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Chelsea
Hotel # 2 (1972-1993) |
Read
the original lyrics of the song
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Read
an earlier version
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 1972 Tour
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<<early version sung during the
1972 tour,sometimes called "Chelsea Hotel # 1";tune is sometimes
different than the studio original release.>> We can read on the
backcover of "Greatest Hits" this "song note" from
Leonard,about Chelsea Hotel:<<....Ron Cornelius helped me with a
chord change in an earlier version>> 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. I was running for the money and the flesh I was running for the money and the flesh That was called love, for the workers in song And it still is for those of us left. Oh but you got away, didn't you baby You just threw it all to the ground You got away, they can’t pay you now For making your sweet little sound, come on make it, baby Making your sweet little sound, let’s all do it Making your sweet little sound, I can hear it Making your sweet little sound I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel Then I went to Tennessee Sittin’ by the creek with Willie Yore And Kit Marley (see above) came to visit me For those were the reasons and that was New York. I was running for the money and the flesh That was called love for the workers in song And it still is for the few of us left. Oh but you got away, didn't you baby You just threw it all to the ground You got away on your deepest dream Making your sweet little sound on the jukebox Making your sweet little sound on transistor radio Making your sweet little sound, for the royalties Making your sweet little sound, let me follow you Making your sweet little song, let me follow you Making your sweet little song, don’t leave me now Making your sweet little song, all the way now Giving me head on the unmade bed A great surprise lying with you, baby Making your sweet little sound. I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel That was the winter of ‘67 My friends of that year, they were trying to go queer And me, I was just getting even. Those were the reasons and that was New York I was running for the fucking money and the flesh That was called love for the workers in song And it still is for the few of us left. Ah but you got away, didn't you baby You just turn your back on the pain You got away on your wildest dream Racing the midnight train, I can see it Racing the midnight train with no clothes on, baby See all your (?) torn on the ground All of your clothing, no piece to cover you Shining your eyes in my deepest corner Shining your eyes in my darkest corner Racing the midnight train, I can't catch you baby Racing the midnight train. (*) Kit Marley was a Rodeo champion who sold Leonard a horse during the late 60's, round Nashville. |
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Frankfurt
06/10/74
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It was the end of the 60's, the beginning of
the 70's. We saw the battalion of a kind of apocalyptic vision about what
the world was going be and what rock music or pop music was going to be in
it. And toward the end of that time we saw the casualties, the burnt out
acid heads, the dead singers, famous and obscure. This is a song that I
wrote to one of those great singers that I knew. It comes out of a time
when a lot musicians used to staying at the Chelsea Hotel in New York
City. |
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Paris
20/10/74
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I wrote this song for a great singer who
died at the end of the 60's. This song uncovers that period which was so full of
expectations and promises and damage done, so many casualties of obscure and famous
ones and this one set of kind of musicians I used to meet at the Hotel in NY. |
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Mainz
04/05/76
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A long time ago there was this Hotel in NYC,
where a lot of musicians used to stay. There's a very great singer who
used to stay there in the old days along with lot of other very good
musicians. And I used to meet her in the elevator, very late at night,
around three in the morning. She wasn't looking for me, and I wasn't
looking for her. But there was nobody else up at that time. I think she
was looking for Kris Kristofferson. Anyway somebody a little taller than
me. It really didn't…. Even Phil Ochs was taller than me in those days.
He's not that tall now. Anyway she was a very great singer and the thing I
loved about her was her attitude towards her audience. There was no
division, there was no ambiguity about how she felt about singing. So many
singers today have such a curious attitude towards their audience, and if
you read the lyrics of their songs, they're filled with ambiguity about
how difficult it is to be a pop-star, how difficult it is to get servants,
how hard it is to shop for jewels, and the burden of being loved by
everybody. These are serious problems that occupy the minds. Many of our
most creative minds today are occupied by these serious problems. And in
her life and in her work, she gave herself completely, and when she
decided to stop giving herself, she cut out completely. And I wrote this
song for her, it's for Janis Joplin. |
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Paris 05/06/1976
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Il y a un Hotel a New York ou viennent beaucoup d'artistes (there is
a Hotel in NYC where a lot of musicians used to stay), et j'ai
rencontre une grande chanteuse la-bas (and i met a great woman singer
there), dans l'ascenseur (in the elevator) and after she died,
i
wrote her this song. It's a very beautiful woman, i loved her
attitude... est-ce que vous comprenez anglais?? (Do you speak
english?) parce que moi je parle pas français, ni anglais. Une autre
langue mais.. (another language, but..). I loved her attitude
towards her music. You know if you study the lyrics of today, that is if
you are so idle and foolish as to actually study the lyrics of today, you
find that so many of the singers are concerned with the difficulties of
being a popstar. A very great serious question into this world to be a
popstar. The difficulties in getting servants and how hard it is to shop for jewels and
there are many burdens (..) upon the shoulders of the popstars and we
should.... we should understand their great suffering and anguish. Of
course,here in France, anguish is profundally understood except when it
concerns the popstars. And there was not of that sound of her and when she
split, she split for good. And i used to met her as i said in french in the
elevator. She wasn't looking for me. And i wasn't looking for her. I was
looking for Brigitte Bardot. She was looking for Kris Kristofferson,
someone taller than me. But we fell into each other's arms, through some
process of elimination. That's the process by which everything happens.
