While I’ve seen this song alternately referred to as a “gorgeous ballad...a tale of heartbreak and longing” (Allmusic.com) and a retort to Leonard Cohen’s song of the same name, it is clearly neither. Like most of the songs on Newman’s brilliant 12 Songs LP, Suzanne is an unsettling portrait of a dysfunctional loner, in this case a narrator who comes across the title character’s name in a telephone booth and begins stalking her. The song builds to its quietly terrifying climax where the narrator proclaims “You won't know it but I'll be behind you/ Don't try and run away from me, little girl/Wherever you go I'll find you”. A love song in the most demented sense, but more bone-chilling than heartbreaking, infused with the songwriter’s typically warped black humour. Apart from In Germany Before the War and Bad News from Home, this is probably his most unnerving song.
While I’ve seen this song alternately referred to as a “gorgeous ballad...a tale of heartbreak and longing” (Allmusic.com) and a retort to Leonard Cohen’s song of the same name, it is clearly neither. Like most of the songs on Newman’s brilliant 12 Songs LP, Suzanne is an unsettling portrait of a dysfunctional loner, in this case a narrator who comes across the title character’s name in a telephone booth and begins stalking her. The song builds to its quietly terrifying climax where the narrator proclaims “You won't know it but I'll be behind you/ Don't try and run away from me, little girl/Wherever you go I'll find you”. A love song in the most demented sense, but more bone-chilling than heartbreaking, infused with the songwriter’s typically warped black humour. Apart from In Germany Before the War and Bad News from Home, this is probably his most unnerving song.