There was so much other wonderful things happening. From the viewpoint of a middle-class London, sixteen year old, Suzanne’s lifestyle was utterly original and certainly one to be envied. There’s a little bit of a bittersweet feeling to it that I retain. And I guess, I don’t know if that intimidated him or embarrassed him or made him uncomfortable.Saunders: It seems very sad that the spirits moved apart.Suzanne: Yes, I agree and I believe it’s material forces at hand that do this to many the greatest of lovers (laughs).Saunders: So would you say in a way, in the spiritual sense, you were great lovers at some level?Suzanne: Oh yes, yes, I don’t hesitate to speak of this, absolutely.
When I was living then separated from Armand, I went and was very much interested in the waterfront. Suzanne Verdal has to drive around town just to find a place to shower or use the bathroom. Suzanne Verdal est interviewée par la CBC en 2006. They trawl Ebay on a virtual, treasure hunt. It was a spirit union.Suzanne: He was "drinking me in" more than I even recognized, if you know what I mean. And I may or may not have spoken to Leonard about, you know I did pray to Christ, to Jesus Christ and to St. Joan at the time, and still do.Saunders: And that was something you shared, both of you?Saunders: After you’d heard this very intimate song, when did you meet Leonard Cohen again, after you’d heard it, and how had your relationship changed, if at all?Suzanne: It did change.

She credits her collection of stray cats with saving her life as much as she's saved theirs. There are few movies that capture it. Poets, when they have a vision or an image, of course, use that. I forget that Leonard is more than just an amazing poet and philosopher. Said Cohen, "Everyone was in love with Suzanne."

And everybody wanted a part of it.Most importantly, on top of all this, she knows what to do with her sexuality. Suzanne really did live in a ‘place by the river’ and when Cohen used to visit her she would ‘serve him tea and oranges’. Narrator: Now, "You Probably Think This Song Is about You" and a trip back to the early 60’s in Montreal to meet a young dancer married to Armand, a handsome sculptor. He got such a kick out of seeing me emerge as a young schoolgirl I suppose, and a young artist, into becoming Armand’s lover and then wife. Once when he was visiting Montreal, I saw him briefly in a hotel and it was a very, very wonderful, happy moment because he was on his way to becoming the great success he is. The way I still do.Suzanne in her rags and feathers, as she wafted around the riverside “amongst the garbage and the flowers” was an inspiring role model.

This has none of the shrill demand for sex heard in a song like the Stones’, 'Lets spend the night together' and indeed it is never clear whether any sex does take place. To my eyes they seem more uniform in their High Street style; leggings, eye make-up, Ugg boots, mini skirts, and their long blow dried hair and I wonder whether they would feel about Suzanne the way I did. It’s like an observer, and not the participant any more, yes.Saundes: Leonard Cohen recently described the song as the best of his whole career.

I guess I miss the simpler times that we lived and shared. She became the muse of dozens of Beat poets but for one, Leonard Cohen, she became extra special. As I say, you can glance at a person and that moment is eternal and it’s the deepest of touches and that’s what we’d shared, Leonard and I, I believe.Saunders: Did either of you ever try to take it a stage further and make it more physically intimate or become lovers?
Indeed think of the real-life songstresses of the age - Carly Simon, Joni, Linda Rondstadt – embodying the long limbed, long haired, free love and free spirit glamour of the time. In fact, reading the lyrics, it’s highly likely that it didn’t. I bumped into Suzanne [Verdal] Vaillancourt, who was the wife of a friend of mine, they were a stunning couple around Montreal at the time, physically stunning, both of them, a handsome man and woman, everyone was in love with Suzanne Vaillancourt, and every woman was in love with Armand … They flow around her body, letting her move, unfettered.

We would scour piles of smelly Terylene and nylon shirts to snuffle out a beautiful silk blouse, or the greatest catch of all, an old satin tea dress. Don’t ask me why. We just liked to look that way.When I see girls of that same age now they appear completely different. Elle vit maintenant dans sa caravane à Venice Beach, en Californie. That is me still, yes.Suzanne: Flattered somewhat.