jarvis cocker chilly gonzales room 29

Jarvis CoCkerChilly

Gonzalesroom 29

A song-cycle about a piano in a hotel room

Room 29 is a hotel room situated on the 2nd floor of the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Amongst other things, it contains a baby-grand piano. This record is the life-story of the room as told by the piano and one of the hotel guests.

I read an actress used to party in this place and do drugs off the pianoIf I lick, will it still taste?A lifetime of spectating leaves you impotentUnable to join in without a frame of referenceWatching the playback after the event

“Room 29” – I heard them say“Is the only place to stay”Room 29 is where I’ll face myself alone

Holly has never grown hereThough someone once triedBut it died almost immediately:The climate was too dry

Yeah, this whole place is built on a lieBut what a lie:The kind of lie that has the entire western world agog‘Cos no one ever got turned on by the Whole Earth Catalog

Unhealthy, unfair and extremely entertainingRoom 29 is where I’ll face myself aloneAlone

1. Room 29

Help yourself to pretzelsHelp yourself to the minibarI couldn’t help myselfI read a self-help bookNow I’ve gone too far

Too far gone. UnrecognisableFrightened of the message lighton the phone on the bedside table

Where is Gilligan’s Island?Where do germs come from?Don’t open the curtainsI’m allergic to sun…

“Room 29” – I heard them say“Is the only place to stay”Room 29 is where I’ll face myself alone

A comfortable venue for a nervous breakdownA front row seat for a psychic shakedownI just had to laugh:Got so screwed upIs there anything sadder than a hotel room that hasn’t been fucked in?I’d like to get a piece of thatbut I need an introduction…

2. Marmont Overture(Instrumental)

3. Tearjerker

You are such a jerkYou are a tearjerkerYou don’t need a girlfriendYou need a social worker

She’s waiting at the airportYou’re in your hotel roomWith someone who doesn’t know you

Everybody always knewThe game that you were playingYou were fooling no oneSo we’re glad that you are paying

But still she’s gonna cryYeah, still it’s gonna hurt herThat you are a tearjerkerSuch a jerk, yeahA tearjerkerYou’re such a jerk, yeah

These surfaces are shinyAnything wipes off them

These surfaces are hardNothing seems to mark them

Breakfast ends at 10 a.m.Do you think we could be through by then?‘Cos breakfast is inclusiveDo you think I’m stupid?I’m stupidI’m stupid

You are such a jerkYou are a tearjerker

4. Interlude 1 – “Hotel Stationery”(Instrumental)

“I’d been ill on tour and had to stay holed-up in the Chateau until I’d recovered sufficiently. I watched a lot of TV during my stay and became unhealthily obsessed with the show Gilligan’s Island.

Prior to staying at the hotel my own ideas concerning Hollywood came from the movies that I’d watched on television as a child. Being so close to the source of these formative images was an unsettling experience for me. Like getting too close to the Big Bang or something…”

From a conversation between David Thomson and Jarvis Cocker, May 2014

Marmont Overture — The hotel first opened its doors in February 1929.

5. Clara

Clara, dear ClaraTell me, please do:How come your dear fatherWas far smarter than you?

And Clara, dear ClaraWhat will you do?Now your only daughter Has taken to the booze

It’s a family dramaBut you lack the skill to write it down‘Cos Daddy used up all the inkThen took his pen and left town

Clara, dear ClaraNow your husband’s gone tooLeaving his piano In this hotel room So play it, Clara

Remember, dear ClaraHow he used to play for youLike a personal orchestraIf you could just recall the tuneClara, remember Clara…

Everything was harmoniousEverything was melodicNow you’re a lonely widowAnd your daughter’s alcoholic

The last of the bloodlineIs 40 percent proofJust like a friend of your dad’s once almost said:“Being young is wasted on the youth”

Clara, dear ClaraTell me, please do:How come your dear fatherWas far smarter than you?

Tell me, ClaraClaraClara

Clara — Mark Twain’s daughter Clara moved into the Chateau Marmont shortly after the death of her husband, concert pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch. We think that this is how the piano came to be in the room. The couple’s only daughter, Nina (Twain’s last blood-relative) led a troubled existence and died of drug and alcohol-related issues in June 1966.

