Suzanne Vega’s favourite Leonard Cohen album: “Opened up a world of songwriting”

Posted On February 19, 2025February 19, 2025

For an artist like Suzanne Vega, for whom lyrics are the forefront of her brand and musicality falls in step behind, it’s no real surprise that the music she loves herself follows in that same suit. There are few truly iconic music stars who use their words so skilfully as a vehicle as much as their sonic abilities, but in many ways, they are the ones who seal themselves the greatest lasting legacies as the songwriting poets at the top of their game.

When previously discussing her favourite albums with the Express in 2016, Vega singled out Leonard Cohen’s debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen, as a driving force of inspiration to her own later career. She explained that the seminal record “opened up a world of songwriting” to her, that would evidently play a pivotal role in the rest of her life.

Vega continued: “His voice is so intimate, though, there was nothing easy listening about it. It’s very intense. Who else sings about being sick in bed?”. That intensity she speaks of can be owed in no small part to the wealth of genius that Cohen harboured within the album’s original ten-track span – expanded to 12 on its 2007 reissue – which is now widely regarded as being the Canadian musician’s crowning glory.

It’s also perhaps no coincidence that its opening track, which shares a name with its most adoring fan, was a prime reason that Vega holds the record still so close in her heart some almost 60 years on from its initial release. On account of its influence on her own life, she said that: “I tried to drink in everything I could learn from it, and I still do.”

In her own most esteemed hits including ‘Marlene on the Wall’ and ‘Luka’, Vega mirrored many of the traits of Cohen’s lyrical originality by channelling the bravery to cover unconventional or harrowing topics. In this respect the sonic similarities between the pair are clear – they are masters of fusing the literary and musical worlds into one, and aren’t afraid to travel to the darkest depths to express the true meaning of their souls.

Although Vega gave the highest possible praise to the album from the outset, it’s clear that in the beginning, her opinion wasn’t exactly a popular one. As Cohen’s debut record, the singer-songwriter was far from an overnight success when he first entered the fray. Critics relatively panned Cohen’s work and claimed that only a few singles, such as ‘Suzanne’, stood out as being worth any real merit. It’s only as time has worn on that Vega’s love for the album has become more universally shared, cementing Cohen’s legacy as a wordsmith and ultimately proving that the loudest voices aren’t necessarily always the correct ones.

In Suzanne Vega’s case, however, her assessments on musical masteries are never seen to be far wrong. It’s clear that she found a lyrical kindred spirit in Cohen through his magnum opus album, and it’s also evident that it has played a pivotal role in steering the ship of her career ever since. In that sense, you would probably be hard pressed to find a bigger Cohen fan anywhere than her.

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