The Roches (Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche) were a vocal group of three son… Read Full Bio ↴The Roches (Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche) were a vocal group of three songwriting Irish-American sisters from Park Ridge, New Jersey, known for their "unusual" and "rich" harmonies, quirky lyrics, and casually comedic stage performances.

The Roches were active as performers and recording artists from the mid-1970s through 2007, at various times performing as a trio and in pairs.
In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", born April 10, 1953) quit school to tour as a duo. Maggie wrote most of the songs, with Terre contributing to a few. The sisters got a break when Paul Simon brought them in as backup singers on his 1973 #2 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon. They got his assistance (along with an appearance by The Oak Ridge Boys) on their only album as a duo, Seductive Reasoning (1975). Shortly after that, youngest sister Suzzy (rhymes with "fuzzy", born September 29, 1956) joined the group to form The Roches trio.

Around this time, they parlayed bartending jobs at famous Greenwich Village folk venue Gerde's Folk City into stage appearances, an experience they commemorated in their song, "Face Down at Folk City" (from Another World, 1985). It was here that they met many of their future singing and songwriting collaborators. Terre was now writing songs as well, and by the time of their first album as a trio, The Roches (1979), Suzzy had also begun writing. Robert Fripp produced the album. Maggie's "The Married Men" from this album was eventually to become the biggest hit of the songwriting trio — not for them, but for Phoebe Snow. After Snow and Linda Ronstadt performed the song in a duet on Saturday Night Live, the Roches were invited themselves to perform on the show a few months later in 1979 at the behest of Paul Simon. They did two songs, both unreleased at the time, "Bobby's Song" and "The Hallelujah Chorus".

Throughout the 1980s, The Roches continued to release their music to small audiences, little or no air play, and only modest record sales. Their widest exposure in the '80s was an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in November 1985, where they performed their song "Mr. Sellack". In 1990, they returned to their Christmas-caroling roots with the release of the 24-track We Three Kings, which included the a cappella "Star of Wonder", written by Terre. After another pop album (A Dove, 1992), they recorded an entire album of children's songs entitled Will You Be My Friend?, featuring a song by brother David and various young backup singers, including Suzzy's daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche.

After a tour interrupted by the death of their father, The Roches released Can We Go Home Now (1995), the last original recording they released as a trio until 2007.

In 1997, the sisters formally put their group on long-term hold. They continued to work on solo projects and often collaborated on albums and performances. Terre teaches guitar workshops and has released a solo album. Suzzy, who has acted on the stage and in several movies, released two of her own albums and two with Maggie, with whom she has toured. All three sisters periodically participated in New York-area events. At the end of 2005, the three Roches (with brother Dave) reunited for a short but highly successful holiday tour. Several more appearances in the U.S. and Canada took place in 2006–07, and in March 2007, after a 12-year hiatus, The Roches released a new studio album, Moonswept. Following the tour for Moonswept, the Roches announced that they would no longer be touring, although they have made isolated appearances individually and as a group, mostly in and around New York City.

On January 21, 2017, Maggie Roche died of cancer at age 65.

Maggie had an "unusual" contralto voice – "almost a baritone." Terre provides a soprano that brackets the upper range of the sisters, while Suzzy fills in the middle range. While touring, the sisters accompany themselves with guitars and keyboards, occasionally with additional musicians.

Brother David is also a singer-songwriter with his own solo album, and has often backed up the trio on their recordings. Maggie's son, Felix McTeigue, has recorded three albums (one with his group Filo). Suzzy's daughter, Lucy, has also contributed vocals on the Roches' and McTeigue's albums, and in 2007 she produced an EP of her own, 8 Songs, followed by 8 More in 2008 and tours opening for acts such as Amos Lee and the Indigo Girls. Lucy has released two full-length albums, "Lucy" in 2010, and "There's a Last Time for Everything" in 2013. Her father is Loudon Wainwright III, and she is the half-sister of singers Martha and Rufus Wainwright.

