On beauty

'I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."'
Leonard Cohen -Chelsea Hotel

This song was written by one Leonard Cohen as a double or triple love song. First, it was meant to show the fascination Cohen had with the mythical Chelsea Hotel, which at one time or another harboured the personalities of Dylan Thomas, Sid Vicious, Allen Ginsberg, Arthur C. Clarck, Tom Waits, Anthony Kiedis, Jimmy Hendrix, Frida Kohla (pun intended), Robert Crumb, and ultimately Nico, Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen himself.
On second place, it is a love song for Janis Joplin and perhaps Nico, with whom he was involved.
The point is that we sosten fiends may not be many things, but we have the music.