Earliest Recording Of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne - The Stormy Clovers 1966 video free download

Patti Kirk

...oops.... actually not Patti. Bill. 

Patti Kirk

The Stormy Clovers played at the Penny Farthing in Yorkville, I think in the summer of '66--could have been '67. Ray Perdue on 12-String Rickenbacker, Susan Jains on vocal, fella named Smash on drums. This was the first Leonard Cohen song I'd ever heard. They did Donovan--Catch the Wind, Lightfoot--Early Morning Rain. I had a series of B&W close-ups I took of Susan Jains...15 in total, matted in three frames on the wall for years. Wish I knew where they were now.

voidforpurpose

Perfect for a period movie. It sounds like a fake band in a biker flick from 1966.

folkmusicgirl

I have never heard of this group before until hearing them here on Youtube.What became of them? Did they record an album? Did they tour much in the mid-60's?

Honeybob1

A kind of irony. One of the greatest songs of all time and it was first performed by these people. Oh well, from humble beginnings............ Very humble.

Michael Lilly

Meterial well worth listening to. History comes alive again.

Allan Showalter

The blond woman in the first set of photos is Susan Jains, lead singer for the Stormy Clovers

Lisa Ebert

Is the woman in the photos Suzanne? I thought she had dark hair. This looks more like Marianne.

john mcpeake

used to see the clovers at the new peen elope...they also covered in the early morning rain...heard it by them before lightfoot...

Allan Showalter

Found it. Cohen said "I touched her perfect body with my mind, because there was no other opportunity. There was no other way that you could touch her perfect body under those circumstances." in a 1994 BBC interview.

Allan Showalter

Your recall is accurate (or at least we recall it the same way). I don't have the source at hand just now either.

vigtigyou2uber

The Clovers' version of this song is in my opinion not nearly as good as Mr. Cohens performance in Songs Of Leonard Cohen. It is, however, interesting to hear the first ever recording of the song and I do think they did a decent job at capturing some of the ambivalence and melancholic longing I seem to take from Cohen's later version. Thanks for uploading and sharing!

vigtigyou2uber

I seem to remember reading a transcript of a radio interview with Cohen some time ago. In it, he said that the inspiration for a lot of the lyrics were actually quite literal; he thought Suzanne Verdal was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful. However, the fact that she was married to Mr. Cohen's friend reduced his possibilities to touch her perfect body with his mind. It has of course taken on a lot of meanings for a lot of people since. I don't remember where i found this transcript.

Allan Showalter

There is extensive documentation that the Stormy Clovers were the first to perform Suzanne on stage. This recording is from 1966, as verified DD Fraser, the sole remaining member of the group . It's possible there is an earlier recording, but none has yet appeared.

starfaery

Okay I thought it was more of a metaphoric figure. Do you have any source to support those claims?

nal do

interesting! even it wasn't a sincere query!

Allan Showalter

On the chance this is a sincere query, it was Suzanne Verdal, the wife (then) of Cohen’s friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, who fed Leonard Cohen tea and oranges and thus became the titular subject of his first popular song.

starfaery

Who the fuck is Suzanne?

Allison Crowe

bmoxco - read the articles and posts at the link provided and you'll likely agree, we're fortunate this recording survives. Too little of the sounds and history of The Stormy Clovers has made it. You can bet the creator of this video has done no processing whatsoever of the audio - but, rather, is working with precious resources available to share an historic recording with the world. Archives are often less than ideal in physical form. So, we have what exists to enjoy.

bmoxco

What a shame it's virtually destroyed by excessive noise reduction... You know there is nothing wrong with a little hiss on an important recording, aside from the fact that no recording should be this processed... does this really sound good to you?

JUDY COLLINS & LEONARD COHEN

JUDY COLLINS & LEONARD COHEN - Suzanne 1976

Leonard Cohen's Divergent & Devastating Version Of "So Long, Marianne"

Leonard Cohen's Divergent & Devastating Version Of "So Long, Marianne" - Oslo 1993

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne