Hotel California (song)

"Hotel California"
Single by Eagles
from the album Hotel California
B-side	"Pretty Maids All in a Row" and "The Sad Cafe"
Released	February 1977
Format	7" single
Recorded	1976
Genre	Rock
Length	6:08
Label	Asylum
Writer(s)	Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley
Producer	Bill Szymczyk
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Eagles singles chronology
"New Kid in Town" (1976) "Hotel California" (1977) "Life in the Fast Lane" (1977)
Music sample Eagles - "Hotel California"

"Hotel California" is the title song from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. It is one of the best-known songs of the album-oriented rock era. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey. 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".

History and recognition

"Hotel California" topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for one week in May 1977. Three months after its release, the single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing 1,000,000 records shipped. The Eagles also won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Hotel California" at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards in 1978. Leading up to the release of "Hotel California", The Eagles were already accepted and acclaimed as "America's No. 1 rock group", allowing their new album to release to a large, well-established fan-base.

In 2009, the song "Hotel California" was certified Platinum (Digital Sales Award) by the RIAA for sales of 1,000,000 digital downloads.

The song is rated highly in many rock music lists and polls, though it was not met with critical acclaim right away. Rolling Stone magazine, for example, originally spoke poorly of Hotel California in the very same issue in which it featured The Eagles on the cover. The magazine later placed it as the 49th greatest song of all time. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song's guitar solo is ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine's Top 100 Guitar Solos and was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine.

As one of the group's most popular and well-known songs, "Hotel California" has been a concert staple for the band since its release. Performances of the song appear on the Eagles' 1980 live album, simply called Live, and in an acoustic version on the 1994 Hell Freezes Over reunion concert CD and video release. The "Hell Freezes Over" version is performed using eight guitars and has a decidedly Spanish feel to it with Don Felder's flamenco-inspired intro. During the band's Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne, the song was performed in a manner closer to the original album version, but with a trumpet interlude in the beginning.

The song is a playable track on the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.

Glenn Frey described the origins of the song:

"The song began as a demo tape, an instrumental by Don Felder. He’d been submitting tapes and song ideas to us since he’d joined the band, always instrumentals, since he didn’t sing. But this particular demo, unlike many of the others, had room for singing. It immediately got our attention. The first working title, the name we gave it, was ‘Mexican Reggae'."

Interpretation

The lyrics describe the title establishment as a luxury resort where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." On the surface, it tells the tale of a weary traveler who becomes trapped in a nightmarish luxury hotel that at first appears inviting and tempting. The song is an allegory about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s. Don Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles" 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." 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."

The abstract nature of the lyrics has led listeners to their own interpretations over the years. In the 1980s, some Christian evangelists alleged that "Hotel California" referred to a San Francisco hotel purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into the Church of Satan. Other rumors suggested that the Hotel California was the Camarillo State Mental Hospital.

The term "colitas" in the first stanza of the song is a Spanish term for "little tails" and in Mexican slang it is a reference to the buds of the Cannabis plant.

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."

According to Glenn Frey's liner notes for The Very Best of Eagles, 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".

Personnel

• Don Henley: Lead vocals, drums.
• Glenn Frey: 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals.
• Don Felder: Lead guitar, 12-string electric guitar, backing vocals
• Joe Walsh: Lead guitar, backing vocals.
• Randy Meisner: Bass guitar, backing vocals

Cover shot for the album was the Beverly Hills Hotel in California.

Cover versions and parodies

Covers

Many cover versions of "Hotel California" have been released:

• Alabama 3: On their album la peste (2000).
• The Cat Empire: A French jazz, (L'Hotel de Californie) with French lyrics, recorded for Triple J's Like a Version segment and subsequent CD compilation. A live rendition of L'Hotel de Californie from a show in Montréal appeared on their 2009 live album Live on Earth
• Shir'Eli Abdurishit: A Uyghur singer sung with Uyghur Language, from the album "Güzelim" in 1998.
• Alex Cohen, a Brazilian singer, recorded an unplugged live version in English for the Um Barzinho, Um Violão series.
• Sylvain Cossette French Canadian singer: released in 2008 on his cover album 70's Volume 2
• Igor Džambazov - "Hotel Macedonia" - Version with lyrics in Macedonian, promoting the country of Macedonia
• Gipsy Kings: A flamenco version with Spanish lyrics, released in 1988 and later featured in the film The Big Lebowski.
• Sam Hui recorded a version in 1977.
• William Hung: A 2004 version recorded by the American Idol contestant.
• Majek Fashek released a reggae version, often incorrectly credited to Bob Marley.
• The Moog Cookbook released a version on their album Ye Olde Space Bande (1997).
• Moonraisers released a 1998 reggae version, with several remixes recorded.
• Panteón Rococó, a Mexican ska group, has also released a cover of the song, but is not included in any of their albums.
• Rascal Flatts performed a country version at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
• Rhythms del Mundo released a 2009 version off their album Classics, featuring The Killers.
• Max Romeo released a reggae version on his album Something is Wrong (1999).
• Roo'ra released a version on their second album "날개 잃은 천사" ("Angel Without Wings")(1995).
• Nancy Sinatra covered it on the album Nancy Sinatra - California Girl.
• SkaDaddyZ released a reggae/ska version in 1999. It is often incorrectly credited to Reel Big Fish, NOFX or Less Than Jake.
• Al B. Sure! released a version on his album Private Times...and the Whole 9! (1990).
• Tangerine Dream covered it on their 2010 album Under Cover - Chapter One.
• Romania-based Vama Veche released a version sung in Romanian on their second album, but with alternative lyrics dealing with the dreadful living conditions in Romanian student dormitories in the late nineties. The song is titled "Hotel Cişmigiu".
• Vulgaras, a New York City-based rock band, recorded and filmed a video for a torch rock version on their Heavy Handed Heart album.
• Frank Ocean released a version on his EP Nostalgia, Ultra entitled American Wedding'.
• New Found Glory - untitled album

Parodies

Parodies include:

• Christian parody band ApologetiX redid this song into "Hotel Can't Afford Ya."
• In 1983 the band Big Daddy recorded a comedic cover version, mixing the original lyrics with an arrangement very similar to the Del Shannon song "Runaway," though the actual chords and melody remained the same as the Eagles original.
• Country music parodist Cledus T. Judd parodied the song as "Motel Californie" on his 1995 debut album Cledus T. Judd (No Relation).
• A parody called "Hotel Keralafonia" has circulated over the internet, with the performing band listed as "The Yeagles". Kerala is the second southern-most state in India. The singer's style is reminiscent of the thick Keralite or Malayali (Malayalam is the official state language of Kerala) accent most natives have.
• A Mexican parody called "Motel California" talks about a bachelor party that was held in the so called Motel California with an unexpected end.

References

Preceded by "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell

Billboard Hot 100 number one singles May 7, 1977

Succeeded by "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer