Suzanne (Leonard Cohen Song) - Recordings and Cover Versions

Recordings and Cover Versions

The song "Suzanne" was first recorded by Judy Collins, 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 on several occasions. It originally appeared on her 1967 studio album, To Love Somebody, and it appears on the compilation album Tell It Like It Is, in a live version at the Philarmonic Hall New York in 1969.

Other notable early versions were by Noel Harrison, whose recording was a minor hit, and Fairport Convention. 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. Roberta Flack's version closes her 1973 double-platinum album, Killing Me Softly.

It has since been covered by many other artists. Early versions of "Suzanne" included those by Pearls Before Swine, Harry Belafonte, the latter of whom had earlier written and recorded a different song entitled "Suzanne". Bruce Springsteen supposedly performed the song at least once early in his career as a member of The Castiles. Tom Northcott's version charted in Canada in 1971. René Marie sings a version combined with Ravel's "Bolero" as a tribute to her father, who loved both pieces; a recording of this is on her 2003 album, Live at Jazz Standard.

Some remakes of the song in other languages include the 1967 French version by Graeme Allwright, covered by many, such as Françoise Hardy (1968), "Pauline Julien" (1969), Neil Diamond on Stones (1971), Nana Mouskouri (2002), Sylvie Vartan (2007), Alain Bashung (2008) ; the 1969 Dutch version by Herman van Veen; and the 1974 Italian version by Fabrizio de André (in his album "Canzoni").

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. John Howard covered the song on his 2007 E.P. The Bewlay Brothers. James Taylor took his own approach to it as part of his 2008 album Covers. Tangerine Dream covered the song in their 2010 album Under Cover - Chapter One.

Samples from "Suzanne" have also been used: Robert McKay used lines from Cohen's poem as chapter titles 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. 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. 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.

Current 93's "Lament For My Suzanne" is another take on Cohen's song. The song heavily features lyrics and themes from the original version.

A Czech Version exists, sung by Václav Neckář.