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)

Postcard
The Roches Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

If you happen to live on Mars
Then I'm from Outer Space
Where we drive around in cars
And talk right out of our face

We walk around on feet
And we fly around in planes
There's this stuff called food we eat

And think with these things called brains

Greetings from the Planet Earth
To the many worlds in the Universe
Wish you were here
Hope you can come
We'll have some intergalactic fun

If you happen to live on Mercury
Then I'm an alien
And I'm in a real big hurry
To see a spaceship come sailing in

I look out the window and wonder
Who's wondering back from the stars
And I love to hear the thunder
So everyone hum a few bars

Greetings from the Planet Earth
To the many worlds in the Universe
Wish you were here

Hope you can come
We'll have some intergalactic fun

Overall Meaning

The Roches’s song Postcard is about communication between Earth and other planets. The main theme of the song is freedom and imagination as the lyrics describe the possibility of the existence of life on other planets. The song begins with a playful tone, stating “If you happen to live on Mars, Then I'm from Outer Space, Where we drive around in cars, And talk right out of our face”. This humorous imagery prompts the listener to imagine the strange and amusing peculiarities that may exist on other planets. The Roches continue to describe the beauty of Earth and the enjoyment they would experience sharing the planet with other alien beings, offering them an invitation to have some “intergalactic fun”.

The lyricist is sending a fictional postcard to outer space, not knowing if intelligent life exists on other planets or if they will ever receive the message. The song narrates the curiosity and imagination that every human being possesses when thinking about the vastness of space. In the bridge, the line “And I love to hear the thunder” suggests that, despite the vast differences between Earth and other planets, we all share an appreciation for the wonders of the universe. Therefore, this song offers a warm and lighthearted view of the world and the possibilities beyond our planet.

Line by Line Meaning

If you happen to live on Mars
If you happen to live on Mars,

Then I'm from Outer Space
then it means I am from outer space.

Where we drive around in cars
We ride around in cars.

And talk right out of our face
And express ourselves as we please through our mouths.

We walk around on feet
With our feet, we walk on this planet.

And we fly around in planes
And we travel by plane through the air.

There's this stuff called food we eat
We consume something called 'food.'

And think with these things called brains
We utilize our brains for thinking and reasoning.

Greetings from the Planet Earth
Greetings from the planet Earth.

To the many worlds in the Universe
To all the different worlds in the universe.

Wish you were here
We wish you were here.