What is Hotel California about??

[MyNameIsJonas]

ok so ive been tryin to figure this out for a while. ive been looking at different places online all over the place and theres a lot of really stupid bs about what it means and what people think it means. heres what i heard though, and i think it makes the most sense:

the song is about the opium houses or something like that in california in the 1970s. places where people went for opium. they could "check out any time [they] like, but [they] can never leave" signifies how you can become trapped in a life of addiction and cant get out. and then i heard something about when he says "please bring me my wine, he said 'we havent had that spirit here since 1969' " means something about his wife that left or died or somethin like that.

so i was just wondering what anybody thought about that or had any ideas.

yea i know noone ever even reads these lyric forums but i figured if i put this anywhere else some mod somewhere would just stick it here.

[MyNameIsJonas]

anybody? lol...

[morrissey]

no. I've never thought about what it might be about, I've only heard it a couple times... I'm not an Eagles fan. You may be right, you may be wrong... and I don't care either way.

/indifferent

[Electric Riley]

Well I AM an Eagles fan!

The Eagles have never been strong on lyrics, except for a few songs, ie: Hotel California. The meaning if this song has been discussed for a long time, but the writer of this song, Don Hanley (or something), has never been direct about its meaning. I highly doubt it's about drugs.

Perhaps this song is just a narative, telling a story. Maybe it contains fragments of Hanley's personal past experiences, feelings, or reactions. It appears to be about many things.

It has characters and a plot, so perhaps all it is is a fantasy story. The lyrics are complex and haunting.

I love this song.

[bard2dbone]

It's Don Henley. He said in one interview that he enjoyed hearing all the bizarre interpretations people gave the song. If I rememebr that interview properly,(It was a really really long time ago.) He started it as a simple narrative, fell asleep while trying to think of lyrics, and enjoyed where the dream took him. So simple story-->veers into 'twilight zone' after Don falls asleep.

I don't know if that is the real, whole story. But it sounds dull and banal enough to be the truth.

Isn't it disappointing when there is a huge urban legend/speculative interpretation story about a song and it turns out to be dull and pedestrian?

"In The Air Tonight" Is not, in fact about murders, revenge, overdoses, or any of the other *real stories* that very sincere people have told me over the years either. Phil Collins said in an interview that he was just babbling lyrics off the top of his head to carry the vocal rhythm that he wanted, sort of how some people would sing 'la la laaaaaaaaala lalalala la laaaa la', except he does it with words and nonsense sounds(like sususudio.)


Kind of a bummer isn't it?

[Rocker4Lyf]

And some people do read "these lyric forums". haha. Songwriters read these forums.

[morrissey]

And some people do read "these lyric forums". haha. Songwriters read these forums.

Good point :thumb:. We've got a small community here, but we all love lyrics, it all works out.