Paper Thin Hotel

The walls of this hotel are paper-thin

Last night I heard you making love to him

The struggle mouth to mouth and limb to limb

The grunt of unity when he came in

I stood there with my ear against the wall

I was not seized by jealousy at all

In fact a burden lifted from my soul

I learned that love was out of my control

A heavy burden lifted from my soul

I heard that love was out of my control

I listened to your kisses at the door

I never heard the world so clear before

You ran your bath and you began to sing

I felt so good I couldn’t feel a thing

I stood there with my ear against the wall ...

And I can’t wait to tell you to your face

And I can’t wait for you to take my place

You are The Naked Angel In My Heart

You are The Woman With Her Legs Apart

It’s written on the walls of this hotel

You go to heaven once you’ve been to hell

A heavy burden lifted from my soul

I heard that love was out of my control

Clearly Cohen has had some interesting experiences in hotel bedrooms although in this song of redemption, included on Death Of A Ladies’ Man (1977), we may take the hotel in question not as a particularly jerry-built edifice but as a metaphorical location.