Stranger Than Paradise (Explicit)

Stranger Than Paradise - Sun Kil Moon

May 2016

Los Angeles

Checked into the hotel Cecil yesterday

I was given a key for a room on the fifteenth floor

And I checked into it

It surprised me as I had heard the higher floors were for

Residents only

As of May this year

According to the guy at the desk anyhow

It's actually the second and third floors so he told me

I had read that Richard Ramirez stayed on the fourteenth floor

And of course

I asked about it

But the clerk said nobody knew the specifics on the room

In which stayed and I said Ah shit

Fifteen was the very top floor

Right under the water tanks where a body was supposedly found

I took the room and immediately walked around the hallways

And noticed fire escapes all throughout

Building going from the bottom to the top had easy access to the roof

The fire escape

That was of course if a fire

You aren't afraid

The noise from the streets was so overbearing

That I asked for a room on the other side of the hall

They said they got a room on the fourteenth floor if I didn't mind

And I said no not at all

So I took it and I guess it was on

What you call the courtyard side of the building

But there was the loudest thud coming from somewhere keeping me up

And after thud thud thud

Much exploring

It was a elevator motor so all the other floors I went roaming

I found the lower the floor the quieter the motor

They gave me a room on the fourth floor

But I didn't take the room

Without getting a photo of my fourteenth guest floor door

And I finally fell asleep

And when I woke up I went for a little walk

That morning

I'm walking around LA

Walking around downtown LA

And the sun is shining today

For pushing 50 I'm doing great

I'm walking around LA

Walking around downtown LA

And the sun is shining today

For pushing 50 I'm feeling great

Saw Richard Edson parking his bike

Saw Richard Edson parking his bike

I said I like your acting in Spike

I said I like your acting in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing

And Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise

And your liner notes on the Sonic Youth reissue

Then I said hey it was very nice to meet you

An interesting thing to know in regards to the Cecil

There are two elevator doors in the lobby and two up above

On the mezzanine level

But in the famous footage

That you see of the girl

There's definitely an elevator door on the guest room hallway

'Cause when you step out of the door

To go to your room you see the white comms

That were right in front of her and the wooden panel

That goes sideways

The amount of the activity in the lobby

And the elevators in that hotel was more than

Any in all my years of world traveling

The amount of staff members and maids

And maintenance workers roaming around

That place was totally mind boggling

At all times young

Foreign tourists were lined up at the front desk

As long as lines you'd see at a busy big city post office

Would I say it'd be easy to snatch up a girl

And drag her up onto the roof in a 700-room place like that

F**k yes

Would I say she could have been invited up

There by a group of people to check out the view yes

Would I say she could have been pulled into

One of the multiple shared bathrooms and choked out

Then dragged up

And dumped into a shark tank

F**k yes

Would I say that she could have easily went up

There all on her own and went for a swim yes

Would I believe even more a kid pulled a prank

And is sitting back on a love in the soap opera yes

'Cause I see no evidence to support her death besides

Vague news reports

And one photo of what were allegedly her parents showing up

At the LAX airport

Talk of losses but no legal documents have

I ever seen to support it

No lawyers speaking on behalf of the alleged Lams

And no friends who ever spoke on Elisa's behalf

I asked a parking lot attendant who had been working there for ten years

When that girl was found dead up there in 2013 were you here

She said ah I don't believe no girl up there ever even died

I said me either but can I ask why you think that

If you don't mind

She said you know how a little thing is said

And gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger

And bigger and bigger and bigger

And bigger and bigger and bigger

And I said yes

And she said I think that's what happened next door

I was completely with her

Caroline picked me up and I told her everything that happened

She said cool glad you got that out of your system

Now let's go check into a real hotel down the street

And get down to Manhattan Beach and say hi to Cameron

We're driving the 1-10 gonna say hi to a friend

Spend the day on his TV set and show some love and respect

We're driving the 1-10 and we stop for Italian food

And saying hi to Cameron

Thought that we're doing right and good

We talked about Bowie at length and he introduced me to Luke Wilson

And he said he liked my bass playing in Stillwater

And I said I liked you in Vacancy and Bottle Rocket

And we talked about James Caan and The Godfather

And Cat Stevens songs and Steve Miller

He said man I hope we get to work together

I said man that would be great

It was nice to meet you

We left the set and drove back downtown the Biltmore

As I feel asleep the mystery of Elisa Lam was still on my mind

Like what was I some f**king investigator

And she was real and for whatever reason her body was found in that water

I'm sorry for the parents and their poor young daughter

I'm sorry for your loss this world can be a real

Pile of shit

But I'm counting my blessed tonight baby

'Cause we're both healthy and alive

So let's embrace it

Went off to the studio in Sherman Oaks

Laid down a few new tracks

Took a break a Peruvian restaurant down the street and thought

The ceviche was the best I ever had

I told Nathan it was time for me to get on my flight back to San

Francisco

But wow what a great weekend and

On the way to Long Beach today

We stopped along the way

To see her brother and say hey

To his family and the kids spraying

Each other with hoses in the yard

And I thought about when I was young

And how the yard was so much fun

Oh I thought about when I was young

At the Long Beach airport waiting for the flight to San Francisco

Said I like this airport it's not too f**king big enough

At the Long Beach airport

Waiting for a flight to San Francisco

I said Caroline thanks for coming down I love you

She said I had a good time and I love you too