There is nothing more i can say about her, except she was a very great
singer. And after she died i wrote this song for her. Janis Joplin. |
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Paris 06/06/1976
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There was a Hotel in NYC where a lot of musicians used to stay.And among
these musicians,a very great singer,a woman;i used to bump into her,in the
elevator,about three in the morning.She wasn't looking for me.I
think she was looking for kris Kristofferson,somebody taller than me.I
wasn't looking for her.I was looking for Brigitte Bardot.Anyway we fell
into each other's arms,through some process of elimination.That's the
process by which everything happens.I also used to see her across the
street at the Bronco Burger.A hamburger joint.It's not there any more.So
don't go looking for a hamburger.You'll just be disappointed.It's not
there any more.But this shouldn't concern you,these ups and downs of
capitalism.The hamburger joints rise and fall .Ou sont les neiges
d'antan? (Where are the snows of bygone days?). Anyhow I used to
watch her in there (..) she was watching to see if people would put her
songs on the juke-box.(..) and she was a truly great (..).There was
something great about her attitude towards her public.(..) no
ambiguity.You know if you look at the lyrics of today (..) how difficult
it is to be a popstar (..) getting servants,shopping for jewels,(..) all
this burden and ordeals (..) on the shoulders of the popstars (..).It's
one of the great catastrophies of modern times.You never got any of that
sound from her or in her work.(..).I was in 24th Street NYC she said
"Hey man,you're in town to read poetry to old ladies".She had a
very refreshing view of my career.After she died i wrote this song for
her,Janis Joplin. |
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Montreux 25/06/1976
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A long time ago there was a hotel in New York City where a lot of musicians
used to stay. Among them there was a very great singer, a woman. I used to
bump into her in the elevator about three in the morning, completely by
mistake. She wasn't looking for me. I think she was looking for Kris
Kristofferson. And I wasn't looking for her. I was looking for...Brigitte
Bardot. Anyhow, we fell into each other's arms through some process of
elimination, which is the process by which most things happen and I
loved...There's music going on here that is not my own. How delightful. How
delightful to hear music that is not my own. Bring it up...Last time I saw
her was on 23d Street. She said, "Hey man, you in town to read poetry
for old ladies?" That was her view of my career. Anyhow, there was no
sense of ambiguity or division in her relation with her audience, with her
public, and after she split, after she died, I wrote this song for her,
Janis Joplin. |
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1976 "Backcover of "Greatest Hits" ("Some notes on the songs")
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I wrote this for an American singer who died a while ago. She used to stay at the Chelsea, too. I began it at a bar in a polynesian restaurant in Miami Beach in 1971 and finished it in Asmara, Ethiopia just before the throne was overturned. Ron Cornelius helped me with a chord change in an earlier version. |
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Paris
22/10/1979
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This prologue contains an old french
ballad, that begins the same way as the usual one Leonard uses to
introduce "Chelsea Hotel # 2" : "Il ya longtemps"
(There's a long time ago")
Il y a longtemps...(singing) "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime,jamais je ne t'oublierai.Sur la plus haute branche,un pauvre rossignol chantait, Chante Rossignol Chante toi qui as le coeur gai, gai, gai, gai....Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, jamais je ne t'oublierai". Il ya....Oh peut-etre 15 ans,j'ai rencontre dans un ascenseur...toute ma vie sociale appartient à des ascenseurs...j'ai rencontre une tres grande chanteuse,peut-etre elle n'est pas encore oubliee, et j'ai ecrit cette chanson pour elle, c'etait Janis Joplin.