6. Bombshell

Now we’re in the bathroomI would like to hold youIt’s hard to hold a bombshellWhen it’s soaking wet

Eyebrows plucked to nothingSkin as pale as porcelainI can’t believe you’re hereI can’t believe you haven’t started yet

I would like to hold youI would like to touchBut you’re such a slippery proposition

Wouldn’t you be ratherWorking up a lather?The water’s turning tepidAnd I should pull the plug

My stock is at a maximumMy blonde it is a platinumI’m out of body lotionMister, you are out of luck

Scalded on the left sideFreezing on the rightNothing seems to work tonight

Two minutes into the second reelLife was at its best I feelI froze the frameApproached the screenNow you’re too close and I can’t focusNo I can’t see you clear

The guys will say I got it made“Coming home to that at the end of every day”But I can feel you slipping away

Now the water’s coldLying here aloneI guess I dropped the bombshellShe got bored and left

I never got to hold youI never got to touchShe slipped through my fingersThank you very much

Bombshell — Jean Harlow (the original “Blonde Bombshell”) married film-producer Paul Bern on July 2nd 1932. They spent their honeymoon in Room 29. Two months later, on September 5, Bern was found dead from a gunshot to the head in their home on Easton Drive in Beverly Hills, California. The coroner ruled his death a suicide. Police discovered a note at the scene that read as follows:

Dearest Dear Unfortuately [sic] this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you and to wipe out my abject humiliation, I Love You.

PaulYou understand that last night was only a comedy

7. Belle Boy

Tomato juice and raspberriesCarrots, watercress and celeryImmediately on floor 5Are you happy, are you learning, are you getting stronger?The Andersons cannot wait a moment longerYou’d better look alive

Life could be a bed of rosesIf it wasn’t filled with so many pricks,Who wanna take it out on the bell boy

You got fresh towels for 44You knock once then you knock once moreThen you open up the door

Mr. Mickey the HaberdasherIs laid on a lady and going at her, in the middle of the floorHe just smiled and kept on goingI guess it got his juices flowingPlaying to an audience of onePutting it on for the bell boyFor the benefit of the bell boyYou didn’t even get a tipNo: no tip for the bell boy

Butterfly steak with baby peasLiving on gratuitiesLiving far beyond your meansWhatever that means tonightAnd everybody wants to be coolBut not everyone can be cool Unless somebody else is there to bring the iceAnd you provide the iceBecause you are the bell boySuch a swell boyThe “all-is-well” boyThe “I’ll-never-tell” boy

When the evening doesn’t pan out rightIf you peak too soon or you start a fightWhen someone has to stand between the shit and the fanThat man is the bell boy

Give it up for the bell boyShow some respect for the bell boyMake some noise for the bell boyI’m talkin’ bout the bell boy

8. Howard Hughes Under The Microscope(Narration by David Thomson)

Howard Hughes Under The Microscope — “Howard Hughes rented the penthouse suite of the Chateau Marmont from the mid-1940s until the end of the 1950s. He is reputed to have used a telescope on the balcony to search for potential starlets who might be lying round the swimming pool below. Later in life he developed a pathological obsession with germs and personal hygiene”.


9. Salomé

I don’t know what to doI seem to have lost my head over youSee it rolling on the ground beside your feet

So shake your tambourineMaybe it will cast out this wicked dreamThat took root in my heartWhilst I was just wandering about

Then – bang! my head was goneBut hey, good lookingHaven’t I seen you somewhere?

Salomé… the viewing figures went through the roof Salomé… Breakdown or breakthrough?

I saw a head in a boxThe head was mineI got quite a shockI dropped it and then they reboxed it

I saw a crowd in the streetMy money box kept them sweetThey made it turn a pretty profitYou shook your tambourine above it

Salomé… the viewing figures just went through the roof Salomé… Breakdown or breakthrough?

There goes my headStill in a boxTucked under your armNow I’m at a lossBut I just love to watch you dancing

One more timeI’m out of my boxI’m out of my mindBut you’re the bossYes, you know that you areSo shake your pretty money maker

Yes, shake your tambourineMaybe it will cast out this wicked dreamThat took root in my heartSometime while I was not really lookingHey, good looking

10. Interlude 2 – “5 Hours a Day”(Instrumental)

11. Daddy, You’re Not Watching Me

Daddy, you’re not watching meSee my fingers as they touch the keys

But shouldn’t you be guiding me As we play our song together?

