Well, Helen, you did it again.

This week for Song Lyric Sunday, Helen asks us to post a song about your first crush, or just a crush.

Having blogged – and blogged a lot about music – for over three years now, I’ve covered a lot of that. Heck, I even have a music post dedicated to my ex’s.

So as I thought about what I could post that I hadn’t already, my mind turned to Dan Bern.

Now, I’ve posted about him before. A quick search tells me I’ve even posted this song (sigh – after a while perhaps there truly is nothing new).

But I found a new version for you!

And, after a bit of thought, I think this is still a really good fit for the intent of today’s prompt.

This is the song that makes me think of early days dating my husband.

And that’s the crush that ends up mattering most, right?

I’d had a friend in town from London, England. We’d met for drinks and I’d brought future hubby along.

My friend had brought two friends who thought this guy Dan Bern was the next Bob Dylan.

And he was playing at the Black Sheep Inn that night – just a 40 minute drive away.

So off we all went, and yes, he really was wonderful. And the venue was fabulous for the warm folk sound.

It was a great night. And before I’d left I’d bought a CD and particularly gravitated toward two songs.

This one? Is called Chelsea Hotel:

From his 1999 Album Smartie Mine (the one I bought that night) here are the lyrics:

I still smell tobacco on my fingers
My breath reeks of pot and wine and sex
My eyes open up like they haven’t in years
So I won’t miss whatever happens next
You call me a thief
All right, I’m a thief
Grab a summons
Come and ring my bell
I’ll be making love with my baby
In the Chelsea Hotel

I told you to meet me at eight o’clock
I said I’ll be drinking at the bar
I drove between Newark and La Guardia
Trying to return a rented car
We keep missing connections today
But tomorrow would be just as well
I gotta go make love with my baby
In the Chelsea Hotel

I’ve been walking all around your neighborhood
My former love
You seem as far away and as sad to me
As those rain clouds above
I hope you’re happy and whatever you’re doing
I hope you’re doing well
And please don’t try to contact me
At the Chelsea Hotel

I was starting to think
The world was going to end when the calendar turns
But now you’re here
I see the future, baby
And they can let the calendar burn

New love is beautiful
But new love is sad
New love brings back all the old loves
That you’ve ever had
I put out a casting call
And you cast a spell
And we’re practicing for the millennium
Making love at the Chelsea Hotel

So who knows what tomorrow brings
But I know where I’ll be waking up
Let’s just listen to our breath tonight
And the breeze through the window that you opened up
Can you feel our hearts beating
Which one’s yours
Which one’s mine
Y’ can’t tell
Just another day of making love
At the Chelsea Hotel
Spent all day making love
At the Chelsea Hotel

Lyrics are from the Dan Bern Lyrics Archive.

I tried to think of music surrounding any early childhood crushes and came up empty.

I wonder at what the complete lack of music attached to those fuzzy memories indicates.

But I will always love this song. First? I think the lyrics are beautiful.

But second? I love when I first heard this song in that relationship.

Of course, I couldn’t have really known then in the thrall of the newness of it all that this was the one. But it’s nice to think the planets might have been aligning for both of us in a way that did.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, indeed.

But I can’t listen to this song without thinking it will probably work out all right.

Do you have a song that makes you think of those first moments “in crush” and new love? Let me know in the comments or surf the other contributions to this Hop for some inspiration.