Wednesday 18 June 2008

"You know that you can trust her"

There have been many girls' names used as titles of popular (and less popular - Craig McLachlan and Check 1, 2's Mona springs to mind...) songs over the years, and it seems peculiar how often the one name can elicit similar sentiments. Take the bitter-sweet yearning and almost unwilling affection towards Suzanne from Leonard Cohen and Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions, for instance...

Suzanne Charlton
Lemon Cone's song entitled Suzanne featured on his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, and has been covered by anyone who's anyone, including such greats as Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Joan Baez and Françoise Hardy. And of course we must not forget country singer George Hamilton IV (not to be confused with the perma-tanned actor who starred in Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough).

Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions's song entitled Suzanne hasn't. But it's still bloody good! I love the complicated xylophone part underscoring the simple guitar backing. It can - and should - be heard on the 2001 album Bavarian Bread Fruit.

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne mp3 (available for 7 days)

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - Suzanne mp3 (available for 7 days)

Buy music from today's artists here

Leonard Cohen website | Hope Sandoval website

1 comment:

I Am Not The Beatles said...

I shall give the other version a listen when I return from work later. I am confess I don't really understand the appeal of Leonard Cohen (except for 'Everybody Knows' - and even then only because it was in one of the best films of all time ie Pump Up The Volume with Christian Slater *goes all homoerotic*)

Anyway, hello - and I look forward to listeneing laters!