“Suzanne” by Nina Simone

Nina Simone took Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" for To Love Somebody, her 1969 album, and bent it to her own will: she arranged it herself, sits at the piano and sings the lead. The song had started life as a Cohen poem, published in 1966, before Judy Collins recorded it that same year and Cohen made it his own debut single, and a small army of singers has recorded it since.

Her band gives it a different grain: Al Schackman on guitar, Weldon Irvine on organ, Gene Perla on bass and electric bass and Don Alias on drums, with Virdia Crawford and Doris Willingham singing behind her. Ray Hall and Mike Moran recorded it.

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