See, I’ve been watching so carefullyIn the absence of God I guess you’ll do for me

If there’s no higher powerI raise my eyes to theeForgive me if I stare

I never saw the likes of youAnd I can’t really work outJust where you’re coming from(Where are you coming from?)

Daddy, you’re not watching meThough you used to or so it seems to meSo now I’m watching something else, you seeSearching for a clue‘Cos If we all watch each otherWe will no longer need to botherLooking out for you

12. The Other Side

The other side is crampedThe other side is lonelyThe other side is a big, fat lieThe other side is phoneyEverything is scriptedAccess is restrictedI’ve seen all the cables and the wiresI got a really bad receptionWhen I went over to the other side

I turned my front room into the dark side of the moonFloating in a vacuum night after nightI found it very hard to concentrateThinking what I was missing on the other sideI wanna be where they make decisionsI wanna be where they fill the boxI ended up with a bunch of coked-up public school boysAll trying very hard to grow dreadlocksSo let me tell ya:

The Other Side — If cinema first released these “dreams and shadows”, then television brought them into the front room and domesticated them.

There is nothing on the other sideThere is nothing on the other side(I’ve seen the listings)There is nothing on the other side No, not tonight or any other night

The other side is claustrophobicThe other side is tacky show-businessAnd all you really need to know is this:That I’ve been playing for the other sideNo, it can’t be deniedWhere everything was scriptedAnd access was restricted And I saw all the cables and the wires

I was the other side of the world I was the other side of the doorI have been the other side of the bedI have been the other side of the wall

I got a really bad receptionWhen I went over to the other side

13. The Tearjerker Returns(Instrumental)

14. Trick of the Light

Ben Hur is raiding the honesty barCleopatra is taking a showerDinosaurs devour room service Whilst astronauts explore the moon’s surfaceIsn’t it funny?It’s only a trick of the light

Remember:Sat in the dark with my arm round your shoulderThe curtains drew back and I was bowled overThis is what I had been dreaming about:Life with the boring bits edited outI fell in loveFell in love with this trick of the lightTrick of the lightIn love at first sight with this trick of the lightSo very life-like, this trick of the lightIt looks so real but it’s only a trick of the light

Remember:Elephants and angelsBikers and truckersCreatures of the night and lousy cocksuckersKings and QueensSons and Lovers

Trick of the Light — “At 16 frames a second, you get what is called ‘persistence of vision’. If you show 16 still pictures in a second, people believe they are seeing live motion and time passing. If you get much below 16 there is a flicker effect, in other words, you begin to see the illusion”.


Champagne for all!I needed someone to explain to me,what it means to be aliveCould you give me a call?

Tank top. No braNo class. You’ll go farYeah that’s par for the courseYeah that’s a hell of a lookAnd surely it couldn’t hurtIf I just loosen my beltAnd let you steer meWay off course

We were cool in Musso & Franks’We ordered ice cream as main courseIn a turban of silk Drinking chocolate milkWith a shot of rum on the side Well of course

And sexual intercourse:That’s what it’s all about, of courseAfter I’ll buy you dinnerWe’ll order ice cream as main course

Shoving the lens under the coversI reached out to touch But you can’t touch a trick of the lightA trick of the lightI wasted my life On a trick of the lightYou tricked me alrightYou… trick of the light

But I could have sworn You were looking straight at meI could have sworn You were speaking my languageI lost it allI lost it for goodI lost my wife but – That’s Hollywood!I lost it allThrown away on this trick of the light

A Magic BoxUpon which life leaves a stainWhich we can watchAgain and againYou taught us to kissTaught us so many thingsDo you mind if I ask:When do we get to join in?A Magic WindowA most marvellous confection

But windows are for looking throughNot for checking out your reflection

No: I’m not cryingI just got something in my eyeIt’s a trick of the lightI’m completely alrightIt’s just a trick of the lightI’m waving goodbyeTo the love of my lifeWhat a surprise:The love of my life was a trick of the light

