Album: The Songs of Leonard CohenAvg rating:
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You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her.
And you know she's half crazy,
But that's why you want to be there.
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her,
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
And Jesus was a sailor, when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower.
And when he knew for certain, only drowning men could see him,
He said: "All men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them."
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open,
Foresaken, almost human,
He sank beneath your wisdom, like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.
Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river.
She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters.
And the sun pours down like honey on our Lady of the Harbor.
And she shows you where to look, among the garbage and the flowers.
There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
They will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.
But, and that is so magnificent in life, there come other ones.
My dearest sister, Suzanne, loved this song. She passed earlier this year. Her birthday was 3 days ago. Thank you, Bill, for giving me this right now.
Tea and Oranges for your beloved sister, always.
Rest in Peace, Leonard Cohen. I'm struggling mightily with all the heartbreak in my world in recent days; I can only imagine a future rife with protest, anger, trepidation and anxiety; this is new for me. I am now perhaps counting on Music to help me even more than usual...
Yikes, CoJo, your comment from 6+ years ago echoes a similar premonition my wife and I had in early 2017. Long Live RP and the healing power of music for humanity!!
I was at university in Montreal in the 60's. Somehow I hadn't heard of Leonard Cohen (I went to the other university--the one downhill from McGill). It was the end of my third year and on the way to a party I stopped at a liquor store and got a gallon jug of wine. It was a real bargain at $5.00 and quite tasty.
It was a fine party--the last one before we went our separate ways for the summer. Fast forward a few hours and I still had an inch or two of wine left in the bottle. A bunch of us had gone from the party to Ben's, an all-night delicatessen that was the place to go at the end of an evening. You could see quite a cross-section of Montreal at Bens.
We were sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant and my trusty jug sat beside me under the table. I was fairly liquidated, but I noticed someone watching me with bemused interest. I was taken up with the discussion at our table and thought no more about it.
When we left Bens, my friends went to get something; I was standing on the sidewalk outside (still carrying my trusty jug), and I noticed this same guy standing nearby. "Is that good wine?" he asked. "It is the best wine you can get for $5:00," I said grandly. "Can I have a taste?" he asked. I passed him the jug. He took a good pull, smiled, and handed it back, saying: "That is good wine. Thank you. My name's Leonard." We shook hands and he walked away.
Moments later my friends came running up to me. "I didn't know you knew Leonard Cohen," one said. "Who's he?" I said. "He's a poet," was the reply.
Needless to say I read everything he had written after that. A year later, this album came out. Loved it then, love it now, and will always remember that moment; that kind inquiring mind.
Personal comments like this are one of my favorite parts of Radio Paradise!
I was at university in Montreal in the 60's. Somehow I hadn't heard of Leonard Cohen (I went to the other university--the one downhill from McGill). It was the end of my third year and on the way to a party I stopped at a liquor store and got a gallon jug of wine. It was a real bargain at $5.00 and quite tasty.
It was a fine party--the last one before we went our separate ways for the summer. Fast forward a few hours and I still had an inch or two of wine left in the bottle. A bunch of us had gone from the party to Ben's, an all-night delicatessen that was the place to go at the end of an evening. You could see quite a cross-section of Montreal at Bens.
We were sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant and my trusty jug sat beside me under the table. I was fairly liquidated, but I noticed someone watching me with bemused interest. I was taken up with the discussion at our table and thought no more about it.
When we left Bens, my friends went to get something; I was standing on the sidewalk outside (still carrying my trusty jug), and I noticed this same guy standing nearby. "Is that good wine?" he asked. "It is the best wine you can get for $5:00," I said grandly. "Can I have a taste?" he asked. I passed him the jug. He took a good pull, smiled, and handed it back, saying: "That is good wine. Thank you. My name's Leonard." We shook hands and he walked away.
Moments later my friends came running up to me. "I didn't know you knew Leonard Cohen," one said. "Who's he?" I said. "He's a poet," was the reply.
Needless to say I read everything he had written after that. A year later, this album came out. Loved it then, love it now, and will always remember that moment; that kind inquiring mind.
A beautiful story!
I too have a personal history with the song.
It was just before lunch and the tail end of English class. Lenard had just won a literary prize for his "Beautiful Loosers" and his poetry and books were required reading.
The big thing, of course, was the fact that, OMG, the man was Canadian ! Our National pride got a well-appreciated, boost.
At this point,Lenard Cohen had just begun his singing career. The boy in front of me started singing ever so quietly, "Suzanne brings you down to the....".
As you might have guessed, my first name is Suzanne.
This merriment continued until the end of the school year.
Now, when I remember it, I'm back into that time when time moved ever so slowly.
I dated a half crazy beautiful woman named Suzanne… it was amazing.
So, why didn't you stay together if it was so amazing?
All the best women are half crazy...
And they turn out to be the worst.
