"Hotel California"
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 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 Benz
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!'
Snopes: Hotel California http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/hotel.htm "The simple answer is that there is no true meaning to this song. The Eagles were impressed by the way that Steely Dan could make what they described as 'junk sculpture' songs where they took weird disjointed lyrics, combined them with great music, and turned out hits. In fact, this song evolved in the reverse style of song making, with the great guitar parts of Don Felder laid down first, and then lyrics added later. Although 'HC' has many disctinct images and unusual twists of phrases, there is no meaning behind it other than to decribe a fictional place in the desert that Henly/Frey may have visited on a drug-induced head trip and not in their cars. It also skewers the decadence and opulence in which every southern Californian was living, or attempting to live at that moment in the late seventies." Experts: Eagles, The: Hotel California http://experts.about.com/q/449/1960380.htm "As for 'Hotel California,'... I provide the following commonly heard theories: (1) The Hotel California is a real hotel located in (pick one) Baja California on the coastal highway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz or else near Santa Barbara. (2) The Hotel California is a mental hospital... (3) It's about satanism. Isn't everything? (4) Hotel California is a metaphor for cocaine addiction. See 'You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.' This comes from the published comments of Glenn Frey, one of the coauthors. (5) It's about the pitfalls of living in southern California in the 1970s... (6) My fave, posted to the Usenet by Thomas Dzubin of Vancouver, British Columbia: "There was this fireworks factory just three blocks from the Hotel California . . . and it blew up!" The Straight Dope: Hotel California http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001 "From my present perspective, as a scholar of American literature, I can recognize that 'Hotel California' follows in the footsteps of such classic authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, not to mention Franz Kafka. Like many of those authors' works, 'Hotel California' tells a story that is only half the story. The song's first-person narrator is driving in the desert. He sees a building in the distance. It turns out to be a hotel. He decides to stop for the night. Once inside, he experiences a series of disquieting encounters, culminating in a hideous banquet. When he tries to leave the hotel, he is told that it would be futile to try: 'You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.' With this horrifying statement, the song's lyrical content comes to an end... Its lack of specificity takes some of the bite out of the horrific story. Listening to it, you get the sense that it is about something more than a man who made a poor choice of lodging."
