Suzanne leonard cohen nina simone biography

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, we’re talking about songs that were originally created by men but were better covered by women.

Nina Simone, “Suzanne” (1969)

Nina Simone is best known for torch songs and black empowerment anthems, but her greatest unsung talent was for rendering complex female characters.

The best example is a song Simone wrote herself, “Four Women,” in which she profiles a female quartet—Aunt Sarah, Soffronia, Sweet Thing, and Peaches—representing diverse facets of the African-American experience.

Suzanne leonard cohen nina simone biography wikipedia

Her performance lends the women distinct, dimensional personalities, as if each is based on a real person. Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” actually is based on a real person—Suzanne Verdal, Cohen’s friend, with whom he would drink tea and loaf around Montreal.

Their relationship was intimate, but not sexual, a distinction blurred by Cohen’s am