15. Room 29 (Reprise)

EPILOGUE16. Ice Cream as Main Course

We were the ones who paved the wayFor this street trash of todayTattoos and sports bars You can’t hear yourself thinkJust the chink, chink, chink, as they sinkAnother jug of vodka Mixed with an energy drinkBut back in the golden days:

We were cool in Musso & Franks’We ordered ice cream as main courseIn a turban of silk Drinking chocolate milkWith a shot of rum on the side Well of course

Hanging with high culture refugeesYou don’t have to be niceYou never have to say “please”In the precinct they built a 30s-style barAnd then they put some guy on the doorJust to keep out all the thirties-style peopleYeah, myth made visible

A festival of festivitiesYes it is

Room 29 (Reprise) — “Cinemas and hotel rooms are similar in that they are places where we can enact our fantasies with no responsibilities. But eventually the lights always come on and we have to go home (or at least check out)”.


Lyrics written by Jarvis Cocker (PRS)/BMG Music Publishing.Music written by Jason “Chilly Gonzales” Beck (PRS/SOCAN)/ Gentle Threat Ltd. Administered by EMI Music Publishing. Except: Track 3 and 13 additional writer is Ryuichi Sakamoto/ EMI Music Publishing. Except: Track 14 writer is Gato Barbieri/EMI Music Publishing.

All tracks recorded and mixed at Studios Ferber, Paris, France, 2016. All tracks engineered by Renaud Letang and Thomas Moulin. All tracks mastered by Mandy Parnell. All tracks produced by Jarvis Cocker, Chilly Gonzales and Renaud Letang.

Tracks 4, 6, 8 & 10 include segments from an interview with film historian David Thomson. Tracks 5, 6, 7, 9, 13 & 16 additional performance by Kaiser Quartett. Kaiser Quartett is Martin Bentz on cello, Adam Zolynski on first violin, Jansen Folkers on second violin and Ingmar Süberkrüb on Viola. Track 10 flute by Nathalie Hauptman and French Horn by Hasko Kroeger. Track 11 additional vocals by Maud Techa. Track 14 additional performance by Kaiser Quartett, as well as FAME’S Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra, and additional vocals by Maud Techa. Track 9 arranged by Ingmar Süberkrüb. Track 14 conducted by Oleg Kondratenko, sound engineering by Giorgi Hristovski, Pro Tools operations by Atanas Babaleski, and stage managers Riste Trajkovski and Igor Vasilev.

Art Direction/Design: YES, in consultation with Peter SavillePhoto page 2: © 2015 Alexandre IsardPhoto page 3: Jarvis CockerPhoto page 7: Jean Harlow behind the scenes of the shooting of “Dinner at Eight”. Courtesy Everett Collection/Mary EvansAll other photos: Frank Mobilio

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& © 2017 Gentle Threat Ltd/Sunday Service LLC, under exclusive license to Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin. 0028947970101 G/H. Printed in the EU.

Thanks:Peter Saville, Jeannette Lee, Melinda Cody, Renaud Letang, Thomas Moulin, David Thomson, Andre Balazs, Philip Pavel, Melissa Rich, Mimi Polk Gitlin, Griffin Dunne, Liam Ripon, Randall Poster, Wes Anderson, Fisher Stevens, Frank Mobilio, Mark Herbert, Libby Durdy, Marley Lohr, Kim Sion, Auge Altona (Timo Schierhorn, Katharina Duve, UWE), Andras Siebold, Jody Sperling, Maya Orchin, Marketa Uhlirova, Ross Matthews, Narcissus Studios (Neasden), Geoff, Patsy, Mog, Kelly, Sam & all at Rough Trade, Martin Craft, Christian Badzura, Leonie Petersen, Felix Mesenburg.

Further reading: Hollywood Handbook, ed. André Balazs, 1996Life at the Marmont by Raymond Sarlot and Fred E. Basten, 1987The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies and What They Did to Us by David Thomson, 2012Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz, 1974Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal, 1968The Power of Movies: How screen and mind interact by Colin McGinn, 2005Whole Earth Catalog, 1968–1972

jarvis cocker chilly gonzales room 29

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