Chelsea Hotel #2

The Chelsea Hotel in New York city is where Cohen lived when he wasn't at his home in Montreal or his cottage on the Greek Island of Hydra. He chose the Chelsea because he heard he would meet people with a similar artistic bent, which he did. When introducing this song in concert, he would often tell a story about meeting a famous singer in an elevator of the Chelsea, which led to the sexual encounter he describes in this song. In Leonard's Greatest Hits (1997) album notes he says: "I wrote this for an American singer who died a while ago. She used to stay at the Chelsea, too. I began it at a bar in a Polynesian restaurant in Miami in 1971 and finished it in Asmara, Ethiopia just before the throne was overturned. Ron Cornelius helped me with a chord change in an earlier version."

Introducing this song in concert, Leonard Cohen sometimes admitted that he wrote it about a very brief affair he had with Janis Joplin in 1968, explaining that she came to the Chelsea Hotel looking for Kris Kristofferson, and when she and Cohen ended up in an elevator together, he told her he was Kristofferson. She knew he wasn't, but figured he would do on this particular evening. "We fell into each other's arms through some process of elimination," Cohen said. Joplin left in the morning, and he saw her only a few times after. She eventually did find Kristofferson and recorded his song "Me And Bobby McGee," which became a #1 hit when it was released after her death.

Why is this song titled "Chelsea Hotel #2" instead of just "Chelsea Hotel"? Ron Cornelius, who was Leonard Cohen's band leader for four albums and is listed as a co-writer on the track, explained to Songfacts: "He [Cohen] claims that I helped him with a chord change in writing an earlier version of this song. The truth is that I co-wrote the song with him on an airplane (eight hours) from New York to Shannon, Ireland. The reason it has a #2 behind it is that he tried to cheat me out of my share by re-copyrighting it that way (he changed nothing) - it was just 'Chelsea Hotel.' Anyone can check out the writer credits by contacting BMI to get the truthful writer credits. I ran his band for a long time (worldwide), played on his records, and have nothing but honest input to look back on - Leonard can't say that!!!" Cornelius is a guitarist who played on sessions with many artists, including Johnny Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Bob Dylan. He worked with Cohen before branching out into production and music publishing.