A long time
ago.....(singing) "It's been a long time since I loved you, and never will
I forget you. From the highest branch, a poor nightingale was singing,
Sing
nightingale! Sing! , whose heart is gay, gay, gay..... It's been a long time
since I loved you, never will I forget you". It was... oh maybe 15 years
ago, I met in an elevator..... all my social life belongs to elevators.
I met a
very great singer, maybe she's not forgotten yet, and I wrote this song
for her, it was Janis Joplin.
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European Tour
1979
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verse variation "..told me once again you'd prefer younger men.." |
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1979 from the book by Harry Rasky "The song of Leonard Cohen - Portrait of a poet, a friendship and a film" |
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I began that song, I would say ah, the very late sixties. I'm not quite sure when I began that song.
There is a version of it that I made in 1972, that I never released (*). It went through a lot of changes. I don't think it was ready to record until
1974 (**). My meeting
Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel was the genesis or the seed of the song. It went
through a lot of changes. That's about it. About the dedication to Janis Joplin As the years went by I began to relize that it was Janis Joplin who gave me the seed of the song. Often a song develops from the gift of another individual, as though somebody hands you the song. It may take years to develop. Like the song "Nancy". I remember its genesis very very clearly. It was someone I met in an all night dinner in Nashville. And I was working on the song and I couldn't break it. And I remember just standing at the Jukebox looking at the selection of songs and a young woman came up and stood beside me and said "You ought to play R7". And I spoke to her for a moment and I realized that some kind of transfer was being made, that the heart was being softened in some way by the presence of this other person. And in a sense the seed of the song was being handed over. Well, while I was working on the song I wasn't even sure it was the song Janis Joplin had given me but as I began working on it I understood what that seed, the seed gift, or the seed origin or the genesis, that thing from which the song develops, that softens the heart enough to receive ah, whatever the energies are that produce the song, that it was Janis Joplin. And as the years went by I began to want to acknowledge that gift. About the verse "I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best" Well that speciffically meant I wasn't one of Janis Joplin's closest friends. I don't really know her life deeply. I'd bump into her now and then and I knew her slightly, but there was obviously some kind of rapport and I did feel some sort of closeness to her - but I didn't want to include myself for History's sake or accuracy's sake as one of her intimates. I wasn't. (*) Leonard probably means by that the version of "Chelsea Hotel 1" as sung in the movie by Tony Palmer "Bird on A Wire" Click here. (**) The studio version included in the album "New skin for the old ceremony", called "Chelsea Hotel 2". |
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Frankfurt
01/11/79
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It is a song I wrote a long time ago, for a
very great american singer. Forgotten by some, remembered by some like the
rest of us singers,all destined to be remembered or forgotten. It doesn't
really matters which name is remembered and which name is forgotten. There
will always be singers.This one was a great one. Her name was Janis Joplin.
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Hannover
11/11/79
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I'd like to sing this song for a very great
singer that I met many years ago. She's remembered by some, and forgotten
by others. I met her in an elevator, in a Hotel, in NYC. One of the
greatest singers of our time, she died a few years ago. Her name was Janis
Joplin.
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Bonn 03/12/79
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I wrote this next song a while ago, to a
very great American singer, who died several years ago. I used to bump
into her from time to time, at a Hotel in NY where a lot of musicians used
to come. Lot of those musicians are now gone. They say the era is over.
They say these are now the times of the conservative, the stable, the
order. Well, perhaps that's true. She certainly stood for something that
was beyond order and beyond chaos, beyond the radical and beyond the
conservative. Which is what every (you know) great singer embodies,
something that is not an argument and not a philosophy. Anyhow I wrote
this song for her, long time ago. It's dedicated to Janis Joplin. It's
called "Chelsea Hotel".
