New Paradise Laboratories  

"Although the date of composition is uncertain (supposedly mid 1893), the Vexations appear to have been composed shortly after a brief, but intense, relation with Suzanne Valadon, the nearest Erik Satie ever got to a relation with a woman. One of the testimonies of this relation is, apart from the pictures they drew of each other, Satie's optimistic composition "Bonjour Biqui" (April 1893), Biqui being a nickname for his beloved, and the composition being an echo of how Satie customarily greeted her. This composition takes, on paper, almost as much room as the Vexations, but contains no indication that it should be played more than once; thus, when executed, it is (effectively) infinitely shorter than the Vexations. Still, both compositions could be seen to have a mantra-like quality, one gay and the other arid (although it is questionable as to how Satie would have appreciated the idea of a "mantra"). Regardless, it would not be all that surprising that Satie—being "vexé" ("angry", or even "spiteful") about being rejected by his "Biqui"—wanted to disenchant himself from what she had meant to him, by composing a piece that would help him forget all such frivolous feelings. Possibly he was relieving himself with a kind of musical curse (given the implications of "Devils" and the unlucky number "13" described in the previous paragraph)."