233. "SUZANNE" AND LEONARD COHEN by un'Americana a Venezia

"Suzanne" is probably the best-known song by the poet, singer-songwriter, and novelist, Leonard Cohen, an artist who is practically a living legend at the age of 78.  "Suzanne" was first recorded by Judy Collins in 1966.  Possibly, the song was first performed on stage by a Canadian group called The Clovers in the same year.  Apart from its melancholy beauty and rich lyrics, there is a simple reason why so many singers of both sexes have borrowed and sung "Suzanne" in various languages, including singer-songwriter Fabrizio De Andrè who recorded it in Italian in 1974.  Not incidentally, right before singing "Suzanne" at the Arena of Verona on September 24, 2012, Leonard Cohen dedicated it "to the memory of Fabrizio."  At another concert decades ago, Cohen explained to the audience that he particularly loved "Suzanne," but that someone he once trusted had given him a "standard contract" to sign which, he discovered afterwards, gave away Cohen's exclusive rights to the song.  Cohen added, however, that it would have been wrong to get rich on "Suzanne."  In fact, "Suzanne" is a poem that belongs to humanity.  The song makes reference to Suzanne Verdal, once the wife of a sculptor in Montreal, the Canadian city where Cohen was born.  The river in the song is the Saint Lawrence.  "Our lady of the harbor" is an allusion to the chapel by the river port, to the madonna called Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours.  Suzanne was "half crazy" says the song, which was why the poet wanted to be with her.  We can only imagine the true nature of their relationship.  First a poet, then a singer-songwriter, Cohen was inspired during his adolescence by the work of Federico Garcia Lorca, and also by William Butler Yeats, Irving Layton (also of Montreal), Walt Whitman, and Henry Miller.  Cohen's own work tends to revolve around spiritual themes, relationships, and isolation.  Cohen suffered with depression during his life.  Five years spent in spiritual retreat among Zen Buddhist monks helped him immensely.  Today he is a practicing Jew as well as an ordained Zen Buddhist monk.  There is no clash between the two, he explains, since Buddhism is, in fact, a philosophy which recognizes no deity as such.  Cohen, a father and grandfather, has also been the companion of the same woman for the past ten years.  Having run into grave financial difficulties about eight years ago, Cohen was forced out of retirement and back on tour, to the pleasure of his fans worldwide.  These days he appears on stage in an impeccable suit and fedora, explaining that he wants to honor the memory of his father who was, after all, a tailor.  Singing in the same distinctive voice, he still plays the guitar with those beautiful, long-fingers as well as the piano, keyboards, and synthesizer. Bringing to the world fresh melodies and lyrics that stir the soul with their honesty, irony, and passion, one cannot say that he has ever been a fool or a slouch.  When for nearly fifty years the man keeps singing the same "Suzanne"  and the audience, be they in Italy, Japan, Israel, Eastern Europe or Las Vegas, continues to explode into grateful applause, one can be sure that the song is a classic, and that the poet who wrote it is some kind of genius.  Self-critical and shockingly truthful, humble but proud, a man whose every song exudes poetry, Leonard Cohen, one of a kind, will always have class to sell.    UN’AMERICANA A VENEZIA