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London 06/12/1979
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It was a long time ago (..) I met a young singer a long time ago at the
"Chelsea Hotel" in NYC. I wrote this song for her after she
died. It was Janis Joplin. |
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Birmingham 08/12/1979
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That was written in a brown Hotel room, in
the Penn Terminal Hotel. That's outside of the Bus Terminal on the 34th
Street in NYC. The Penn Terminal Hotel,the very last place. There was a
really lovely room there,you couldn't open the windows. The elevator...
the
elevator was a lovely place,not so good as the Chelsea Hotel's, which was
quite a social venture, the elevator in the Chelsea Hotel. A tiny room that
you never left alone. It was on 23d Street. On 23d Street there was an
automat. That's a fast food establishment. You put a coin in the wall and
piece of pie comes rushing out at you ...... extremely high velocity. I wrote
a quatrain about that automat. It's extremely undistinguished. And I'm
afraid I'm going to inflict it on you. It goes like this "I wandered
into the automat - Wearing a kind of religious hat - The peas were round and
the pancakes were flat - I pray God in Heaven to keep it like that"
That's not very good but .... It's not good ... (applause) ... I do not think
you are discriminating ... but from the same poem there's another
quatrain, equally irrelevant. It goes << I was arrested for kissing a
broom - The Judge said "Were you the bride or the groom?" - I thought for a
while - And I finally spoke - "Judge I don't have to listen
to that kind of joke, that's not funny".>> ... Anyhow, forgive me
for indulging myself with these timeless verses. In the Chelsea Hotel,
there
were a lot of musicians who used to stay there. I remember Phil Ochs ...
lot
of musicians who aren't with us any longer ... and there was Jimi Hendrix,
there was Tim Buckley. A lot of great men and women. And in the
elevator one night, I met an extremely beautiful kind and compassionate
young american singer. She was actually looking for Kris Kristofferson.
But
through some process of elimination, we fell into each other's arms. And
after she died - that didn't have anything to do with my embrace; my
embrace is poisonous but not fatal - but anyhow. I loved the attitude
in relationship she had with the people she sang for. And when she left,
she
left for good. I wrote this song for her. It was Janis Joplin at the Chelsea
Hotel. |
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Amsterdam 30/10/1980
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Once upon a time, there was a hotel in New York City. There was an elevator in
that hotel. One evening, about three in the morning, I met a young woman in that
hotel. I didn't know who she was. It turned out she was a very great singer. It
was a very dismal evening in New York City. I'd been to the Bronco Burger. I had
a cheeseburger. It didn't help at all. (Sings: Didn’t help at all. The
cheeseburger didn’t help all.) Went to the White Horse Tavern, looking for
Dylan Thomas (Sings: But Dylan Thomas was dead). Ah, I got back to the elevator
and there she was. She wasn't looking for me either. She was looking for Kris
Kristofferson (Sings: Lay your head upon the pillow...). I wasn't looking
for her, I was looking for Lili Marlene. Forgive me for these circumlocutions. I
later found out she was Janis Joplin and we fell into each other's arms through
some divine process of elimination, which makes a compassion out of
indifference. And after she died, I wrote this song for her. It's called
"The Chelsea Hotel." |
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Eppelheim 05/11/1980
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There was a street in NYC, called 23d street...(Rumblings from the crowd)
I'm sorry, that's what it
was called.... and on this street there was a Hotel. Feels quite glamorous
when I look back on it......during the time I was ewtremely busy. You know
I would go from the automat to the Bronco Burger, from the Bronco Burger
to the automat, back to the Hotel, over to the Bronco Burger, over to
the automat....it was not an exalted existence. A total dismal drag except
for one evening which was illuminated by a particular moment. It was
the elevator and riding the elevator through some divine, cosmic, benign
mercy, there was a very beautiful young woman in the elevator, the same time
as I was. It turned out she was a very great American singer, I didn't know
at the time. She wasn't looking for me, and I wasn't looking for her. She
was looking for Kris Kristofferson. And I was looking for....Oh I never
knew whom I was looking for...Anyhow, through some divine........anyhow,
it turned that this young woman was Janis Joplin. I wrote this song for her. |
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Tel Aviv
24/11/80
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A long time ago,in an elevator in NYC,i met a
great American singer.I don't know what that means to you who have real problems
on your hands.In fact i wonder why you're concerned with my tiny neurotic
sensibility at all.Anyway i'm proud to sing to a great people.. |
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München 1985
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It was a long time ago in New York City. There was
