The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #24534 Message #897689
Posted By: GUEST,Q
24-Feb-03 - 05:24 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Early Leonard Cohen
Subject: Lyr Add: SUZANNE (Leonard Cohen)
Lyrics to Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," Judy Collins version in the DT, is incomplete and some words are changed, shifting the intent of the original. Here is the correct version.
Lyr. Add: SUZANNE
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river You can hear the bots 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 like honey On Our Lady of the Harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowerws 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.
Leonard Cohen. Our Lady of the Harbour is a reference to the Montreal church near the waterfront, once frequented by sailors (still the case?). Its silver-painted Mary looks seaward. The lines separated off as "chorus" in the DT revision are really integral parts of the preceding verses. They are separated here to make the written text more visible.