Suzanne
Leonard Cohen
I was very surprised when I realized that there was no real tab for this
huge folk classic, so I decided to do it myself. This is the album version
of the song, I transcribed it for 1 (classic) guitar although there is also
a bass on the album. The structure is much more complex that you could
imagine at the first listening because there is a lot of changes between
3/4, 2/4 and 4/4 bars. It's maybe difficult to "understand" the rythm, so
you should try to play the song with the album.
Brice Le Stunff, pzifff@6sens.com
Intro :
E
|---------------------------|---------------------------|
|--0------------------------|--0------------------------|
3 |------1-------1---2---1----|------1-------1---2---1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2--|----2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2----|--------------2---2---2----|
|--0-------0----------------|--0-------0----------------|
|---------------------------|
|--0------------------------|
3 |------1-------1---2---1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2----|
|--0-------0----------------|
Verses :
E
|-------------------|
|--0----------------|
2 |------1-------1----|
- |----2---2---2---2--|
4 |-------------(2)---|
|--0-------0--------|
"Suzanne ...
"And Jesus ...
"Now Suzanne ...
E
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|--0--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|------1-------1---2---1-------1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|--------------2---2---2------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|--0-------0---------------0--------|
F#m
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|--2--------------------------------|--2--------------------------------|
4 |------2-------2---4---2-------2----|------2-------2---4---2-------2----|
- |----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4--|----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4--|
4 |--------------4---4---4------------|--------------4---4---4------------|
|--2-------2---------------2--------|--2-------2---------------2--------|
E
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|--0--------------------------------|--0--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|------1-------1---2---1-------1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|--------------2---2---2------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|--0-------0---------------0--------|
G#m A
|-----------------------------------|--0--------------------------------|
|--4--------------------------------|------2-------2---3---2---0---2----|
4 |------4-------4---6---4-------4----|----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|
- |----6---6---6---6---6---6---6---6--|-------------(2)--2--(2)--2--(2)---|
4 |--------------6---6---6------------|--0-------0------------------------|
|--4-------4---------------4--------|-----------------------------------|
E F#m
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|--0--------------------------------|--2--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|------2-------2---4---2-------2----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|--------------4---4---4------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|--2-------2---------------2--------|
E F#m
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|--0--------------------------------|--2--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|------2-------2---4---2-------2----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|--------------4---4---4------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|--2-------2---------------2--------|
E
|-----------------------------------|
|--0--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|
Choruses :
E
|---------------------------|
|------------------0--------|
3 |------1---2---1-------1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |------2---2---2------------|
|--0---------------0--------|
"And you want to travel ...
G#m A
|-----------------------------------|--0--------------------------------|
|--4--------------------------------|------2-------2---3---2---0---2----|
4 |------4-------4---6---4-------4----|----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|
- |----6---6---6---6---6---6---6---6--|-------------(2)--2--(2)--2--(2)---|
4 |--------------6---6---6------------|--0-------0------------------------|
|--4-------4---------------4--------|-----------------------------------|
E F#m
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|--0--------------------------------|--2--------------------------------|
4 |------1-------1---2---1-------1----|------2-------2---4---2-------2----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2--|----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4--|
4 |--------------2---2---2------------|--------------4---4---4------------|
|--0-------0---------------0--------|--2-------2---------------2--------|
End of chorus 1 & 2 :
E
|---------------------------|---------------------------|
|--0------------------------|--0------------------------|
3 |------1-------1---2---1----|------1-------1---2---1----|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2--|----2---2---2---2---2---2--|
4 |--------------2---2---2----|--------------2---2---2----|
|--0-------0----------------|--0-------0----------------|
... mind."
Outro :
E
|---------------------------|---------------------------|---------------|
|--0------------------------|--0------------------------|---------------|
3 |------1-------1---2---1----|------1-------1---2---2----|--1------------|
- |----2---2---2---2---2---2--|----2---2---2---2---2---2--|---------------|
4 |--------------2---2---2----|--------------2---2---2----|---------------|
|--0-------0----------------|--0-------0----------------|--0------------|
... mind."
Intro
Verse 1
Chorus 1
End of chorus 1
Verse 2
Chorus 2
End of chorus 2
Verse 3
Chorus 3
Outro
Verse 1 :
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
Chorus 1 :
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.
Verse 2 :
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
Chorus 2 :
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.
Verse 3 :
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
Chorus 3 :
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.
