Suzanne (Leonard Cohen song)

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"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen. Its lyrics first appeared as the poem "Suzanne Takes You Down" in Cohen's 1966 book of poetry Parasites of Heaven, admittedly because of lack of new material (lyrics to a few other songs from his subsequent 1967 debut album were also printed in the book). The song was recorded by Judy Collins the same year, and by Noel Harrison and Cohen himself in 1967.

The band R.E.M. give Cohen joint credit for their song "Hope" (on their 1998 album Up), in light of the similarity between the two songs. R.E.M. describe themselves as realising that similarity only after completing the song.

In 2006, Pitchfork Media listed the song #41 on their list of 'The Top Songs of the 1960s'.

Contents

[edit] Background

Leonard Cohen specified, notably in a BBC interview, that the song was about encountering Suzanne Verdal, the wife of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, in a Montreal setting. Indeed, many lines describe different elements of the city, including its river (the Saint Lawrence) and a little chapel near the harbour, called Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours (literally Our Lady of Good Help), which sits on the side of the harbour that faces the rising sun in the morning, as it is described in the song.

Suzanne Verdal was interviewed by CBC News's The National in 2006 about the song. She is now homeless in Venice Beach, California, USA, where she lives in her automobile. Verdal claims that she and Cohen never had sexual relations, contrary to what some interpretations of the song suggest. Cohen himself stated in a 1994 BBC interview that he only imagined having sex with her, as there was neither the opportunity nor inclination to actually go through with it [1]. She says she has met Cohen twice since the song's initial popularity; once after a concert Cohen performed in the 1970s and once in passing in the 1990s where Cohen did not speak to her (and possibly did not recognise her).

[edit] Cover versions

"Suzanne" has later been recorded by many artists, including:

[edit] Sampling

  • Robert McKay used lines from Cohen's poem as chapter headers in his 1969 young adult novel Dave's Song.
  • Verses of the song are played intermittently throughout the 1974 movie The Second Coming of Suzanne, starring Sondra Locke, Paul Sand, Jared Martin and Richard Dreyfuss.
  • UK guitar-wielding rapper Plan B sampled the song for his Paint It Blacker mixtape, detailing a fictionalised account of a prostitute killed by the Camden Ripper and dumped in the river.

[edit] External links

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