Belafonte is perhaps best known for singing the "Banana Boat Song", with its signature lyric "Day-O". Throughout his career, he was an advocate for civil rights and humanitarian causes.
Belafonte won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category and was the oldest living person to have received the honor.
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Suzanne
Harry Belafonte Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ev'ry night when the sun goes down
Ev'ry night when the sun goes down
Hang my head and mournful cry
Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone
True love don't weep, true love don't mourn
True love don't weep, true love don't mourn
Goin' back to mobile town
Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone
Someday I pray my train will come
Someday I pray my train will come
Someday I pray my train will come
Then I can go back where I come from
Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone
The lyrics to Harry Belafonte's song "Suzanne" depict the emotions of a man who has lost his beloved, Suzanne. He sings about mourning her every night when the sun goes down, hanging his head and crying in sadness. The repetition of the phrase "Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone" further emphasizes the depth of his loss and his longing for her. He also refers to "true love" and how it doesn't weep or mourn, but he cannot help feeling the pain of losing her.
The lyrics then take a turn as the man says he is going back to Mobile town, potentially to try and find closure or move on from Suzanne's absence. However, he still can't help but think about her as he prays for his train to come so he can go back to where he came from. The repetition of her name in the lyrics creates an almost haunting presence, symbolizing how her memory lingers with the man no matter where he goes.
Overall, "Suzanne" is a melancholic yet powerful song that speaks to the universal feelings of heartbreak and longing for lost love.
Line by Line Meaning
Ev'ry night when the sun goes down
Every sunset brings sadness and heartbreak to me.
Hang my head and mournful cry
I am unable to hold back my tears of sorrow and regret.
Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone
The absence of my beloved Suzanne makes my world bleak and desolate.
True love don't weep, true love don't mourn
Real love is selfless and never laments or grieves.
Goin' back to mobile town
I am returning to my hometown, on the move, and making peace with myself.
Someday I pray my train will come
I hope to find hope and redemption, to move on and to dream again.
Then I can go back where I come from
My heart's desire is to retrace my steps, to rekindle old memories, and to revisit old familiar grounds.
Suzanne, Suzanne, Suzanne you're gone
My heart still longs for the return of Suzanne; her leaving still devastates me.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JIM LEFEVRE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@samikirk05
I can't remember a time through my childhood when I didn't hear that voice at least once a day. Mum said that when I was two I had a crying fit when she stopped this record in the middle of a song. I believe her! 💕
@lrh1966
Thanks for checking it out and have a great day from Lloyd :)
@samikirk05
@@lrh1966 thank you for uploading this wonderful album. I'm a long way from that two-year-old, but I love it just as much now. Maybe even more ☺
@SuzanneNuttall
I was named after this song.
@lordgeneral9
RIP
@lrh1966
Another sad loss in the music world. Thanks for listening and have a great day from Lloyd.
@eddasimon1427
Fantastic Harry, timeless great als always🌹❤️🍀
@lrh1966
Thanks Edda.
@aliceandalbert11
By Tara who sings with Alice Rye (whose picture you see here): I remember in the early 50s when Harry Belafonte played a high school principal (his first film) and I was a teen living in a trailer park. I went to the movie and he sang that haunting song. Now I'm 77 and for awhile I live by a little lake in Brunswick , and sit at night where a great blue heron often flies, along with ducks and egrets, in the moon's light and I think of that song he sang when I was a young girl. It is my favorite of his songs. His ballads and his velvet voice still affect me. One night I brought my guitar and sat on stone bench in the moonlight and was a girl again, imagine Harry B. was singing it, too. Imagine...
@lrh1966
Thank you Alice for listening and sharing your memories you had with this great song by Harry B.