# Guitar on Suzanne Vega's "Left of Center"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 18, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581 "2017-07-18T17:24:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/1 "2017-07-18T17:24:37Z")

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Who played guitar on Suzanne Vega’s “Left of Center”. I find lots of references to Joe Jackson playing piano, but no mention of the guitar.

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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/2 "2017-07-18T17:42:10Z")

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According to [this](http://www.allmusic.com/album/left-of-center-mw0000885992/credits), it was her on guitar.

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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/3 "2017-07-18T17:43:54Z")

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And according to [this](https://www.discogs.com/Suzanne-Vega-The-Best-Of-Suzanne-Vega-Tried-And-True/release/1135671), it was Jon Gordon. I believe this one more.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/4 "2017-07-18T17:49:18Z")

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> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> And according to [this](https://www.discogs.com/Suzanne-Vega-The-Best-Of-Suzanne-Vega-Tried-And-True/release/1135671), it was Jon Gordon. I believe this one more.

Here’s the link to Joe Jackson’s posting of the song on YouTube (he’s listed as the “topic”??). It states that Gordon played guitar in the Comments section header: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBdnPmUBds](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBdnPmUBds)

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**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/5 "2017-07-19T11:41:28Z")

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Thanks, guys. The guitar part always reminds me of another song I have on my music player, but I can never quite figure out which one. BOC’s “Astronomy”, maybe.

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**Author:** ![sidratso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sidratso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidratso)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-on-suzanne-vegas-left-of-center/791581/6 "2020-05-28T02:57:19Z")

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Turek Could it be Michael Franks, The Camera Never Lies? Because that’s who and what it sounds like to me.  
Just my thought but as soon as I heard the song, I thought for sure it was Michael Franks.