It’s something in which many of us may indulge during the thick of winter, planning for holidays via booking websites, this noun meaning the study of hotels, extending also to researching their lore and history. Hotels are a fabulous breeding ground for inspiration stories, songwriting, intrigue, secrets and are a magnet for all sides of society. From the cheap and sleazy to the grand and glamorous , it covers a huge spectrum in real or fictional. From the gangters in the Golden Nugget of Las Vegas to the grandiose Budapest Hotel to the spectacular Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, to the terrifying tale of the Overlook Hotel in the Shining But where does it fit in the world of music?
There is in fact a song using the word as its title by the innovative Welsh artist, Gruff Rhys, formerly of Super Furry Animals, in this B-side of the single Honey All Over, whcih in turn is taken, appropriately enough, from his 2011 album, Hotel Shampoo:
There are hundreds, if not thousands of songs inspired by, about, or set in hotels. Here’s just a small sample. From an 2017 album by pianist and composer Chilly Gonzales and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker conjure up the lives of previous occupants of West Hollywood’s Chateau Hotel Marmont. Many famous and infamous guests from film and music and more have stayed in romantic or tragic circumstances, including actress Jean Harlow or Mark Twain’ss daughter Clara, who both inhabited the hotel’s famous Room 29:
The Chelsea Hotel in New York is another famous landmark, perhaps the most famous of all as a temporary stay for creatives of all kinds. The poet Dylan Thomas died there in 1953. It was also the location where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols was a long-term and difficult guest, leading to the untimely death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. But the Hotel Chelsea, as it is formally known, has been host to thousands of famous guests, especially all forms of artists, and perhaps the best known song is that written by Leonard Cohen:
Lesser known, but just as entertaining, is this Cohen-referencing, fabulously droll song by New York’s brilliant singer-songwriter and cartoonist, Jeffrey Lewis:
There’s many other musical places to visit in the practice of xenodocheionology. Feel free to share anything more in relation to anything whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
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