“Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen

Before "Suzanne" was a song it was a poem, published in 1966, and Judy Collins got it onto record that same year, before its author had cut a note of his own. Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet turned singer, then made it his first single and the calling card of his debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, released in 1967 with John Simon producing.

It's a hushed, circling folk song, Cohen's low, unshowy voice murmuring along like a man letting you in on a secret he isn't sure you deserve, and the spell never breaks. Singers have lined up to take it on ever since, making it one of the most recorded songs he ever wrote, and Rolling Stone placed it at 284 on its list of the 500 greatest songs in 2021.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.