“I love that line ‘The sun pours down like honey.’ I recently ended up playing ‘Suzanne’ over and over.” James Taylor On Leonard Cohen & Suzanne + His Cover Of The Song

Allan Showalter

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Leonard predates me a little bit, but not by much. The first time I heard any of his songs was Judy Collins’ version of ‘Suzanne’ on her In My Life album. I loved her version and it had a huge affect on me and informed my writing. He’s an important writer. I love that line ‘The sun pours down like honey.’ I recently ended up playing ‘Suzanne’ over and over. I’d play it at sound checks, I’d play it in hotel rooms, I’d just play it when I picked up a guitar.1

 

James Taylor

 

Also See James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma Perform Suzanne In 2016 Tribute To Leonard Cohen

 

 

Credit Due Department: Photo by Paul Keleher – originally posted to Flickr as James Taylor at Tanglewood, CC BY 2.0, via Wikipedia Commons

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Nov 27, 2008 at DrHGuy.com, a predecessor of Cohencentric.

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  1. From James Taylor Tells the Stories Behind His Favorite Covers by Andy Greene. Rolling Stone: November 26, 2008. [↩]

One thought on ““I love that line ‘The sun pours down like honey.’ I recently ended up playing ‘Suzanne’ over and over.” James Taylor On Leonard Cohen & Suzanne + His Cover Of The Song”

  1. I like James Taylor’s music a whole lot. And this is very pleasant. But why can’t JT be bothered to get the words right? Leonard wasn’t one for messing around with the lyric. We know he worked for years on his poems and lyrics, to get them right and exact. He didn’t (unlike Dylan) see fit to vary the words in concert. At least not this much. I think cover versions should respect that.

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