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
[Verse 2]
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin' 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
[Chorus]
"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, uh
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys
That she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget
[Verse 4]
So I called up the Captain
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here
Since 1969"
And still those voices are callin'
From far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
[Chorus]
"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
[Verse 6]
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"
[Guitar Solo]
About
One of the most mysterious and widely speculated songs in rock history, “Hotel California” is best described in the words of its creators. As Don Henley explained in the Daily Mail dated 9/11/2007:
Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing. It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce.
Though the annotations to the left do their best to decipher Henley & co.’s words, it’s important to keep in mind a quote (and classic malapropism) from Eagles member Glenn Frey: “Vaguery is the primary tool of songwriters.”
In response to the insinuation that the first working title of the song was “Mexican Reggae,” Don Felder laughed and responded:
Yes, that’s right. It wasn’t really a title. When I first wrote all the music for it, I put it on a cassette with about 16 or 17 other song ideas, another one was what later became “Victim of Love,” and gave copies of the cassette to Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Randy Meisner. At the time I said, “If there’s anything on this cassette you like you want to work on, call me and let me know.”
And so Henley said, “I like that song that sounds like a Mexican reggae.” That was his description of what it drew in his mind. And later we started talking about it, and he came up with the framework lyrically of the hotel being a physical structure called the Hotel California, which there is no real Hotel California other than the one that’s down on Sunset here, the Beverly Hills Hotel is the artwork on the front of the cover.
During the 58th Grammys in February 2016 the Eagles were presented with their Grammy from 1977 for Album of the Year because they didn’t attend the Grammys in ‘77. This took place during a commercial break just after they and Jackson Browne finished a tribute to Glenn Frey.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Don Henley pushed back against the common assumptions that the song was about drug addiction, or Satan worship:
We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest; Hotel California' was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles.
It means the woman is obsessed by money and power. “Tiffany” is a world famous jewelry company. The protagonist of the song could immediately tell of her personality.
- 1.Take It Easy
- 3.Already Gone
- 7.Witchy Woman
- 9.Outlaw Man
- 11.James Dean
- 12.Saturday Night
- 13.On the Border
- 15.Wasted Time
- 17.Lyin’ Eyes
- 19.Desperado
- 21.Best of My Love
- 22.New Kid in Town
- 24.The Sad Café
- 31.Hotel California
- 32.Born to Boogie
- 33.In the City
- 34.Get Over It
- 36.Too Many Hands
- 38.The Long Run
- 40.The Last Resort