Quote:
Originally Posted by Dayze
I've never understood WTF Hotel California was about.
or Stairway to Heaven
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The lyrics weave a surreal tale in which a weary traveler checks into a luxury hotel. The hotel at first appears inviting and tempting but it turns out to be a nightmarish place where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." The song is an allegory about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s.[7] Don Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles"[8] and later reiterated: "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about."[9] In 2008, Don Felder described the origins of the lyrics:
“ Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night... you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that... what we started writing the song about. Coming into L.A.... and from that 'Life in the Fast Lane' came out of it, and 'Wasted Time' and a bunch of other songs.[10] ”
The term "colitas" in the first stanza means "little tails" in Spanish; in Mexican slang it refers to buds of the cannabis plant.[11]
In a 2009 interview, Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley this about the lyrics:
“ On "Hotel California," you sing: "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" I realize I'm probably not the first to bring this to your attention, but wine isn't a spirit. Wine is fermented; spirits are distilled. Do you regret that lyric? ”
Henley responded:
“ Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes.[12] ”
According to Glenn Frey's liner notes for The Very Best Of, the use of the word "steely" in the lyric (referring to knives) was a playful nod to band Steely Dan, who had included the lyric "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening" in their song "Everything You Did".[13]
Conjectures
The metaphorical character of the story related in the lyrics has inspired a number of conjectural interpretations by listeners. In the 1980s some Christian evangelists alleged that "Hotel California" referred to a San Francisco hotel that was purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into a Church of Satan.[14][15] Other rumors suggested that the Hotel California was the Camarillo State Mental Hospital.[16]