I was at university in Montreal in the 60's. Somehow I hadn't heard of Leonard Cohen (I went to the other university--the one downhill from McGill). It was the end of my third year and on the way to a party I stopped at a liquor store and got a gallon jug of wine. It was a real bargain at $5.00 and quite tasty.
It was a fine party--the last one before we went our separate ways for the summer. Fast forward a few hours and I still had an inch or two of wine left in the bottle. A bunch of us had gone from the party to Ben's, an all-night delicatessen that was the place to go at the end of an evening. You could see quite a cross-section of Montreal at Bens.
We were sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant and my trusty jug sat beside me under the table. I was fairly liquidated, but I noticed someone watching me with bemused interest. I was taken up with the discussion at our table and thought no more about it.
When we left Bens, my friends went to get something; I was standing on the sidewalk outside (still carrying my trusty jug), and I noticed this same guy standing nearby. "Is that good wine?" he asked. "It is the best wine you can get for $5:00," I said grandly. "Can I have a taste?" he asked. I passed him the jug. He took a good pull, smiled, and handed it back, saying: "That is good wine. Thank you. My name's Leonard." We shook hands and he walked away.
Moments later my friends came running up to me. "I didn't know you knew Leonard Cohen," one said. "Who's he?" I said. "He's a poet," was the reply.
Needless to say I read everything he had written after that. A year later, this album came out. Loved it then, love it now, and will always remember that moment; that kind inquiring mind.
I dated a half crazy beautiful woman named Suzanne… it was amazing.
All the best women are half crazy...
Maybe Al Pacino?
That's Michael Corleone,
Here's a more family-friendly recollection https://groups.google.com/g/al...
Maybe Al Pacino?
Rest in Peace, Leonard Cohen. I'm struggling mightily with all the heartbreak in my world in recent days; I can only imagine a future rife with protest, anger, trepidation and anxiety; this is new for me. I am now perhaps counting on Music to help me even more than usual...
Huh?
I can remember in about 1972 when I was still in high school, my best friend Peggy and I performed this song during lunch-hour at the high school plaza. We sang harmony and played acoustic guitars, and people came to listen, and they stayed. So we did some Jim Croce songs, and a couple of Joni Mitchell songs, and an original song written by a fellow classmate - and we weren't bad. The audience loved us, but classes called, so we had to shoulder our guitars, wave our goodbyes, and get to our next class (mine was math, Peggy's was auto-shop.)
I still love this song, even though when I hear Cohen's rendition, I still flash back to my and Peggy's version and smile...
Cynaera wrote:
And I had no idea, at the time, that this was a Cohen song. Peggy always was ahead of her time. RIP, my darling friend.
We miss you too, Cynaera. RIP.
Yeah, isn't it amazing how much it's changed?
I don't understand, and maybe this is because I only hear what other people play, but I don't understand how Cohen could have used such interesting musical arrangements back then yet use such horrible arrangements more recently? It just serves poetry so much more.
Yeah, isn't it amazing how much it's changed?
"And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from china"
Let alone the balance of the lyrics
And I had no idea, at the time, that this was a Cohen song. Peggy always was ahead of her time. RIP, my darling friend.
Thanks for that story, Cynaera
I can remember in about 1972 when I was still in high school, my best friend Peggy and I performed this song during lunch-hour at the high school plaza. We sang harmony and played acoustic guitars, and people came to listen, and they stayed. So we did some Jim Croce songs, and a couple of Joni Mitchell songs, and an original song written by a fellow classmate - and we weren't bad. The audience loved us, but classes called, so we had to shoulder our guitars, wave our goodbyes, and get to our next class (mine was math, Peggy's was auto-shop.)
I still love this song, even though when I hear Cohen's rendition, I still flash back to my and Peggy's version and smile...
And I had no idea, at the time, that this was a Cohen song. Peggy always was ahead of her time. RIP, my darling friend.
Nick Cave in Leonard Cohen's song Suzanne
Suzanne takes you down to her place newer the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that shes half crazy
But thats why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from china
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That youve always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For youve touched her perfect body with your mind.
And jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe youll trust him
For hes touched your perfect body with his mind.
Now suzanne takes you hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From salvation army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For shes touched your perfect body with her mind
I can remember in about 1972 when I was still in high school, my best friend Peggy and I performed this song during lunch-hour at the high school plaza. We sang harmony and played acoustic guitars, and people came to listen, and they stayed. So we did some Jim Croce songs, and a couple of Joni Mitchell songs, and an original song written by a fellow classmate - and we weren't bad. The audience loved us, but classes called, so we had to shoulder our guitars, wave our goodbyes, and get to our next class (mine was math, Peggy's was auto-shop.)
I still love this song, even though when I hear Cohen's rendition, I still flash back to my and Peggy's version and smile...
good one!!!!
