song: Chelsea Hotel #2
artist: Leonard Cohen
album: New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974)
writer: Leonard Cohen

nylon-stringed acoustic guitar: Leonard Cohen

"A thousand years ago, I lived at this hotel in New York City. I was a frequent rider of the elevator on this hotel. I would continually 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, I 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 new how to do. Finally, I gathered my courage. I said to her, "Are you looking for someone?". She said, "Yes... I'm looking for Kris Kristofferson". And I said, "Little lady, you're in luck! I am Kris Kristofferson!". Those were generous times, and even though she new that I was so much shorter than Kris Kristofferson, she never led on. Great generosity prevailed in those doomed decades. Anyhow, I wrote this song for Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel." - Leonard Cohen