4 Folk Songs From the 60s That Were Written About Real-Life Muses

Whether they were a lover or an inspiration, here are a few folk songs from the 60s that were written about (and sometimes for) real-life muses. 

“So Long, Marianne” by Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen wrote this song about a woman he met on the Greek island of Hydra and eventually traveled with in the 60s. Her name was Marianne Jensen. On the back cover of his Greatest Hits album, Cohen called Marianne his muse.

“I began this on Aylmer Street in Montreal and finished it a year or so later at the Chelsea Hotel in New York,” he shared. “I didn’t think I was saying goodbye, but I guess I was. She gave me many songs, and she has given songs to others too. She is a Muse. A lot of people I know think that there is nothing more important than making a song. Fortunately, this belief arises infrequently in their conversation.”

“Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” by Bob Dylan

In a separate song of his called “Sara”, Dylan references this song, basically admitting that he wrote “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” about his ex-wife, Sara Lownds. 

I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells
I’d taken the cure and had just gotten through
Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel
Writin’ “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” for you.

Sara and Dylan met in 1964 and would go on to have four children together before their divorce in 1977.

“Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen

This one was less about a romantic relationship Cohen had and more about a platonic friendship with a woman named Suzanne Vaillancort. 

“…I had begun to write the song — I had the guitar part, and I had many verses about the Montreal harbour,” he explained to CBC Radio. “But I loved Suzanne Vaillancourt, she was very beautiful and a very unusual spirit. She did invite me to her place near the river, and she did serve me tea and oranges. She allowed me to locate the song and make it about something…”

“Song To Woody” by Bob Dylan

Dylan was famously a Woody Guthrie fan and wrote this song for the folk artist after meeting him in person. In the song, he sings:

Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
‘Bout a funny ol’ world that’s a-comin’ along
Seems sick and it’s hungry, it’s tired and it’s torn
It looks like it’s a-dyin’ and it’s hardly been born.”

Glam-rock icon David Bowie would eventually write a song called “Song For Bob Dylan”, in which he, similarly, sings to his idol, “Now hear this, Robert Zimmerman, I wrote this song for you.” 

Photo by: Steve Morley/Redferns