Suzanne and I

Album: Anna Calvi (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Half Italian singer/guitarist Anna Calvi grew up being exposed to a multitude of genres of music by her music-loving father. She cites the classical composers Ravel and Debussy among her influences and her music has been described as "brooding melodramatic goth-pop." The intensely romantic nature of Calvi's songs, however, is "more abstract" than the one-dimensional eroticism of most pop, she told The Guardian: "Suzanne and I, for example, is about falling asleep, meeting someone in your dream, and never waking up. It's actually about death."
  • Calvi told the NME about her filmic vision, which ensures that the burgeoning drama of tracks like this one haunt long after they've stopped playing. "What usually happens is I listen to a piece of music or I watch a film," she explained, "and I feel really moved by it and it sort of compels me to create something. I feel it in my stomach and then I record it. The melody and the lyrics come out simultaneously. And, of course, after that I sculpt it, but the essence of the song is kind of there crystallised when it first appears out of me."
  • English musician and producer Brian Eno (he was the man twiddling the knobs on Coldplay's Viva La Vida) sung backing vocals on this track.
  • Calvi told The Observer that she drew on My Winnipeg, a surrealist-inflected feature film about director Guy Maddin's home town, for this song. She explained: "There's a film called My Winnipeg about a guy who really wants to leave a town but he can't because everyone keeps falling asleep. It's a really dreamlike film with surreal images of frozen horses in white snow. I had that in mind when I wrote 'Suzanne and I.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.

Dean Pitchford

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

Director Nick Morris ("The Final Countdown")

Director Nick Morris ("The Final Countdown")Song Writing

Nick made some of the biggest videos on MTV, including "The Final Countdown," "Heaven" and "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)."

Steve Morse of Deep Purple

Steve Morse of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple's guitarist since 1994, Steve talks about writing songs with the band and how he puts his own spin on "Smoke On The Water."

Movie Stars In Music Videos

Movie Stars In Music VideosSong Writing

Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis and John Malkovich are just a few of the film stars who have moonlighted in music videos.