She never slept
in the Chelsea Hotel
but she bought an old guitar
just ‘round the corner
How did she get
to rusty trucks and daises?
We all got sick
in the winter
and she died
in the spring
So we learn to sleep
through the lonely
I’ll find a way
to get back to Coney
How do I get
to rusty trucks and daises?
Cold cups of coffee
oh it’s a cold, cold cup of coffee
Yeah, they say they got horses
way up there babe,
Yeah they say they got horses.
We never knew
how she learned that guitar
hollow and red
played it ‘til she bled
ski hats and parkas
on the 4th of July
Hilly’s old dog
that howled and whined
As we tumbled
and tangoed
on the tiniest stage
those spitball kids
to Lorraine’s surprise
They had no tattoos
no magic powder, no pixie dust
clean scrubbed and smiling
like a Cheshire Cat’s clowder
She never slept
in the Chelsea Hotel
but she bought an old guitar
just ‘round the corner
How did she get
to rusty trucks and daises?
We all got sick
in the winter
and she died
in the spring
So we learn to sleep
through the lonely
I’ll find a way
to get back to Coney
How do I get
to rusty trucks and daises?
Cold cups of coffee
oh it’s a cold, cold cup of coffee
Yeah, they say they got horses
way up there babe,
Yeah they say they got horses.
We never knew
how she learned that guitar
hollow and red
played it ‘til she bled
ski hats and parkas
on the 4th of July
Hilly’s old dog
that howled and whined
As we tumbled
and tangoed
on the tiniest stage
those spitball kids
to Lorraine’s surprise
They had no tattoos
no magic powder, no pixie dust
clean scrubbed and smiling
like a Cheshire Cat’s clowder
She never slept
in the Chelsea Hotel
but she bought an old guitar
just ‘round the corner
How did she get
to rusty trucks and daises?
We all got sick
in the winter
and she died
in the spring
So we learn to sleep
through the lonely
I’ll find a way
to get back to Coney
How do I get
to rusty trucks and daises?
Cold cups of coffee
oh it’s a cold, cold cup of coffee
Yeah, they say they got horses
way up there babe,
Yeah they say they got horses.
We never knew
how she learned that guitar
hollow and red
played it ‘til she bled
ski hats and parkas
on the 4th of July
Hilly’s old dog
that howled and whined
As we tumbled
and tangoed
on the tiniest stage
those spitball kids
to Lorraine’s surprise
They had no tattoos
no magic powder, no pixie dust
clean scrubbed and smiling
like a Cheshire Cat’s clowder
about
Every song is its own little world - on this one, some words came first, just a handful of them “She never slept in the Chelsea Hotel/But she bought an old guitar just ‘round the corner.” They sat on the page for a while, not sure where to go next - and then, out of nowhere my old bandmate Molly Fitch died from Covid and I understood, in that messy, broken moment that this song was about her. She lived a complex, mysterious life and we had just gotten back in touch after years of silence, cracking wise about our adventures playing at CBGBs in the 90s. I decided to keep plenty of her secrets intact, and tried to paint an honest picture of where she ended up, and what it was like to wake up in a world without her.
Thanks for listening - Marco
credits
released June 17, 2022
Marco North: vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass, harmonica, tack piano, accordion, mellotron, drums, and various Stradivarius string samples.
On the midnight version, Bryan Daste on pedal steel
Design by Bittersweet Content
Photos by Irakli Katsadze
Recorded in a living room in Moscow, Russia with SOYUZ microphones.
THANKS TO:
Oz Fritz, Bryan Daste, Nataliya Usherzon, Eve North, Vera North, Kevin Salem, Eric B. and Chris W. from The Mixorcist, Irakli, Therese, JM, Evie, Jon, Jamie, Daniel, David, Marlon, Polly, Ryan and George.
French singer-songwriter Sophia Djebel Rose makes shadowy, minimal psych-folk with magnetic and immediate emotional connection. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 29, 2022