My Top Ten Susan Songs

My name is Sue... how do you do?


10. The Kinks - Susanna's Still Alive

Until I listened to it again while compiling this Top Ten, I had no idea just how gloriously miserable the lyrics to this song actually are.

Whiskey or gin, that's alright,
Both have been in her bed at night
She sleeps with the covers down,
Hopin' that somebody gets in.
Doesn't matter what she does,
She knows that she can't win.
Oh, Suzannah's gonna cry.

9. Aimee Mann - Susan

I love this song, but it always makes me wonder... do Americans really pronounce the word "buoy" as "booie"... or did Aimee just do that for the rhyme?

8. Morrissey - Black-Eyed Susan

Moz's tribute to Siouxsie Sioux, with whom he recorded the sublime duet, Interlude... and then, naturally, had a bit of a falling out.

7. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

Just gorgeous.

6. The Art Company - Susanna

Or VOF de Kunst, to use their original Dutch name. Wonder why they changed it when they released this single in the UK?

If you don't already love this record, I suggest you watch the video then seriously reconsider your position.

5. Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue

Buddy felt blue without her... and then, to make matters worse, she only went and Got Married. It could have been worse, Buddy might have met Julian Cope's Peggy Suicide instead.

4. Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue

Johnny played this one Live At San Quentin. Incitement to patricide, anyone?

Remember, John Wayne's Dad named him Marion and Big Daddy's Dad named him Shirley.

3. Pulp - Inside Susan

Susan catches the bus into town at ten-thirty a.m.
She sits on the back seat.
She looks at the man in front's head
and thinks how his fat wrinkled neck is like a large carrot
sticking out from the collar of his shirt.
She adds up the numbers on her bus ticket to see if they make twenty-one,
but they don't.
Maybe she shouldn't bother going to school at all, then.
Her friends will be in the yard with their arms folded on their chests,
pushing up their breasts to try and make them look bigger,
whilst the boys will be too busy playing football to notice.

2. Dion & The Belmonts - Runaround Sue

If the vocal intro to this song doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, you've got no rock 'n' roll in your soul.

1. Eels - Susan's House

Still the strangest song Mark Everett has ever recorded... can you imagine a world where this made the UK Singles Chart?

#9 in 1997... those were the days!




Apologies if I missed your favourite Susan... please don't (ahem) sue me.