It's not surprising that the song would be embraced as it has been by female singer-songwriters. "Chelsea Hotel #2" is Leonard Cohen's great tribute to women. It might be rock's single greatest tribute to any woman. Cohen wrote it for Janis Joplin, whom he met and had a brief romance with with while living in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, among a lot of creative young people, some of whom would become very famous very quickly. I sat at a listening event for Old Ideas at Joe's Pub in New York City last year, where Cohen talked about those days in Chelsea with a fondness that made the place real, more than just a myth out of old Velvet Underground videos. You could tell it meant a lot to him and that it had a lot to do with the person he became.
Read more: Chelsea Hotel #2 Leonard Cohen - Review of "Chelsea Hotel #2" - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/chelsea-hotel-2-leonard-cohen#ixzz2P9sQHjmO
"I loved you the best" - Janis Joplin - actually means (according to this video interview with Cohen):
My meeting Janis Joplin ... the seed of the song ... That specifically meant that I wasn't one of Janis Joplin's closest friends ... I knew her slightly ... I didn't want to include myself ... as one of her intimates. I wasn't.
http://1heckofaguy.com/2011/08/16/how-often-did-leonard-cohen-think-of-janis-joplins-sweet-little-sound-chelsea-hotel-1-2/