a very great singer who stayed at the same hotel that I stayed at. And I used to
meet her in the elevator late at night. She wasn't looking for me. She was
looking for Kris Kristofferson. And to be indiscreet, I wasn't looking for her,
I was looking for Brigitte Bardot. But through a curious twist of fate, we found
ourselves on the same elevator. A particularly dismal, brown elevator, full of
aimless ups and downs, and reeking with despair. This elevator never took anyone
where they wanted to go. They only took us back to our rooms. Anyhow the hotel
was the Chelsea Hotel and the singer was Janis Joplin, whose voice will never
die. |
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Paris 23/02/1985
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chanter une chanson que j'ai écrit il y a longtemps ... que je
t'aime jamais je ne t'oublierai. C'était dans un hôtel à New-York, dans
un ascenseur. Au milieu de la nuit j'ai rencontré dans cet ascenseur une
très grande chanteuse américaine. Elle cherchait Kris Kristofferson
et moi je cherchais Brigitte Bardot mais nous étions dans le même
espace et qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire ?... J'ai écrit cette chanson pour
elle, c'était Janis Joplin au Chelsea Hotel English translation: I'd like to sing a song I wrote long time ago .... (performing an old traditional French song) "...long time since I loved you, and never will I forget you...." It was in an Hotel in NY, in an elevator. In the middle of the night I met in that elevator a very great American singer. She was looking for Kris Kristofferson, I was looking for Brigitte Bardot, but we were in the same space and what can you do when you're there. I wrote this song for her, it was Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Wiesbaden 02/02/1985
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| It was a long
time ago, in an elevator, in the Chelsea Hotel, that I wrote this song. Oh
that was a lovely elevator. God ! If I could only ride up and down up and
down in that elevator all my life. I think I am riding up and down all my
life. They're such pretty buttons. You could reach everyone of them. You
didn't have to be a giant. You just had to be ordinary human-sized. There
they were, 1 2 3 4 5 6, these buttons. Where is the elevator and these
buttons. They would take me to the delights that I so richly deserved. The
Penta Hotel. It's not that bad you know. It's a good Hotel. It has a very
deep bathtub. I brought my fish. At this very moment my fish is sporting
itself in the bathtub at the Penta Hotel. There's a lot of space for my
fish. My fish is sad. It deserves the Ocean it believes. My fish is full
of anxiety and ambition for the Ocean. I will have to tame my fish. My
fish will be tamed in the bathtub at the Penta Hotel. It is not the only
Hotel. My fish does not ride in the elevator. My fish travels through
windows. My fish is a liar. I have no fish. I lied to you about my fish.
My fish is a dog. He lives with an old woman. Back to the Chelsea Hotel,
and the elevator in the Chelsea Hotel before I was so rudely interrupted
by my rebellious thoughts. I believe I lived there once. I was a young
singer trying to make it in NY. I was eating amphetamine and I was a
hundred and nineteen pounds, of fury. It was late one night. I think it
was a Tuesday, but I may be wrong about that. If there are any historians
here, don't hold me to the fact. I have a certain poetic licence. Maybe it
was Thursday, what the hell !! We're all friends. Let's say it was a
Thursday night. There were no buttons in the elevator, I lied about that
too. It worked on a kind of ESP, you kind of willed yourself to the floor
that you lived on. I'm sorry for going on about it now like this. I'm just
an old man with an electric guitar. You know how that leads you into all
kinds of disasters and predicaments. One night I met a very lovely young
woman in that elevator. She was dressed in leather and feather and
fringes. It was the style of the time. In those days they hadn't heard
about black. One thing led to another. I knew she was hungry. I could tell
by her fringes. She was looking for Kris Kristofferson. A name we rarely
hear these days. But my name is not that prominent either, so what have I
got to complain about. And I was looking for Brigitte Bardot., but she was
already establishing that intimate relationship with the seal that
excluded all other human companionship. I didn't know at that time. I
pressed on and on. Forever the optimist. Anyhow the young woman in that
elevator was Janis Joplin, and the young man was Leonard Cohen, an
unlikely combination. However, out of that grotesque union, came this
song. |
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Birmingham 28/02/1985
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| This is a story
that I tell every time I sing this song and I'm going to keep on telling
it as long as I'm singing. It's a story about a young woman that I met in
an elevator in a hotel in New York City. One of the greatest singers that
I ever heard. I was wandering around all night.that was a great elevator,
you know. It was only about 4 feet wide. It was the very hub of my social
activity. I didn't get around very much but sometimes I'd meet somebody in
that elevator. Around three in the morning, I used to see this other
dismal person in this elevator. And I looked into her eyes. She avoided my
eyes and it became clear to me that she wasn't looking for me. She was
looking for Kris Kristofferson. I said, "I am Kris
