Album Anniversaries: The 55th Anniversary of 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'

Leonard Cohen’s debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen is a wonderful intertwining of his poetic talent and music. 55 years after being released, this album is a reminder of the human longing and desire to love.

Written By Natalie Weinberg

Photo courtesy of Babis More/Dogwoof

In the documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, Judy Collins, a friend of Leonard Cohen's, recalls the first time she heard the song “Suzanne,” when Cohen visited her in New York City, hoping to start a career in music. Cohen told Collins that he “can’t sing… can’t play the guitar, and I don’t know if this is a song.” And yet, “Suzanne” mesmerized Collins to the extent of recording a cover for her 1966 album, In My Life. A year later, “Suzanne” would be released once again, this time as the opening track of Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen. Fifty-five years later, “Suzanne” has taken on a life of its own, having been covered by many artists, ranging from Nina Simone to Nick Cave and even famous French artist Françoise Hardy (and its French lyrical twist adds a distinctive delight). Rolling Stone numbered it at 284 on their 500 greatest songs of all time list. In the same publication’s reader’s poll, ‘Suzanne’ placed second place on the top 10 best Leonard Cohen songs (after ‘Hallelujah’, which is the most listened to Cohen song on Spotify). and ‘So Long, Marianne,’ the sixth track on the album was placed sixth on the top 10 Cohen songs. 

So who is the brains behind the beauty? Born and raised in Montreal, Canada to a Jewish family, Leonard Cohen studied English at McGill University. Before music, he was a poet and writer. After finishing his degree, he moved to the island of Hydra in Greece for seven years. From the colorful aquatics, he birthed his 1964 collection of poems Flowers for Hitler, 1996 Parasites of Heaven, and the 1996 novel Beautiful Losers. 

In Hydra, he met the woman on whom the song ‘So Long, Marianne’ was based: Marianne Ihlen. She was living in Hydra with her son when she met Cohen. She hypnotized him, and he was mesmerized by her. Hydra in the 1960s was “a hub of sexual liberation and perverse use of drugs and alcohol”. The love that flourished between them in Hydra embodied that, “fueled by drugs and wine.” . In the documentary “Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love,” Marianne is shown as a loving girlfriend to Cohen, bringing him food while he was writing and enjoying letting him be a part of her son’s life. This love created the masterwork ‘So Long, Marianne’, which he wrote after parting ways with her and returning to New York City (although they were in touch throughout the rest of their lives). According to Cohen himself, he didn't think he “was saying goodbye” as he wrote the song, “but I guess I was. She gave me many songs… [s]he is a Muse.”

Image courtesy of Sony Music

The soft lyrics of “So Long, Marianne” can also be heard in “Suzanne.” Both are beautifully written poetic compositions that explore Cohen’s passion for these two different muses. “Suzanne” focuses on Suzanne Verdal, a “free-spirited” artist that seems to have mesmerized Cohen, much like Marianne Ihlen. Gentle fingerpicking patterns create a calmness to the overall feeling of the song. This song is a love letter to Verdal after all, and this tranquility reinforces Cohen’s admiration for her. The start of the song is Suzanne taking the narrator on a journey around her house. Cohen manages to illustrate this journey in a very peaceful and calm manner — his voice is soothing and the fingerpicking gentle. The opening lines of ‘Suzanne’ are iconic: “Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river / You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her.” Smitten by her “tea and oranges that come all the way from China,” he goes so far to bring her unmatched beauty and aura of safety onto a Jesus-level pedestal. While ‘Suzanne’ is more soft-spoken, the strumming of the guitar in “So Long, Marianne” gives their relationship a cheerful nostalgic outlook, as Cohen looks back at it and begins “[t]o laugh and cry / And cry and laugh / About it all again.” Cohen points out the sadness of not being next to her anymore, but looks back at their life together, understanding that it is time to part ways.

Not only through “So Long, Marianne” does Cohen teach us about the pain in saying goodbye to the person you love, but also in “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye.” Nonetheless, he reminds us that loving someone can be beautiful even when they must part ways (“You know my love goes with you / As your love stays with me”). Through humorous verses (“I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me / But the room just filled up with mosquitos”), in “One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong” Cohen manages to describe the person he loves so exquisitely, that along with the tranquil fingerpicking we can experience his absolute devotion to that person.

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

Songs of Leonard Cohen is an important exploration of the nature of love: the desire to love someone, to be loved back, and to have a muse. It is also a perfect example of the inevitable sadness and growth that comes with heartbreak. In 2009, Gregory Alan Isakov released This Empty Northern Hemisphere with the last track of the album being a delightful cover of “One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong” and in her 2012 Is Your Love Big Enough?, Lianne La Havas gives a bewitching rendition of “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye.” Songs of Leonard Cohen has clearly made an impact on contemporary musicians and is still a reminder of the beauty of love.