the DNA remix of 'Tom's diner' without Vega's permission. Rather than sue them, record company A&M decided to buy the track and release it as a single. It was a wise move: this version reached number 1 in Austria and Germany, and went top 10 almost everywhere else. A year later, Vega released 'Tom's album', a compilation of different versions of the song, in various different versions.

The original version of 'Tom's diner' (on the B-side of this single) was used by Karlheinz Brandenburg to develop the audio compression scheme known as MP3. He recalled: 'I was ready to fine-tune my compression algorithm...somewhere down the corridor, a radio was playing 'Tom's diner'. I was electrified. I knew it would be nearly impossible to compress this warm a cappella voice.'

My collection: 7" single no. 2287
Found: May 6, 1995
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Tom's diner' (DNA featuring Suzanne Vega) / 'Tom's diner' (Suzanne Vega)