Berta+R

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen // Songs of Leonard Cohen, // 1967

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river You can hear the boats go by You can spend the night beside her And you know that 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 that 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 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 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 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 you can trust her For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

__ Essay and Analysis __

Suzanne is one of my favourite songs, and one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Leonard Cohen is a songwriter but also a poet, and he combines music and poetry in the most harmonious way. His voice is deep and masculine, and his words are very intense. The song is about Suzanne, the wife of a friend of Leonard. Leonard was madly in love with her. Of course, he never betrayed his friend and he simply had to go through with his love for her. The lyrics are very powerful: Cohen clearly expresses his admiration towards Suzanne. We imagine her as a woman that captivates you, maybe for the fact that she is “half crazy”, or simply because as the song plays we hear in Cohen’s tone a certain yearning for her, as if when being with her time stopped and everything was possible, and small details of life somehow became important. In the first stanza, we see this feeling of Cohen trying to leave her behind, maybe due to a sense of guilt because he is with his friend’s wife, he can’t help feeling that this is wrong. Suzanne answers with silence, and the river ‘speaks’ for her, making Leonard stay. Here we can see an important connection between them, a very significant bond. Wanting to “travel blind” with Suzanne would mean that you know you can leave yourself in her hands because you trust her, and although you are perfectly conscious that reality exists, you don’t need to see it through your own eyes. When he says “you’ve touched her perfect body with your mind”, we realise they never reached the point of having sexual relations, but Cohen often mentioned in interviews that he had imagined himself many times making love with Suzanne. The song continues with a vision of Jesus walking on the water. I personally think Cohen slightly criticizes Jesus in this stanza: “He spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower” seems that Jesus was alone, observing men and the world carefully from a tower, which is an element that gives a sense of authority and power upon others. After observing, he realised “only drowning men could see him”, and proclaimed that every man should be a sailor until the sea freed him; ergo he wanted men to die so they could see his face, which seems cruel, selfish and unfit in him. I see Jesus whimsically desperate due to a lack of attention and admiration from his followers, and making this unthought and cruel decision to refill his ego. In the next verse we can see this Jesus could be Cohen himself, in a moment of despair, not having anyone by his side, not even Suzanne, abandoned, “forsaken”. In the last stanza we see a very sweet and tender scene: Suzanne and Leonard in the harbour, watching the sunset. The simile of the sunset and the pouring of honey is very innocent and pure. The tone is very melancholic. In the last stanza and throughout the whole poem, there is a very clear symbol which is water (river, boats, sailor, water, drowning, harbour, seaweed... all draw the same picture). For me, it symbolizes a child in the womb. Leonard Cohen tries to find safety, stability and peace in himself through Suzanne, which may be like a mother figure to him. Suzanne is a woman who is stronger than him. Maybe he felt she could protect him in a way only a mother protects her child: asking nothing in return but love.

- ** Introduce L. Cohen: ** o ** Canadian poet and songwriter. **  o ** Suzanne: one of his most famous songs. Friend’s wife, he was in love with her. **  - ** Analysis:  ** o ** Admiration for her **** --- **** summarise essay ** o ** General idea of song: he loves her deeply. **  o ** Hidden message: water words, child in womb, mother love. **
 * __ Brief bullet points on my exposition: __**

__ Task for the audience: Choose the right word __ Suzanne takes you down to her ** place / space / race ** near the river You can hear the boats go by You can spend the night beside her And you ** grow / show / know ** that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there And she ** pleads / feeds / needs ** you tea and oranges That come all the way from China And just when you mean to tell her That you have no ** love / glove / shove ** to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the ** shiver / river / liver ** answer That you've always been her lover And you want to travel with her And you want to travel ** blind / kind / wined ** And you know that 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 ** meant / went / 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 ** spoken / broken / token ** Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a ** stone / bone / clone ** 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 ** band / land / hand ** And she leads you to the river She is wearing ** bags / flags / rags ** and feathers From Salvation Army counters And the sun pours down like ** honey / money / bunny ** On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the ** towers / flowers / powers ** There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are ** weaning / meaning / 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 you can trust her For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.