Look Who it Was Random video

Chelsea Hotel #2

2,794 views · Published 8 December 2008 · 3:41 · Indexed 14 October 2026

Channel: Ken Middleton · 2008 · Music

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A song about Janis Joplin, who died on the 4th October 1970. She lived for a while in New York's Chelsea Hotel and is widely acknowledged as one of the really great singers of the sixties.

It is taken from Leonard Cohen's album 'New Skin For The Old Ceremony' (1974).

Again, my tenor ukulele is tuned down one tone (F Bb D G) and I am playing in the key of Eb. To play it, use the chords F C Bb and Dm.

Here are the lyrics:

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."

And then you got away, didn't you babe...

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.

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