"When Susannah Cries" is a 1997 song by Norwegian singer

Espen Lind Espen Lind (born 13 May 1971) is a Norwegian record producer, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is one half of the production team Espionage, and together with his long time partner Amund Bjorklund he has written and/or produced ...

. It was released as the second single from his second album, ''Red'' (1997), first under the moniker, 'Sway', but later it was re-released under his own name. A slow, piano-driven

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, it features strings from the

Oslo Philharmonic The Oslo Philharmonic () is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was esta ...

and was a major hit in several European and Latin-American countries, including Norway, where it was number-one for six weeks. It peaked within the top 10 in at least eleven countries, like Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, the single reached number 18 in April 1998. Same year, Lind received the Norwegian Grammy Award,

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

for the Song of the Year with "When Susannah Cries". Lind has told in interviews that he almost gave the song away, but his record company,

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

convinced him to keep it. He had sent several songs to them, and the last one was "When Susannah Cries". Lind felt that it was a bit sticky and lame, but Universal said that it was the only song they liked. It went on to become Linds commercial breakthrough and the most played song on Norwegian radio in 1997. "When Susannah Cries" was performed by

Pete Seppälä Pete Seppälä (born 1 March 1978) is a Finland, Finnish singer who rose to popularity after placing third in ''Idols (Finland), Idols Finland 2'', the Finnish version of ''Pop Idol''. He was born in Espoo, Finland. ''Idols Finland 2'' performa ...

in the Semi Finals of the Finnish reality-television singing competition Idols in 2005 and by participant Tim David Weller in the tenth season of the German reality talent show

Deutschland sucht den Superstar ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show ''P ...

in 2013.

Critical reception

Geir Rakvaag from ''

Arbeiderbladet is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

'' deemed it one of the "most tender

s" of the album ''Red''. Håkon Moslet from ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' described it as "pompous handkerchiefpop of the best brand". Robert St. Dyrnes from ''

Finnmark Dagblad ''Finnmark Dagblad'' is a Norwegian daily newspaper, published in Hammerfest, Norway. The newspaper was founded in 1913 as ''Vestfinmarkens Socialdemokrat''. It changed its name to ''Vestfinnmark Arbeiderblad'' in 1923. From 1940 the newspaper ...

'' called it a "sugarsweet ballad". A reviewer from ''

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'' declared it as a "tasty piano ballad". ''Listen to Norway'' wrote that "When Susannah Cries" "comprises catchy refrains, suggestive bridges, a guitar solo, a dramatic crescendo (with heavenly strings from the

and a closing finale on the piano". Gerald Martinez from ''

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'' said it is a "romantic weepy tune that should go down well with fans of sentimental pop ballads." He also noted that Lind "has a voice remarkably similar to

Rick Price Roderick Allan Joseph Stewart (born 6 July 1961) known as Rick Price, is an Australian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. His debut album, '' Heaven Knows'', was released in July 1992, and peaked at No. 3 on the ...

— powerful, plaintive and with the occasional surges into

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

." Rune Slyngstad from ''

Nordlandsposten ''Nordlandsposten'' was a daily newspaper published in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. History and profile ''Nordlandsposten'' was first published in 1862. The paper had a conservative stance. In 2002, its circulation was 15,448 co ...

'' called it a "kind pop-ballad with a huge exclamation mark behind the name

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

." Geir Seljeseth from ''

Nordlys ''Nordlys'' is a Norwegian newspaper published in Tromsø, covering the region of Troms, and the largest newspaper in Northern Norway. History and profile ''Nordlys'' was founded in 1902 by Alfred Eriksen, who also was its first editor-in-ch ...

'' described it as "powerful".

Music video

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by Yann Gamblin. It features American actress and model

Angelica Bridges Angelica Bridges (born November 20, 1970) is an American actress, model, and singer. Bridges is best known for her role as Lt. Taylor Walsh on ''Baywatch''. Career Bridges was crowned Miss Missouri Teen. After arriving in Hollywood, Bridges si ...

, known from the American action drama series

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and was added on high rotation on

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, TMF,

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and ZTV. The video is mostly in black and white, but a few scenes also appears in color. It begins with Lind singing, while a woman, played by Bridges, is holding him. Some scenes show them walking together through a forest while holding hands. Others show a naked Bridges sitting on rocks in the shoreline while Lind sings around her. He looks at her as she sits and covers her breasts with her hands. Sometimes she holds around him, other times he holds around her. As the video ends, the woman holds tightly around Lind as he sings the final sentences.

Track listing

* CD single, Europe (1997) #"When Susannah Cries" (Single Version) – 3:39 #"When Susannah Cries" (Acoustic Version) – 3:39 * CD maxi, Europe (1997) #"When Susannah Cries" (Single Version) – 3:39 #"When Susannah Cries" (Instrumental Version) – 3:39 #"When Susannah Cries" (Acoustic Version) – 3:39 #Excerpts from: "Lucky for You", "Messing with Me", "Missing Her Then" * CD maxi, UK (1997) #"When Susannah Cries" (Single Version) – 3:38 #"When Susannah Cries" (Instrumental Version) – 3:39 #"When Susannah Cries" (Acoustic Version) – 3:39 #"Messing with Me" – 4:17

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Songs written by Espen Lind Universal Records singles 1990s ballads Pop ballads Number-one singles in Norway English-language Norwegian songs