Suzanne (Leonard Cohen song)

1966/67,

Suzanne is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. It was first published in 1966 by the American folk singer Judy Collins and was released the following year on Cohen's debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. As one of the most famous songs inspired Cohen Suzanne countless musicians to cover versions. Pitchfork Media is the song at # 41 on the list of the Top Songs of the 1960s.

Formation

The song is about Suzanne Verdal, a young dancer who had met Cohen in the mid-1960s Beatnik Jazz Club Le Vieux Moulin is located in Montreal. The free-spirited Verdal, which was at that time with the sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, a friend of Cohen, dating, was the muse of many beatniks. She lived at the time in an idyllic house on the St. Lawrence River, where Cohen visited regularly in the summer of 1965. The two drank tea by candlelight, ate with oranges and operated an intensive exchange of ideas while on the river to Notre -Dame-de -Bon- Secours Chapel walked (also known as Sailor's Chapel known). All these impressions Cohen held firmly in the line, which he published as Suzanne Brings You Down for the first time in 1966 in the collection of poetry Parasites of Heaven.

Verdal later reported from a purely platonic, almost spiritual love relationship. The song line "For you've touched her perfect body with your mind" indeed suggests an unrequited passion Cohen's close, but it remains unclear whether the song was intended as a declaration of love. A longer-term relationship did not emerge in any case, only a short time later left Suzanne Verdal Montreal. She later learned from the poem that Cohen had now set to music at the insistence of folk singer Judy Collins. Collins took over the song in 1966 for her album In My Life. In July 1967 Cohen sang the song for the first time in New York's Central Park along with Collins. That same year, Suzanne finally appeared on his debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. In addition to Hallelujah Leonard Cohen's Suzanne is considered most gecovertes work.

Suzanne Verdal now lives in Santa Monica, California. In 2011 she was interviewed for the documentary film Girls in pop songs by Markus Heidingsfelder. They said that after a few short, rather superficial encounters in the past now have no contact with Cohen more.

Cover versions

Suzanne was of many solo artists and bands such as Tori Amos, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, Nick Cave, Fairport Convention, Neil Diamond, The Flying Lizards, Peter Gabriel, Françoise Hardy, Nana Mouskouri, Nina Simone, Bruce Springsteen, Tangerine Dream or Herman van Veen interpreted.