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
|
No Picture
Josh Average |
#1 by Josh Duncan at Sep 28, 2007 at 10:54 AM EST |
| A question I have heard this song sung by neil Diamond, with different lyrics.. i wonder if he took the song from Cohen or if it was the other way around? | |
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No Picture
phoen Average |
#2 by phoen bay at Sep 29, 2007 at 11:16 AM EST |
| i don't know what this song means to me. i heard it for the first time yesterday, and i really like it. it's a pretty song. and it's easy to know all the words too. | |
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No Picture
The MADMAN Average |
#3 by The MADMAN All the way at Sep 29, 2007 at 5:55 PM EST |
| Actually I believe you are all wrong. I remember my mom telling me she had to analyze this song with her English class years back and that Suzanne is actually the water. | |
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No Picture
The MADMAN Average |
#4 by The MADMAN All the way at Oct 1, 2007 at 1:37 AM EST |
| This is definitely, most certainly Leonard Cohen's song. | |
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No Picture
[ßĩη& Average |
#5 by [ßĩηŁ@Ðэń] at Oct 1, 2007 at 5:41 PM EST |
| I would REALLY like further explaination of the 2nd verse! | |
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No Picture
Kevin Average |
#6 by Kevin turbyfill at Oct 4, 2007 at 7:55 AM EST |
| I cut and paste from a message I sent to a leonard cohen forum: "Of course Suzanne goes beyond simple "I wanted her,I couldn't get her" thing.I always thought it was about mystical experience,and the similarity between love/sex and love/god.Mystics are said to have some kind of orgasm feeling when they reach god.Better when they feel the energy of god flowing through them.Body and mind overlap.Maybe I'm just stating the obvious,I'm new to this group,but that's the first thing that this song suggested to me. The water symbolizes feelings and subconscious,so it's associated with Suzanne (=someone you dismiss as "crazy" with your rational intellect)and Jesus (because faith is not a rational thing,but only "drowning men could see him",that could mean "only those who are in distress",but also "only those who dive deep into the subconscius mind)...it's kind of Jungian: it's a song about Anima,I guess.About the feminine part who nurtures ("feeds you tea...") and is deeply associated with water and water-like objects (like the mirror)..." | |
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No Picture
jordan Average |
#7 by jordan mcm at Oct 6, 2007 at 11:40 AM EST |
| Suzanne was a person: In a 1994 BBC Radio Interview Cohen said: "The song was begun, and the chord pattern was developed, before a woman's name entered the song. And I knew it was a song about Montreal, it seemed to come out of that landscape that I loved very much in Montreal, which was the harbour, and the waterfront, and the sailors' church there, called Notre Dame de Bon Secour, which stood out over the river, and I knew that there're ships going by, I knew that there was a harbour, I knew that there was Our Lady of the Harbour, which was the virgin on the church which stretched out her arms towards the seamen, and you can climb up to the tower and look out over the river, so the song came from that vision, from that view of the river. At a certain point, I bumped into Suzanne Vaillancourt, who was the wife of a friend of mine, they were a stunning couple around Montreal at the time, physically stunning, both of them, a handsome man and woman, everyone was in love with Suzanne Vaillancourt, and every woman was in love with Armand Vaillancourt. But there was no... well, there was thought, but there was no possibility, one would not allow oneself to think of toiling at the seduction of Armand Vaillancourt's wife. First of all he was a friend, and second of all as a couple they were inviolate, you just didn't intrude into that kind of shared glory that they manifested. I bumped into her one evening, and she invited me down to her place near the river. She had a loft, at a time when lofts were... the word wasn't used. She had a space in a warehouse down there, and she invited me down, and I went with her, and she served me Constant Comment tea, which has little bits of oranges in it. And the boats were going by, and I touched her perfect body with my mind, because there was no other opportunity. There was no other way that you could touch her perfect body under those circumstances. So she provided the name in the song." | |
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No Picture
Charley Rhythm Player |
#8 by Charley Hockin at Oct 16, 2007 at 12:10 AM EST |
| Recently, I introduced this song to a friend, who asked me about my ideas regarding its meaning. I suggested he find his own interpretation and listen to what it says to him. I don't believe there is a "wrong" interpretation. I enjoyed reading other comments on this page about it. For me, it's quite clear, in that there is a real "Suzanne" who lives on the river (in this case, the Hudson, which comes right up to, and sometimes into, her yard), and I spend a good deal of my time with her there. (She cooks our eggs in orange juice). It's quiet and peaceful there, and as the song says, you can hear the boats go by sometimes, although most slip by quietly (Suz told me that if I flash the porch lights at night, the passing tugs will toot their whistles (they will too!). I also like the song's poetic references to "Our Lady in the Harbor" (the Statue of Liberty was the first electrically-operated lighthouse in America, lighting the way to freedom for many weary travelers from oppression, sailing past her on their way to nearby Ellis Island); also Jesus as a 'sailor' and his 'lonely wooden tower' (the cross). Works for me. I believe this song's lyrics were truly inspired. It captures perfectly my Suzanne's personality and our relationship. She's an actress. She's my muse. I knew the song before I knew Suzanne, but if I didn't know better, I would swear it was written about her. - Ron | |
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No Picture
brandon Rhythm Player |
#9 by brandon q at Oct 16, 2007 at 1:30 PM EST |
| I just wanted to say that my father named me after this song. It's always been a favourite of mine. | |
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