When Susannah Cries

The song presents a painful separation. Susannah is deeply upset, while the speaker is preparing to leave and admits that he has not been honest with her. His tenderness and guilt appear together: he still calls her “my baby” and hopes she will be all right, but he is also walking away. The mood shifts from describing her grief to revealing the speaker’s responsibility for it.

The repeated images of a “rainstorm” and a “river” make Susannah’s tears seem overwhelming and continuous. “She cries a hole in the ground” is an exaggerated image, suggesting that her sadness feels almost powerful enough to change the world around her. The “downtown special” seems to be a train or other late-night transport, and its crying “along” makes the city seem to echo the couple’s sorrow. The line about “me and you” implies another relationship or betrayal, though the details are left unstated.

The speaker’s promises and prayers may show genuine care, but they do not erase his part in causing pain. Saying he hopes someone will guide Susannah suggests he feels unable—or unwilling—to stay and help her himself. His request that someone tell her he loved her may be an attempt to comfort her, or to ease his own guilt. The song leaves uncertain how much she knows and whether his departure is an act of necessity or escape.