Kristofferson." She said, "I thought you were a lot
taller." I said, "I am a lot taller but it's just
photography." And the truth be told, I wasn't looking for her; she
was a kind of sad-looking girl with knotty, curling hair and a very bad
complexion. I wasn't looking for her. I said, "Well, the truth be
told, I'm looking for the granddaughter of Mae West," who doesn't
even exist. And one thing lead to another. Well, we found ourselves
together. And it was a long time later after she died that I wrote this
song for her. Her name was Janis Joplin. It was at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Warsaw 22/03/1985 |
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concert that I give, I dedicate a song to a great American singer that I met
one night in an elevator in a shabby hotel in New York City. It was a fine
elevator. We found ourselves there often. I don't know what she was doing
there. I think she was looking for Kris Kristofferson. I told her that I was
Kris Kristofferson. But she said, "I thought he was bigger." I said, "I used
to be bigger but I've been sick." And we spent a little time together, and I
loved the way that she sang, and she died, some odd reason, and some time
later, I think I was sitting at a bar in a Polynesian restaurant in Miami
Beach – I don’t know what I was doing there either… I have no program. I
have no five-year plan. I just... (laughs). It doesn't mean you shouldn't
have one... I just move from hotel to hotel and from bar to bar, and by the
grace of the One above occasionally a song comes. And I remember sitting at
this particularly obnoxious Polynesian Restaurant, where they served a kind
of coconut drink that was particularly lethal and sinister which contained
no alcohol but a certain chemical that demoralized you entirely. And I
remember writing on one of their very badly designed napkins “I remember you
well at the Chelsea Hotel” … So I dedicate this song to one of the great
singers, Janis Joplin. |
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San
Francisco 08/06/1985 |
| It was a long
time ago that in this very dismal brown elevator I bumped into a very
beautiful young woman. Things happened like that in those days. I never
bump into anybody in the elevator. That's because I live in the ground
floor. She seemed to be looking for something. I said "Are you
looking for something ?" She said : "Yes" And I knew she
wasn't trying to realise some unfulfilled potential of her nature, that
she was actually looking (for something). "What or who are you
looking for", I said. "Kris Kristofferson". I said ,"
I am Kris Kristofferson". I don't know what it was with that girl but
she believed me. And I deceived her for many nights (..) "I thought
he was a lot taller". I sat down a moment. I used to have a sun tan
you see. and it was a couple of years later, I found myself at the Bar of
a Polynesian restaurant in Miami Beach. (..) I was the very image of the
man I wanted to be, feeling unhappy, thinking of all that I'd blown. It
was a couple of years after she died, that I scribbled on a paper napkin.
That is the privilege of self-indulgence. I wrote this song for her. It
was Janis Joplin, at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Montreux 09/07/1985
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A long time ago I met a beautiful young woman in an elevator in New York City. I
used to bump into her at about three in the morning every night. After a while I
gathered my courage and I said to her, "Are you looking for
something?" And she said, "Yes, I'm looking for something." I
knew by the tone of her voice that she wasn't trying to realize some unfulfilled
potential of her inner nature, that she was actually looking for something. I
said, "Who or what are you looking for?" She said, "Kris
Kristofferson." I said, "I am Kris
Kristofferson." And I deceived her for many nights. A long time after that,
I found myself at a bar in a Polynesian restaurant in Miami Beach, leaning over
a napkin and one of those drinks that they serve in a porcelain coconut shell. I
was writing a song to this very lady. I was the very image of myself, 40 years
old, thin, neglected with a great song on my mind. It took me a while to finish
it. It's for Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Koln 10/04/88
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Many years ago, I lived in a Hotel in NYC. And
late at night, sometimes in the elevator, I used to bump into a famous singer
there, a young woman, who entertained thousands so gracefully and so gloriously.
And I would look at her in the elevator, and she would look at me. I knew that
she was actually looking for Kris Kristofferson but she would, well maybe she'd
settle for me... |
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Hamburg
14/04/88
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There was this Hotel in NYC, where I used to stay
in my wild youth. Sometimes I stay there in my wild middleage. It was a
wonderful place you know, you could come up to the reception desk there with
three naked women a bear and a midget and they wouldn't even raise an eyebrow,
just hand you your key and say, "Good night Sir". And in the elevator....the
elevator was the source of my social life there. I used to meet people in the
elevator there. I met a distinguished singer, a woman, in the elevator. I used
to see her every night there, a very famous singer. I was a famous singer myself.
