Talk:Suzanne (Leonard Cohen song)

Untitled

On a more mundane level the second stanza could also describe the Jesus figure situated on top of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours – a sailor's church overlooking the river: And Jesus was a sailor/ When he walked upon the water/ And he spent a long time watching/ From his lonely wooden tower.

There is no statue of Jesus on top of the church. The front of the church has a figure of the Virgin and Child [1], while the rear (towards the harbour) has the more prominent and famous statue of Our Lady of Good Help flanked by angels [2]. - Montréalais 04:58, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

The reference was to the fact that the crucifix over the altar faces the harbour (rather than the street as with most churches) - this is the wooden tower. The statue above the church is said to be another reference in the song - the Lady of the Harbour (ambiguous in the third stanza as to whether it is this Lady or Suzanne herself). I remember hearing these things on a Montreal radio station in the early '70s, but can't give a reference. 99.245.248.91 (talk) 22:04, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Meaning

The fact that much of this song makes reference to actual things and places that exist, and to a real person who did share tea and oranges (or orange tea) with Cohen is misleading. This song is not about the real person, Suzanne any more than it is about the real Jesus. Both are symbols. Suzanne represents the creative, artistic, mystical way of life. Her food comes all the way from China, her rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters. She shows you mysteries among the garbage and the flowers. But Suzanne is "half crazy" and although "that's why you want to be there" it is a life that requires you to let go off all you have -- even the ground you walk on. Jesus says "all men will be sailors until the sea shall free them". Cohen is fascinated by this vision of the world but seems to hold it at arms length, knowing he could get totally lost in it, but also knowing without the vision, life would not be worth living.

Harry Belafonte sang 2 songs titled "Suzanne"

In the 1950s, and again in 1960 on his Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall album, Harry sang a self-written song titled Suzanne with the opening line "Every night when the sun goes down." [3] Then, in 1969, on his Homeward Bound album, he recorded a cover of the Leonard Cohen song. [4]

 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.245.255.58 (talk) 08:40, 7 April 2008 (UTC) 

Cover

Françoise Hardy covered Suzanne in a french version in her 1968 album Comment te dire adieu, and then in english for her 1970 album One-Nine-Seven-Zero. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.193.148.235 (talk) 20:41, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

spanky and our gang

Article does mention a number of covers, but does not mention one by the late '60s pop-folk combo Spanky & Our Gang; I mention it because it was a pretty big hit commercially.Maccb (talk) 01:54, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Royalties / Bird on a Wire film

In Tony Palmer's film "Bird on a Wire", Cohen talks of losing the publishing rights (and one therefore assumes any future royalties) for the song: worth mentioning in the article, one would have thought... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.182.205 (talk) 00:05, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

I saw the same on a video of a performance of this song.[5] A blog says that Cohen bought the rights back in the 90s.[6] Anybody have a source? This should definitely be added to the article. Debresser (talk) 23:23, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Dutch cover

Seeying that a french cover and chech cover is menstioned on the wiki page, there should be a mention of this version to.

Frank boeijen - Suzanne — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.179.85.149 (talk) 14:32, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

RfC: Lead image and infobox

There is a clear consensus to keep the Cohen image and the Cohen infobox. Cunard (talk) 05:09, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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The release of the recording by the late Leonard Cohen is the current lead image, inserted in the infobox summarizing the Cohen recording. Which recording shall be the lead image, the Cohen recording or the recording by Noel Harrison? Shall the infobox of the Cohen recording be retained or removed, while the Cohen image is unaffected? --George Ho (talk) 16:34, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

For the heads up, I added the Canadian rerelease. --George Ho (talk) 07:29, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

Lead image

• Looks fine to me. Thanks for uploading it. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:05, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
• It's his song, and the recording is famous. What's not to like?—Anne Delong (talk) 05:13, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Infobox

• Keep. A useful summary. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:05, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
• Keep. Keep the Cohen infobox and the Cohen image. Caden ^cool 20:00, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
• Keep - Infoboxes are helpful to readers.—Anne Delong (talk) 05:13, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

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The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Fabrizio De André

Hi, in Italy we know this song mainly thanks to the translation of the most important Italian cantautore: Fabrizio De André. I would say that it is worth to mention it. Thank you, best --Marco Ciaramella (talk) 15:15, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Francoise Hardy

I tried to put a link to Francoise Hardy’s 1968 cover of Suzanne, which is a french translation, to the covers section. Merely tried to put a link to an existing page within wiki [Comment te dire adieu (album)] and admin removed it for lack of reference. What gives? Its an internal connection. All one has to do is click on the link to the existing wiki page and voila! Tarheel1994 (talk) 05:33, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

They are still requesting that there be a citation. What exactly are we talking about here? It’s just a song on an album. I’m holding the album in my hands right now looking at it. Wiki already has a link to said album. Why be so nitpicky? I’m just trying to put a link here to a fantastic French artist and the album that is ignored in this reference. Francoise has been singing since the early 60s up until 2018 and has a catalog of over 480 songs. It’s not like my neighbor sang it and I’m trying to promote her. I’m talking about an incredibly famous French singer here. Is there no simple way just to create a Cross link? Tarheel1994 (talk) 12:11, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

Since this article is about the LC song, what you want is a decent WP:RS who noticed that Francoise Hardy did a version of, and bothered to write about it. French ones are fine. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:20, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

the song itself

This article feels rather incomplete. All nice and dandy to what inspired Cohen in writing this song, but there is no mention at all of the actual text of the song, nor an interpretation or comment of it. 83.85.236.39 (talk) 20:00, 6 August 2023 (UTC)