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most probably there are a hundred interpretations of the words in "Suzanne" dispersed in all the threads and topics on this forum.
How interesting would it be to get acces to all of them at the same place.

What a wonderful, explorative posting, Grantusm. Hope to see your name here more often.
Insightful comments regarding those days and times with music.
I only discovered your post as I was noticing how old threads are being revived.
This one going back 8.5 years!!

I find it very distasteful that a couple of you in this topic state that Robert Flack 'butchered Suzanne'. Robert Flack, imo, has never 'butchered' anything she's been involved with. As the only person, ever, to win 'record of the year' and 'best pop vocal' twice in a row at the Grammy's, her interpretation of the song is, simply, her interpretation, and everyone is entitled to one when it comes to 'Suzanne' (and many are out there). And it's not the only Cohen song she's covered and been given praise for.

And her cover of 'Suzanne' has received praise by those close to Cohen. In 'Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen', Anjani Thomas states she "really liked Robert Flack's cover of Suzanne". It certainly makes me wonder how such a long-time creative partner (and past girlfriend) of Cohen's could be so wrong and that Flack actually 'butchered' the song. In fact, because of their relationship, I can only imagine that he probably shared in Anjani's opinion. It would make sense. I know I do.

I'm all for individual taste and expression of it. And I take musical criticism with a large grain of salt at the best of times. But comments like 'butcher' really have to go a long way to actually prove their merit in criticism. And I saw no real musical criticism beyond that at all by those claiming it to be true here. These are the kind of comments that come from people who say things like "I hate classical music", or "all country music sucks". Such comments close way more conversations than they open.