The majority of Roches songs are written by the three sisters, whether individually, in every combination, or collaborating with other songwriters. They have also recorded their own arrangements of songs by a variety of New York folk artists, as well as a few covers of famous songs. Their three-part arrangement of the four-part "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah, featured on Keep On Doing (1982), is well regarded in a cappella circles.

Discography

- Maggie and Terre Roche
Seductive Reasoning (Columbia, 1975)
I Gave My Love a Kerry (Earth Rock Wreckerds, 2004)

- The Roches
The Roches (Warner, 1979)
Nurds (Warner, 1980)
Keep On Doing (Warner, 1982)
Another World (Warner, 1985)
No Trespassing (Real Live Records, 1986)
Speak (MCA, 1989)
We Three Kings (MCA, 1990)
A Dove (MCA, 1992)
Will You Be My Friend? (Baby Boom, 1994)
Can We Go Home Now (Rykodisc, 1995).
The Collected Works of the Roches (Rhino/Warner, 2003)
Moonswept (429 Records, 2007)
Rhino HiFive: The Roches (Rhino/Warner, 2007)

- Suzzy Roche
Holy Smokes (Red House, 1997)
Songs from an Unmarried Housewife and Mother, Greenwich Village, USA (Red House, 2000)

- Terre Roche
The Sound of a Tree Falling (Earth Rock Wreckerds, 1998)

- Suzzy & Maggie Roche
Zero Church (Red House, 2002)
Why The Long Face (Red House, 2004)
Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche[edit]
Fairytale and Myth (2013)
Mud and Apples (2016)

- Terre Roche, Sidiki Conde and Marlon Cherry (as Afro-Jersey)
Afro-Jersey (2013)

Nocturne
The Roches Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You ask me why
We cannot make love
I have been ransacking you
For the answer

Side by side we lay
Not touching
Listening to rain falling

In the darkness

Where desire writhed
There stands a stone
The change was sudden and complete

A serious question
We have turned out to ask
We have sought each other secretly
Strong has been the urge

To lie naked facing fear

Quietly and quickly
Our sentences blaze trails upon the night
We are mates on a doubtful voyage

Speaking sanely now
Allotting no lovers advantage

My room is anxious to expel him
He hurries to be free of my feelings

We wear our words
Until he finally dresses

Looking for his shoes
He is a shadow in my doorway

Overall Meaning

The Roches's song "Nocturne" is a complex and introspective portrayal of a couple who are unable to connect physically, despite their deep yearning for each other. The singer in the song addresses her partner, explaining that she has been "ransacking" him for the answer to why they cannot make love. The couple lies side by side, listening to the rain, but they are not touching. The stone where desire once writhed stands between them, representing the change in their relationship.

The lyrics suggest that the couple has been seeking each other secretly, and that they have a strong urge to be together, naked and facing fear. This desire is so great that it blazes trails upon the night, but they are still unsure of their journey. They speak sanely now, and do not take advantage of each other as lovers. When the encounter is over, the singer's room is anxious to expel her partner, who hurries to be free of her feelings. His departure leaves behind only a shadow in the doorway.

The song is a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of the intricacies and complexities of human desire and relationships. The Roches's lyrics are deep and insightful, and their music is soulful and evocative. The song is a meditation on the human heart, its yearning and its pain, and the fleeting moments of connection that make life worth living.

Line by Line Meaning

You ask me why
You wonder why we can't have sex

We cannot make love
We are unable to have an intimate physical relationship

I have been ransacking you
I have been searching you deeply

For the answer
In hopes of finding an explanation

Side by side we lay
We are physically together

Not touching
But not in a physical way

Listening to rain falling
Hearing the soothing sound of precipitation tapping against the roof

In the darkness
While enveloped in complete absence of light

Where desire writhed
Where passion used to exist

There stands a stone
A cold, unfeeling barrier now stands

The change was sudden and complete
The transformation was sudden and absolute