But...I used to see her in that elevator, she was always alone, you know..I said
"Are you looking for someone?". She said "Yes" - I said
"Who ?" - She said "Kris Kristofferson" - I said "I'm
Kris Kristofferson !" - She said "No he's a lot taller than you,isn't
he?" - It's true. Anyway,the young woman was Janis Joplin and I wrote this
song for her. |
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Amsterdam
18/04/88
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A long time ago, before there were tulips in
Holland, before there were silver beads in Santa Fe, I lived in a filthy dirty
Hotel in NYC. Remind me never to go there again.You couldn't eat a potato chip
there. It was salted with acid. Oh the suffering we underwent there. It was in
the elevator there that I bumped into a young woman. I didn't speak the first
few nights, but night after night yes she was there in that same elevator. The
spirit of the elevator. Hail to thee blithe spirit of the elevator.! Finally I
broke the ice. I said "What floor are you going to ?" She said
"I'm not looking for you, I'm looking for Kris Kristofferson !" I said
"I am Kris Kristofferson". For several nights she believed I was Kris
Kristofferson. It was only when I stood up that she found that I was Leonard
Cohen. Anyway…..where was I ? Yeah, I wrote this song for Janis Joplin,
"Chelsea Hotel". |
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Oslo
01/05/88
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I used to notice about three in the morning every
night there was this young woman there.I've seen her night after night, finally
I gathered my courage and I said "Are you looking for someone?" She
said "Yes I'm looking for Kris Kristofferson" I said "You're in
luck,I am Kris Kristofferson !" And you know : she believed me,It was just
a measure of her desperation that she was ready to accept me as Kris
Kristofferson.I talked about my helicopter about my horses in Tennessee.A couple
of years after she died I was sittin' at this bar in Miami Beach...one of the
less glorious episodes of my life...a Polynesian restaurant, waiting for my
spare ribs and my thai cocktail... a dismal moment...and I started to write this
song on a napkin for Janis Joplin,the "Chelsea Hotel"..... |
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Nurnberg
10/05/88
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Years ago, I used to live in a hotel in New York
City. It was a very good hotel. And even though it seemed very shabby it was
quite sophisticated. In fact at 3 in the morning you could go up to the desk
accompanied by a brachycephalic teenager and a polar bear and ask for your key,
and they'd give it to you without raising an eyebrow. It was in this hotel's
elevator that I noticed a young woman huddling in the corner. And after 3 or 4
nights I gathered my courage and I asked her if she was looking for someone. She
said, "Yes, I'm looking for Kris Kristofferson" I said, "My dear
Lady you're in luck, I'm Kris Kristofferson" I knew she didn't believe me,
but we spent some time together there and a couple of years after she died I was
thinking about her, thinking about those nights in that hotel. I was sitting at
a bar in Miami Beach, a particularly poisonous Polynesian restaurant where they
serve you drinks in ceramic coconut shells. It's a place to be avoided. I hope I
never meet any of you there. And I was thinking of this young woman who was a
very great singer and I began this song for her. It was Janis Joplin at the
Chelsea Hotel... |
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London
01/06/88
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|
About a thousand years ago I used to live in this
hotel in New York City, a very good hotel. In the elevator of that hotel, early
in the morning I used to bump into a young woman. After about a week, I gathered
my courage and 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'm Kris Kristofferson. "Those were very generous times as
you may have read.So she never lead on that she really knew I wasn't Kris
Kristofferson. Maybe I was Kris Kristofferson. I wasn't wearing cowboy boots
until that moment. A couple of years later I was sitting at the bar of this
Polynesian restaurant in Miami Beach, some place I hope I never bump into you.
They serve drinks in ceramic coconut shells. All up and down the boulevards
there are real coconut trees with real coconut shells. There is some arcane
meaning in all of that but I couldn't penetrate it. I was sitting at that
bar and this young woman's presence became very strong and I wrote this song for
Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Dublin
04/06/88
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| A thousand years ago I used
to live at this Hotel...( Applause )... I thought I saw you there.
