“Va ser molt indiscret per part meva donar a conèixer aquest episodi. No sé per què ho vaig fer. Em sorprèn haver-ho fet públic perquè hi ha certs versos en aquesta cançó que són molt íntims. (Everybody Knows, Editorial Blume).”
Leonard Cohen i Janis Joplin van compartir llit i nit al Chelsea Hotel de Nova York. Ella, nascuda el 19 de gener del 1943, moriria als 27 anys, el 4 d’octubre del 1970, per sobredosi d’heroïna. Ell, el 1974, al disc New Skin for the Old Ceremony, publicaria una cançó, Chelsea Hotel #2, amb què es dirigiria directament a Joplin.
Chelsea Hotel #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.
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.”
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 don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I don’t keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that’s all, my little darling, I don’t even think of you that often.
Foto: www.projects.dbinyc.com
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