Ungerleider played her first show under the name Oh Susanna at the Railway Club in Vancouver in July 1995, and released her first independent recording, a seven-song EP, in 1997. Around this time, she decided to relocate to Toronto after attending Blue Rodeo's Stardust Picnic festival. In 1999, she released her full-length debut, Johnstown, and toured Canada and the United States with fellow musicians Veda Hille and Kinnie Starr, in what they dubbed the "Scrappy Bitch Tour".
At the 19th Genie Awards in 1999, she won the Genie Award for Best Original Song, for her song "River Blue" from the film The Fishing Trip. She subsequently released eight more recordings, Sleepy Little Sailor (2001), Oh Susanna (2003), Short Stories (2007), Soon the Birds (2011), Namedropper (2014), A Girl in Teen City (2017), and Decemberly (2018) a holiday EP with Michael Johnston.
In 2021, she announced that she was retiring the Oh Susanna stage name after learning more about the complicated racial history of the song "Oh! Susanna". She is now releasing under her own name.
Discography:
Oh Susanna EP (1997)
Johnstown (1999)
Sleepy Little Sailor (2001)
Oh Susanna (2003)
Short Stories (2007)
Soon The Birds (2011)
Namedropper (2014)
A Girl in Teen City (2017)
Decemberly (2018) (with Michael Johnston)
St. Patrick's Day
Oh Susanna Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The morning that you loved me
A sweet salt perfume
Gently swept around me
The bed became a sailing ship
The floor became the sea
And you became an ocean bird
I lie in my room
Delicate and broken
A dark echo looms
Of pretty words you'd spoken
Listing in my sailing ship
Upon the wine-dark sea
Sheets of red in brine and sweat
And no one at the wheel
Over the waves now
I call to you to come and rescue me
But you're far away now
So forever I'll go drifting out to sea
I locked up my room
And everything you'd opened
Sewed up my wound
To prove that you're forgotten
But I'll feast for you each year in spring
When birds begin to sing
When everything, yes, everything
Oh, everything is green
Over the waves now
I call to you to come and comfort me
But you're far away now
So your pretty face nevermore I'll see
No, your pretty face nevermore I'll see
The lyrics to Oh Susanna's St. Patrick's Day are reflective of a person who is heartbroken after a love affair that did not end well. The first verse describes the moment when the person woke up and realized that the person who loved them was no longer there. The sweet salt perfume in the air represents memories of the love affair. The bed becoming a sailing ship and the floor becoming the sea represents the feeling of being adrift in the world without a sense of direction. The ocean bird flying away could mean the person they loved leaving them and flying off to their next destination.
The second verse talks about how the person is still lying in their bed, feeling devastated and alone. The pretty words they once spoke are now a dark echo in their head, serving as a reminder of the one that got away. The wine-dark sea and the sheets of red could represent the person being lost and emotionally torn apart. In the chorus, the person calls out to the one who they feel has deserted them, hoping to be rescued or comforted, but to no avail.
In the third verse, the person attempts to find some closure by sewing up their wound and locking up their room. They will celebrate St. Patrick's Day each year in memory of the one they loved but lost. The song ends on a sad note, with the person acknowledging that they will never see the pretty face of that lost love one more time.
Line by Line Meaning
Alone in my room
I am separated from the world and all its distractions.
The morning that you loved me
This is a memory of the morning when he still had the love of his partner.
A sweet salt perfume
The essence of his partner still lingers in the air.
Gently swept around me
The scent is subtle, but real.
The bed became a sailing ship
His imagination transforms the mundane into the extraordinary.
The floor became the sea
The limits of his room can't contain the vastness of his dreams.
And you became an ocean bird
His partner symbolizes freedom and possibility.
And flew away from me
His partner left him, taking the freedom and possibility with them.
I lie in my room
The reality of his loneliness sets in.
Delicate and broken
He is vulnerable and hurting.
A dark echo looms
His memories bring back only the pain of her words.
Of pretty words you'd spoken
His partner had once offered warmth and caring words.
Listing in my sailing ship
Despite his imagined freedom, he is trapped in reality.
Upon the wine-dark sea
The sea is ever-changing but always dark and sinister.
Sheets of red in brine and sweat
His imagined freedom is now associated with pain and suffering.
And no one at the wheel
He is directionless and without purpose.
Over the waves now
He is pleading and afraid.
I call to you to come and rescue me
He longs for the comfort that his partner once provided.
But you're far away now
His partner is gone and can't provide that comfort.
So forever I'll go drifting out to sea
His loneliness persists.
I locked up my room
He seeks to isolate himself from the world.
And everything you'd opened
Even the things his partner had once made available to him are now locked away.
Sewed up my wound
He attempts to heal the wounds that she left by closing himself off from everything else.
To prove that you're forgotten
He wants to demonstrate that he can move on from her, but can't.
But I'll feast for you each year in spring
He will attempt to remember her through her favorite holiday.
When birds begin to sing
He associates her with the renewed life of spring.
When everything, yes, everything
He wants to see her in everything.
Oh, everything is green
Green symbolizes love, growth, and natural beauty.
And comfort me
He still yearns for his partner.
So your pretty face nevermore I'll see
He knows that he can't have her back.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Suzanne Elizabeth Ungerleider
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
vincentpariseau
The steely solo on this is ethereal and sublime❤️
rinster
this song brings me back to when i was in high school - i saw oh susannah on my 18th birthday, and she asked for requests. i said "st patricks day" and she couldn't remember the chords and apologised...i saw her a few other times and didn't hear it live, but then a friend recorded her performance at a folk festival and sent it to me. hits right in the heart.