Eagles – Hotel California (live 1977)
“Hotel California” is a song by the American rock band Eagles, it was released as a single in February 1977 from the album of the same name. It is one of the best known songs of the album-oriented rock era. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). The Eagles’ original recording of the song features Henley singing the lead vocals and concludes with an extended section of electric guitar interplay between Felder and Joe Walsh. The song has been given several interpretations by fans and critics alike, but the Eagles have described it as their “interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles”. In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, Henley said that the song was about “a journey from innocence to experience…that’s all”.
Eagles – Hotel California (live 1977)
After Don Henley came up with the title, a theme developed for the album. Don Felder told us how some of the other songs fit in: “Once you arrive in LA and you have your first couple of hits, you become the ‘New Kid In Town,’ and then with greater success, you live ‘Life In The Fast Lane,’ and you start wondering if all that time you’ve spent in the bars was just ‘Wasted Time.’ So all of these other song ideas kind of came out of that concept once the foundation was laid for ‘Hotel California.’ It was a really insightful title.” @Songfacts.
In the ’70s, the AM format, which was what we were really aiming for, had a specific formula; your song had to be between three minutes and three minutes and thirty seconds long, and it had to be a dance track, a rock track, or a trippy ballad. The introduction could only be 30 seconds long before the singer started, so the disc jockey didn’t have to speak so long. ‘Hotel California’ is six and a half minutes long. The introduction to it is a minute long. You can’t really dance to it. It stops in the middle when the drums stop: ‘mirrors on the ceiling,’ that section, and it’s got a two minute guitar solo on the end. It’s the complete wrong format. @Songfacts.
Hotel California Lyrics:
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain,
“Please bring me my wine”
He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine”
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! “