Every evening about three in the morning I'd bump into this young woman in
the elevator, and after a couple of weeks I gathered up my courage and I
asked her, "Are you looking for someone?" And she said,
"Yes I'm looking for Kris Kristofferson". I said, "Lucky
Lady, you're in luck, I am Kris Kristofferson." Such was the
generosity of the age that she never let on. Anyhow it was a couple of
years later, after she passed away, that I was sitting at this bar in
Miami Beach and drinking poisonous cocktails out of these ceramic coconut
shells. I don't know why they use ceramic coconut shells because the whole
place was infested with real coconut trees. These are arcane mysteries I
will never penetrate. Anyhow her presence came on very strong and I wrote
this song for Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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Reijkavik
24/06/88
|
| About a 1,000 years ago I was staying
in this Hotel in NYC. It wasn't a bad Hotel, it wasn't a good Hotel
but in the elevator there I begin to bump into a young woman
late at night. After a couple of weeks i gathered my courage and I said to
her "Are you looking for someone?" She said "Yes, I'm
looking for Kris Kristofferson" I said "Lucky Lady, You're in
luck, I am Kris Kristofferson". Such was the generosity of those
times. A couple of years later, after this young woman had passed from this
vale of tears, I found myself sitting at a Bar in a Polynesian restaurant
in Miami Beach. It was a Bar where they served cocktails in ceramic coconut
shells.This was a mystery I could not penetrate, because the very
trees in Boulevards were lined with coconut trees, bearing true and
authentic coconut shells. Why they would choose to serve their drinks in
ceramic coconut shells escapes me until this very day.As I say I
was sitting at the Bar of this Polynesian restaurant when the presence of
this young woman came upon me very strongly. And upon a napkin I began that
song, for Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel. |
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New-York 88'
tour
|
| 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. |
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Portland 28/10/88
|
| A long time ago, I left my
hometown of Montreal and I went down to NY to try to break into that
infernal enterprise called show-business. I stayed in a very agreeable
Hotel there, a very sophisticated place. You could go up at two in the
morning to the frontdesk accompanied by a pygmy and a polar bear, ask for
your key and without a raised eyebrow, they just hand it to you and say
"Have a nice night Mr Cohen". It was in the elevator of this
Hotel that I began to notice night after night a young woman who happened
to be riding that diabolical vehicle just the same time as I. Afterwhile I
gathered my courage and 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".
Such was the generosity of those times that she didn't lead on, not even
once. It was some time after she passed from this vale of tears that I
found myself at a bar, in a Polynesian restaurant, in Miami beach,
drinking an alcoholic beverage from a ceramic coconut shell. This was a
mystery I could not penetrate. Because there was real coconut shells on
every tree on the boulevard. The song came. It's for Janis Joplin at the
Chelsea Hotel. |
|
Interview January 1993 (magazine "Details
for men")
|
| That was written with Janis Joplin in
mind. A couple of years after she died I was in a Polynesian restaurant in
Miami and the thought of her was very strong. I started writing that lyric
and finished it in a town in the north of Ethiopia. I went there after the
Yom Kippur War for some odd reason, and I ended up in the Imperial Hotel
finishing that song, getting the last chorus: "I need you, I don't
need you, and all that jiving around." |
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San Francisco
03/07/93
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|
I was in the manager's office downstairs and on the wall I saw a picture of a
woman. It remembered to me the time that I left Montreal for New York City. My
mother said to me, even though I was a grown man, "Watch out for those
people Leonard, they aren't like we are." I was deeply offended by her
presumption of giving a man of such (?) this advice but after I'd lost the
copyright to "Suzanne" and "The Stranger Song" and
"Dress Rehearsal Rag," I think I knew what she was talking about.
There was however some compensations, some consolations, a sophisticated hotel
on 23rd Street. You can enter with a pigmy and a polar bear and not an eyebrow
was raised, the key was just shoved across the counter. I used to ride the
elevator late at night, up and down.I noticed that there was a young woman in
that elevator. I did not know the great fame, the renowned she had
attained. All I knew was that she was a nightrider like myself, trying to pass
the hours of the early morning. I gathered my courage and I summoned the most
razor-like approach that I could carve for her presence and I said, "Are
you looking for someone?" She said, "Yes I'm looking for Kris
Kristofferson." I said, "Lucky lady, you're in luck tonight. I'm Kris
Kristofferson." Well, such was the generosity of those times that she never
called me on it. A couple of years later after she passed over to the
other side, I found myself at this bar in a Polynesian restaurant in Miami
Beach. Life leads the thoughtful man on a path of many windings. I was drinking
a cocktail out of a ceramic coconut. This was an imponderable mystery
because the entire place was frothing with actual, authentic coconuts. I hold
these mysteries on the level of the trinity. Not only can they not be penetrated but there is no need to penetrate them. They are comforting in their obscurity. The very obscurity is what offers such solace. I think we can take a lesson from this. Many of the mysteries that seem to beset us, just lie back on them and relax. The thought of the young woman came to me very strongly as I sat at that bar and I wrote this song for Janis Joplin. |
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