Suzanne

'Suzanne'

'Suzanne'. Love poem and song by Leonard Cohen. The poem, written in l966 in Montreal and later published in Selected Poems l956-l968 (Toronto l968), became one of Cohen's earliest songs. It was recorded first for the LP In My Life by the US singer Judy Collins, who learned it from Cohen over the telephone. Cohen himself recorded 'Suzanne' on his debut LP in l967. That same year a recording by Noel Harrison was a minor hit on North American charts. Versions were also recorded in the late 1960s and the 1970s by Harry Belafonte, Leon Bibb, Roberta Flack, Catherine MacKinnon, Chad Mitchell, Tom Northcott, Nina Simone, Spanky and Our Gang, and many others. 'Suzanne' has also been recorded in French - eg, by Pauline Julien (translation: Gilbert Langevin) and by Graeme Allwright and Françoise Hardy (translation: Allwright). The song was published by Project Seven Music (New York) and appeared in the folio Songs of Leonard Cohen (New York l969). It was one of six Cohen songs given visual treatment in the video fantasy I am a Hotel (1984). "Suzanne," which describes a view of the Montreal harbour, was inducted by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.