Jeffrey Lewis - The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song lyrics

Walkin' up 23rd Street i was tired and alone
It was late my housemate
Would be asleep when I got home
The sign ahead glowin' red
Said the Chelsea Hotel
Where Nancy and Sid Vicious
And my friend Dave once dwelled

The street was black under my feet
Which continued their walkin'
Though I was vaguely interested
In the folks behind me talkin'
Two guys maybe gay wearin' Reber type suit's
And a girl wearin' glasses
Who looked kinda cute
Her hair was short and curly
She had a tattoo on her back
Which I could see cos her red shirt
Was sleeveless with straps
But I only saw this later
Not in my first glance


But I could hear her talkin' behind me
And as if by chance
She was tryin' to describe
A song I knew well the Leonard Cohen song
About the Chelsea Hotel

And I smiled a smile to myself when she said
That was the song where he talks about
Someone giving him head
On the bed that's unmade
And how the song was outrageous
And that's when I got
Uncharacteristically courageous
I could have left the three of them laughin'
And just gone on home
But I turned and I faced her
And I said "Leonard Cohen?" just like that

She was shocked and surprised
But she looked very happy
That she now had a witness
To back up her story she looked at me
With her spectacled eyes
And said, "see I told you"
To the two others guys

My tale might have ending
Right there and then
But we started talkin' about Leonard Cohen
How his lyrics were cool
And how he sang so sincere
That it must have been true
And it happened right here
Usually women right of the bat
Don't find me that great
But there we were laughin', scrollin'
Like we could really relate
Although we didn't mention the head line
It was alluded
And her conversation was better
Cos her friends weren't included
The guys were more into each other
At least that's how it seemed to me
I heard the faint knocking of opportunity
Although it's easy for me now
Upon my looking back
To think of all the things i could have said
To make me the mac
Just keep the sad truth in mind
As I tell this to you
That we really only talked
For a minute or two and I never got her name
And she never got mine
But in this couple short minutes
We had a pretty good time and on top of that
Though you may not believe it
You know what she says to me next
As I repeat it
That line about gettin the blow job
That Leonard sings she said it made her
Want to do naughty things right about then
I should have asked if she knew
What the Chelsea charged
If we got a room for two
But I didn't and I know
I'm a schmuck, don't you doubt it
The only thing I did
Was write this stupid song about it

If I was Leonard Cohen
Or some other song writing master
I'd know to first get the oral sex
And then write the song after
You can practice writing songs
About romance every day
But if you haven't loved
Then you'll have nothing to say
We could have given each other head
On Leonard same unmade bed
But I was too shy to suggest it
And so instead
When the three of them stopped
To look through a pub window
I said good night
Tho I had not quite meant to
And waved as we walked tho
I would not forget her
Especially when she mysteriously said
See you later so now every time I'm walking
I hope that we'd meet and on purpose
I always go up 23rd Street
Where the sign glowin' red
Says the Chelsea Hotel
Where Nancy and Sid Vicious
And my friend Dave's once dwelled

Life doesn't work out
The way it does in old songs
That's why we sing new ones
To say what really goes on
So if I ever see her again and we pick up
Right we were ended
Maybe I'll play her this song
Maybe she won't get too offended
And listen I tell you why
There's more than this situation
Than miss the eyes you may think it's sad
You may think it's pathetic
But I sing this song
And that she'll never know it
But think a minute 'bout what that means
And you'll realize it's actually
A wonderful thing that all around the world
There maybe folks singin' tunes
For the love of others folks
That they barely knew
And it puts a smile on my face yes, it do
And let me tell you
You ought to be smilin' too
Cos the next time you're feelin'
Kinda lonesome and blue
Just think that someone somewhere
Might be singin' about you
So who knows if I'll ever see her again
Maybe we'll see this whole time
She could have been singing about me
Probably not but it could be