Vandaag exact vijftig jaar geleden bracht Leonard Cohen zijn album “The new skin for the Old Ceremony“ uit. Ter gelegenheid van dit jubileum halen we vandaag “Chelsea Hotel (#2)”, het tweede nummer op het album, van onder het stof.

In de eerste jaren vertelt Cohen tijdens optredens dat dit nummer over zijn seksuele escapade met Janis Joplin gaat. Later krijgt hij hiervan spijt en uiteindelijk excuseert hij zich in 1994 tijdens een uitzending van BBC voor zijn indiscretie.

Geniet mee van de live-versie met “indiscrete inleiding“:

A thousand years ago I lived at this Hotel in NYC. I was a frequent rider of the elevator on this Hotel. I will continuously leave my room and come back. I was an expert on the buttons of that elevator. One of the few technologies I really ever mastered. The door opened. I walked in. Put my finger right on the button. No hesitation. Great sense of mastery in those days. Late in the morning, early in the evening. I noticed a young woman in that elevator. She was riding it with as much delight as I was. Even though she commanded huge audiences, riding that elevator was the only thing she really knew how to do. My lung gathered my courage. I said to her “Are you looking for someone?” She said “Yes, I’m looking for Kris Kristofferson “I said “Little Lady, you’re in luck, I am Kris Kristofferson.” Those were generous times. Even though she knew that I was someone shorter than Kris Kristofferson, she never led on. Great generosity prevailed in those doom decades. Anyhow I wrote this song for Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were talking so brave and so sweet
giving me head on the unmade bed
while the limousines wait in the street
Those were the reasons and that was New York
we were running for the money and the flesh
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left
Ah but you got away, didn’t you babe
you just turned your back on the crowd
you got away, I never once heard you say
I need you, I don’t need you
I need you, I don’t need you
and all of that jiving around
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty
you fixed yourself, you said, “Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music”
And you got away, didn’t you babe,
you just turned your back on the crowd
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don’t need you
I need you, I don’t need you
and all of that jiving around
I don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best
I can’t keep track of each fallen robin
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often