Tal, bassista jazz-rock di Sydney (Australia), si esibisce qui in uno dei più celebri brani di Leonard Cohen.
La poesia coheniana rimbalza, ancora oggi e forse più forte che mai, da un continente all'altro...
"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.
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.
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.
"Chelsea Hotel #2" racconta dell'occasionale incontro (e rapporto sessuale) di Cohen con Janis Joplin. La celebre cantante si trovava là per vedersi con Kris Kristofferson, che era il suo "lover" di turno...
Lo stesso Cohen spiegò: "L'ho scritta per una cantante americana morta qualche tempo fa. Anche lei era solita alloggiare al Chelsea. Ho iniziato la canzone nel 1971, in un bar polinesiano di Miami, per finirla ad Asmara, Etiopia, poco prima che il trono venisse usurpato..." Anni più tardi il cantautore si pentì di aver resa pubblica questa storia, ma non ritrattò mai sulla sua veridicità.
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"Music was my first love..."