Quite. I didn't recognise this voice as Cohen's, having only heard his later stuff on RP on which his voice is so deep as to be subsonic (which could be why it gives me the willies). This is a nice old song, and tells a tale. Cohen surely does know how to write musical poetry. 7 from the Nottingham jury.
"Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Judy Collins has reached a folk-goddess pedestal in a career that spans almost 50 years. But lately, she has also emerged as a funny Irish-American storyteller. She joins us to talk about her songs, show-tunes and social activism."
"Phrasing suffers somewhat to the melodic flow of the piano but to see her proficiency on the keyboard is well worth the exchange." dancgear
"Saw Judy in 1993, grew up listening to her. Nothing can compare to her voice.....the only one who comes close is Judy Garland...but they are vastly different, but sublime in their own ways." vgoth100
"They never recorded anything together. The only duet that exists is this clip, and another song, from this 1976 TV broadcast. On Judy's upcoming album, due in May, she will have a duet with Stephen Stills and another with Joan Baez. That's not the same, I know, but still newsworthy."
"Pour une très large part c'est Judy Collins qui a fait de Lenny Cohen un artiste de scène, il lui a chanté Suzanne au téléphone, elle l'a enregistrée et publiée avant lui (sans même le copyright officiel) cela a "débloqué" Cohen avec le succès que l'on sait. Bravo à tous deux."
"Leonard Cohen talks about meeting Judy Collins, and later singing "Suzanne" to her over the telephone. Judy Collins talks about the night she brought Leonard with her to sing at a concert at New York's Town Hall."
In any case, 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 "Suzanne" was first recorded by Judy Collins the same year, and appeared on her 1966 album In My Life. It was later released by Cohen himself on his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen
The song was also performed and recorded by Nina Simone in several occasions. It appears in her album Tell It Like It Is, in a live version at the Philarmonic Hall New York in 1969. It also appears in her album Just Like A Woman, where she sings classic songs of the '60s.
Other notable early versions were by Noel Harrison (whose recording was a minor hit) and seminal British folk-rock group Fairport Convention.<4> In fact Fairport Convention were among Cohen's earliest admirers, and their take on "Suzanne" was sung as a duet between Sandy Denny and Iain Matthews for the BBC in August 1968; the recording was released on their BBC sessions compilation Heyday.
It has since been covered by many other artists.<1> Early versions of "Suzanne" included those by Pearls Before Swine, Françoise Hardy, and Harry Belafonte. The song was recorded by Joan Baez on her 1975 double album, From Every Stage. Bruce Springsteen supposedly performed the song at least once early in his career as a member of The Castiles. Some foreign remakes of the song include the Dutch version by Herman van Veen in 1969 (there also exists a Dutch song called "Suzanne" by VOF de Kunst from 1983, but that is a different song) and the Italian version by Fabrizio de André in 1984. Journey took their version to number 17 on Billboard's Top 40. The British experimental rock group The Flying Lizards released a version with detached, cold vocals sung over dark samples on their 1984 LP Top Ten. Peter Gabriel recorded a syncopated version of "Suzanne" for the Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower of Song, and Geoffrey Oryema performed it on the earlier tribute I'm Your Fan. Tori Amos performed this song during her Original Sinsuality Tour in 2005. James Taylor took his own approach onto it as part of his 2008 album Covers.
Samplers have found use for "Suzanne" as well. 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. "Suzanne" recorded in french by Sylvie Vartan on her 2007 Nouvelle Vague album. The band R.E.M. gave Cohen a joint songwriting 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.
and leonard
Actually, he never had a hit. Yet, everyone knows his songs. How 'bout that?
(Yes.)
Blimey: Leonard did sound like a young man, once!
By the way I thought this was the very wonderful Ray LaMontaigne when the guitar intro started: it's the same phrase, isn't it, as one of his?
I saw Leonard last year and i thought he sounded amazing as an old man. His music, his poetry, his writings....I have to say I am quite enamoured with Leonard Cohen. Very interesting person.
(Yes.)
Blimey: Leonard did sound like a young man, once!
By the way I thought this was the very wonderful Ray LaMontaigne when the guitar intro started: it's the same phrase, isn't it, as one of his?
I'd never heard this before, but I too recognized the REM connection right away. This is nice.
My first contact with the work of this talent author, singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist, was when hearing the "Suzanne" song that it is part of the first album on studio called "Songs of Leonard Cohen", published in1968 (Cohen had 34 years); since i followed always its work there, and proves today that Cohen was very successful in world music; with all the merit! (in this days have 74 years, on last September 21); Congratulations Mr. Cohen!
** 8 / 9 **
p.s. - and Mr. Leonard Cohen, by the way , who is the Suzanne...?lol
You'll never repeat this moments again.
But, and that is so magnificent in life, there come other ones.
i love this post. thank you.
the lyrics of this song kill me.