Luka

Suzanne Vega was riding high on the success of her second album, Solitude Standing, when she released "Luka" as its second single in May 1987 through A&M Records. The song became her highest-charting hit in the United States, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and it climbed to number two in Sweden while landing in the top 10 in Austria, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Shawn Colvin sang backing vocals on the record, and Vega also cut a Spanish-language version that appeared on the single.

The song dealt with child abuse, a subject Vega said no one talked about and one she had to work out how to address. Her inspiration came from a boy named Luka who played with a group of children in front of her building; he seemed set apart from the others, and she remembered his name and face. In the song the boy was an abused child, though Vega believed the real Luka was simply different. Years later she revealed a deeper connection, saying in 2021 that the song reflected the emotional and physical abuse she had suffered from her stepfather, the novelist and professor Edgardo Vega Yunqué. "I am actually Luka," she said, explaining that she chose the name and character so people would not know it was her.

The music video, directed by Michael Patterson and Candice Reckinge, was shot over three days in New York City. More than 90 children auditioned for the part of Luka, which went to actor Jason Cerbone.