Album: Year Of The Cat (1976)

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• You told the man in the Broadway Hotel
  Nothing was stranger than being yourself
  And he replied with a tear in his eye
  Love was a rollaway, just a cajole away
  Mist on a summer's day, nothing was clear
  Love was a smile away, just a defile away
  I sought it every way
  No one came near
  
  You asked the man for a room with a view
  Nothing was said as he stared at his shoe
  And he replied with a tear in his eye
  Love was a rollaway, just an unfold away
  That's all there is to say
  No one came near
  
  Alone in your room you hide and the night crawls by
  And the street outside, you feel over the words he said
  And they turn to rain all around your head
  
  You're seeking a hideaway
  Where the light of day
  Isn't on your face
  A door sign keeps the world away
  Behind the shades of your silent day
  
  You made your home in the Broadway Hotel
  Room service came at the push of a bell
  And the man said as he put down the tray
  "Love was a steal away, just a reveal away
  That's all there is to say" nothing was clear
  But as he turned away, you asked the man to stay
  He was there all the day
  No one came near
  
  Thank you Writer/s: Alistair Ian Stewart
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

• Kingpin from PennsylvaniaFor some reason it makes me think of Angelina Jolie.
• Jim from South JerseyI think it’s gay themed
• Bill from San Francisco, CaAl almost always plays this in his live performances.
• Tim from Cheyenne, WyMy guess is that woman would typically be about middle age and sort of attractive, but has seen better days professionally (whatever profession or heiress she might be) and wants absolutely no strings attached. On the slippery slope, so to speak. Remember, Times Square Broadway hotel(s) was/were in a pretty sleazy area in the 1970's and assuredly the hotel had not been so highscale then as has happened nowadays. Half world, as the french say. Not at all like now, Soho district, too.
• Tim from Cheyenne, WyLook at the last stanza of the lyrics and it is clear that a kind of lost woman is giving in to a sort of a gigalo arrangement at a hotel by the room service. Since this is written by Al in the
  mid 1970's there are no other answers clear. Al, or some other narrative of unknown sex, is mentioning this to her in some fashion or another. (mildly scolding?) But, yes, being in hotel rooms as much as most famous singers do does put a personal observation edge to all.

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