The Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan is where Leonard Cohen
lived while in New York in the 1960s. He chose the Chelsea because he knew that there he'd
meet people of a similar artistic bent, which he did. The famous Chelsea was
the home away from home for the likes of Mark Twain (!), Charles Bukowski,
Dylan, Tom Waits and Brendon Urie, to bring it into the modern age. Arthur C.
Clarke’s 2001 was written at the Chelsea in early 1964.
The hotel is memorialized by Cohen in two forms, "Chelsea
Hotel No. 1," whose focus and main "character" is the hotel itself, and "Chelsea
Hotel No. 2," about Janis Joplin. When introducing this song in concert, Cohen
would talk about meeting a famous singer in an elevator of the
Chelsea, which led to the sexual encounter described in the song. "I
wrote this for an American singer who died a while ago. She used to stay at the
Chelsea, too." It's not often that a tribute song contains a description of a
blowjob from the deceased (The only other fellatio that I can recall in song is Lou Reed's "Walk On the Wild Side"). Cohen ID's the song's heroine in an interview, but
has since expressed regret for exposing Joplin as the subject.
While we can't speak for Janis, the depiction of her as a courageous, loving
singer captures her independent spirit, and maybe she would have liked the fellatio
line.
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
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."
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.