YouTube link Spotify link Leonard Cohen original
"There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
And they're leaning out for love,
And they'll lean that way forever.
While Suzanne holds the mirror."
"There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
And they're leaning out for love,
And they'll lean that way forever.
While Suzanne holds the mirror."
The mirror is a reflection on society, without judgement, shining back society's light. The artist epitomized.
Suzanne isn't just a muse, not a mere pretty pretty Peggy Sue. Leonard Cohen's real life Suzanne took him by the hand to the St. Lawrence River. She didn't tell him what he was seeing, or force conclusions down his throat. She showed him where to look between the garbage and the flowers. Neither the extreme beauty, nor the extreme filth. The whole of life that lies between.
She is the master, pointing at the moon. Let us not fixate on her finger, it is impermanent flesh. Rather, follow the invisible line into the sky to the truth it points out.
It is our basest desire to cling on to someone who shows us these beauties. You find their body to be perfect, as they believe yours to be. That's why Cohen wants to travel with her. But to tame such a spirit is to break it. The only way to stay near such a beautiful mind is to liberate yourself from your own. To see that the garbage, the flowers, and that which lies between is all around you and is you.
At that point you can travel with her, because you are travelling with all.
Cohen wrote the magnificent lyrics to "Suzanne," and he was the one who knew her in reality. But I favor Nina Simone's version of the song, due to her fantastic ability to breathe life into a story. In this case she removes the first person, Cohen, from the story, and broadens the tale into something we can all share.
Nina demonstrates this in her fist-to-the-sky rendition of "Dambala"
Suzanne isn't just a muse, not a mere pretty pretty Peggy Sue. Leonard Cohen's real life Suzanne took him by the hand to the St. Lawrence River. She didn't tell him what he was seeing, or force conclusions down his throat. She showed him where to look between the garbage and the flowers. Neither the extreme beauty, nor the extreme filth. The whole of life that lies between.
She is the master, pointing at the moon. Let us not fixate on her finger, it is impermanent flesh. Rather, follow the invisible line into the sky to the truth it points out.
It is our basest desire to cling on to someone who shows us these beauties. You find their body to be perfect, as they believe yours to be. That's why Cohen wants to travel with her. But to tame such a spirit is to break it. The only way to stay near such a beautiful mind is to liberate yourself from your own. To see that the garbage, the flowers, and that which lies between is all around you and is you.
At that point you can travel with her, because you are travelling with all.
Cohen wrote the magnificent lyrics to "Suzanne," and he was the one who knew her in reality. But I favor Nina Simone's version of the song, due to her fantastic ability to breathe life into a story. In this case she removes the first person, Cohen, from the story, and broadens the tale into something we can all share.
Nina demonstrates this in her fist-to-the-sky rendition of "Dambala"