[00:24.23]Paris nineteen fifty-six, number nine rue Git le Coeur
[00:28.06]Word is out and everybody's beating on the door
[00:32.89]Madame Rachou will let you in, just smile and ring the bell
[00:38.03]Welcome to Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[00:44.74]
[00:49.13]The sweet smell of Pernod, a Gauloise cigarette
[00:53.07]It's a cosmic congregation but you ain't seen nothing yet
[00:57.79]It's an open invitation, an existential clientele
[01:02.98]All looking for Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[01:08.71]
[01:13.47]They looked for it in New York City and San Francisco Bay
[01:17.51]They looked for it in bebop jazz and it blew them all away
[01:21.75]They tried out every avenue and then said "What the hell,
[01:27.79]We'll look for it in Paris at the Beat Hotel"
[01:32.84]
[01:37.72]Burroughs came up from Tangiers, Ginsberg from New York
[01:41.72]Kerouac came up from Italy and slept out in the park
[01:46.27]Gregory Corso came and went and where he's at no one can tell
[01:51.22]He's still looking for Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[01:56.97]
[02:01.74]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[02:05.92]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[02:10.54]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[02:15.46]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[02:22.32]
[02:30.21]This ragged band of poets, Christians, Buddhists, Jews
[02:34.65]A new Beat generation searching for the Muse
[02:39.30]Some found it in the arms of a mystic mademoiselle
[02:44.21]Looking for Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[02:49.55]
[02:54.40]The rooms count up to forty-one, but you can sleep out in the hall
[02:58.40]For a few centimes you can get a drink and write your poems on the wall
[03:03.11]And the marijuana mixes with the Tukish toilet smell
[03:08.01]It's all part of Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[03:13.43]
[03:18.27]Alex Campbell strums an old guitar someone picked up in Spain
[03:22.39]Ginsberg's howling poetry and Kerouac's drunk again
[03:26.89]The rent is overdue there must be something they can sell
[03:32.29]Maybe they can sell Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[03:37.84]
[03:41.99]Someone's taking photographs, Janine takes off her clothes
[03:46.41]Marlene's meditating and concentrating on her toes
[03:50.66]Jasmine hides in room sixteen and curls up in her shell
[03:55.48]She's communing with Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[04:00.77]
[04:05.68]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[04:09.68]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[04:14.18]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[04:19.01]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[04:26.60]
[04:33.64]They did it for the journey and not for getting there
[04:37.40]Fame is in a whisper when you pay the taxi fare
[04:42.42]It's just this side of heaven and a long, long way from hell
[04:47.37]It's somewhere in Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[04:52.37]
[04:57.13]Nothing lasts forever, and forever's in a rhyme
[05:00.86]It's a Buddha-like connection and everybody has their time
[05:05.97]If you want to drink the water you've got to dig into the well
[05:10.41]And maybe then you'll find Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[05:15.47]
[05:20.55]It was over by nineteen sixty-three and everyone had gone
[05:24.38]But they'd opened up the road and the revolution was getting won
[05:29.20]And when the poems were painted over and they rang the final bell
[05:34.25]It was goodbye to Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[05:39.83]
[05:44.45]The myth is stronger than the truth, and the truth can sometimes lie
[05:48.08]To see it all for what it was you need an uncorrupted eye
[05:52.34]Was the journey worth it, only time will tell
[05:57.45]Still looking for Nirvana, at the Beat Hotel
[06:02.98]
[06:07.66]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[06:11.29]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[06:15.79]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[06:20.79]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[06:27.65]
[06:29.97]Looking at the stars
[06:33.63]We're looking at the stars
[06:37.97]