“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.“
Leonard Cohen, 1985
THE CHELSEA HOTEL
LEONARD COHEN: CHELSEA HOTEL No. 2
The Online Blue Ribbon
