[00:24.38]Paris nineteen fifty-six, number nine rue Git le Coeur
[00:29.82]Word is out and everybody's beating on the door
[00:33.94]Madame Rachou will let you in, just smile and ring the bell
[00:39.07]Welcome to Nirvana at the Beat hotel
[00:43.94]
[00:49.38]The sweet smell of Pernod, a Gauloise cigarette
[00:53.63]It's a cosmic congregation but you ain't seen nothing yet
[00:58.50]It's an open invitation, an existential clientele
[01:03.57]All looking for Nirvana at the Beat hotel
[01:08.88]
[01:13.50]They looked for it in New York City and San Francisco Bay
[01:18.31]They looked for in bebop jazz and it blew them all away
[01:23.00]They tried out every avenue and then said "What the hell,
[01:27.92]We'll look for it in Paris at the Beat hotel"
[01:33.44]
[01:37.81]Burroughs came up from Tangiers, Ginsberg from New York
[01:42.42]Kerouac came up from Italy and slept out in the park
[01:47.25]Gregory Corso came and went and where he's at no one can tell
[01:51.81]He's still looking for Nirvana at the Beat hotel
[01:57.64]
[02:01.89]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[02:06.45]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[02:11.20]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[02:15.89]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[02:21.95]
[02:30.39]This ragged band of poets, Christians, Buddhists, Jews
[02:35.28]A new Beat generation searching for the Muse
[02:39.90]Some found it in the arms of a mystic mademoiselle
[02:44.65]Looking for Nirvana at the Beat hotel
[02:50.20]
[02:54.53]The rooms count up to forty-one, but you can sleep out in the hall
[02:58.90]For a few centimes you can get a drink and write your poems on the wall
[03:03.71]And the marijuana mixes with the Tukish toilet smell
[03:08.59]It's all part of Nirvana at the Beat hotel
[03:14.09]
[03:18.21]Alex Campbell strums an old guitar someone picked up in Spain
[03:23.09]Ginsberg's howling poetry and Kerouac's drunk again
[03:27.83]The rent is overdue there must be something they can sell
[03:32.65]Maybe they can sell Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[03:38.40]
[03:42.33]Someone's taking photographs, Janine takes off her clothes
[03:46.83]Marlene's meditating and concentrating on her toes
[03:51.46]Jasmine hides in room sixteen and curls up in her shell
[03:55.77]She's communing with Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[04:01.27]
[04:05.89]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[04:10.18]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[04:14.86]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[04:19.49]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[04:25.55]
[04:33.80]They did it for the journey and not for getting there
[04:38.61]Fame is in a whisper when you pay the taxi fare
[04:43.05]It's just this side of Heaven and a long, long way from Hell
[04:47.92]It's somewhere in Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[04:53.42]
[04:57.36]Nothing lasts forever, and forever's in a rhyme
[05:01.92]It's a Buddha-like connection and everybody has their time
[05:06.49]If you want to drink the water you've got to dig into the well
[05:11.23]Maybe then you'll find Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[05:16.53]
[05:20.66]It was over by nineteen sixty-three and everyone had gone
[05:25.42]But they'd opened up the road and the revolution was getting won
[05:30.04]When the poems were painted over and they rang the final bell
[05:34.92]It was goodbye to Nirvana at the Beat Hotel
[05:40.17]
[05:44.65]The myth is stronger than the truth, and truth can sometimes lie
[05:48.86]To see it all for what it was you need an uncorrupted eye
[05:53.73]Was the journey worth it, only time will tell
[05:58.17]Still looking for Nirvana, at the Beat Hotel
[06:03.54]
[06:07.98]Take me to your leader, take me to the man
[06:12.10]Someone has got the answer, someone's got the perfect plan
[06:16.79]If you're looking in the alleys, if you're looking in the bars
[06:21.60]You'll find us in the gutter, looking at the stars
[06:27.75]
[06:30.00]Looking at the stars
[06:32.25]
[06:34.62]We'll looking at the stars
[06:37.87]