Quantcast

Call for Papers: PopMatters Celebrates The Jam in Massive Special Section

Evolution of a Song - "Suzanne"

Friday, Feb 19, 2010

The next piece has a thousand covers, but I’m only going to include the ones I find relevant personally. 


I was taken back to this song by a specific Nina Simone version from Sugar in My Bowl: The Very Best of Nina Simone 1967 - 1972. The lyrics of the song first appeared in a poetry book Cohen wrote in 1966. It appeared as “Suzanne takes you down.” There was also recently an LA Weekly cover piece called “Living Off the Grid” that spotlighted the actual Suzanne that Cohen wrote the poem for and what she is doing today.


Leonard Cohen is one of the many artists I was introduced to by my parents growing up. His songs always touched me deeply and below are some videos that I think help give a trajectory of how the song evolved. In this case, I have included multiple live version of Cohen singing “Suzanne,” so we can see how he has evolved as an artist and how crowds have evolved as crowds.


Tagged as: leonard cohen
Related Articles
31 Jan 2012
Septuagenarian folk legend Leonard Cohen revisits his Old Ideas on his first new studio album in seven years.
20 Jul 2011
The power of her voice overwhelms the material, but that’s the point. She shows instead of tells her feelings.
17 Dec 2010
Successful live albums are challenging things, judged by their ability to adequately portray the power of a performance. 2010 proved that even a strong crop of carefully staged and recorded recent shows could still be overshadowed by legendary sets of the past.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Short Ends and Leader: 'Battleship': What Did You Expect?
Devil May Cry: HD Collection (Reviews) [Tue, 1:00 am]
'Battleship': What Did You Expect? (Short Ends and Leader) [Mon, 2:00 pm]
East Meets Least: 'Thirteen Women' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
'Man to Man' is an Early Talkie that's Not Stagey at All (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
Calling Out to Carroll...Baker: 'Bridge to the Sun' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media) [Fri, 12:00 pm]
Paranormal (Radio)Activity: 'Chernobyl Diaries' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 11:00 am]
'Men in Black 3' Looks Back, Again (Reviews) [Fri, 9:20 am]
Poliça: 11 May 2012 - Rochester, NY (Reviews) [Fri, 6:25 am]
'The Witcher 2' Does the Exposition Dump Right (Moving Pixels) [Fri, 6:00 am]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. 20 Questions: Kate Bornstein (Features)
  7. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  9. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  10. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  11. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  12. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  13. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  14. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  15. Go Goth!: Ranking the Burton/Depp Collaborations (Short Ends and Leader)
  16. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  17. Best Coast: The Only Place (Reviews)
  18. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  19. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  20. Something’s Wrong with the Black Widow! (Graphic Novelties)
  21. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  22. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  23. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  24. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  25. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  26. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  27. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  28. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  29. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  30. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements
Ratings

10 - The Best of the Best

9 - Very Nearly Perfect

8 - Excellent

7 - Damn Good

6 - Good

5 - Average

4 - Unexceptional

3 - Weak

2 - Seriously Flawed

1 - Terrible

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.