Hotel California by The Eagles is not about what you may believe

Welcome to the 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 a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night"

Such a lovely place

Hotel California is the title track from the Eagles' album Hotel California. It was released as a single in February 1977 and became an instant hit. Don Felder gets credit for the music, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey are responsible for the lyrics. The song is considered the best-known recording by the band, and went to number one on American and Canadian charts. In 1998 readers of Guitaris voted its long guitar coda the best guitar solo of all time. Rolling Stone voted the recording as the "Best Guitar Solo in History."

"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"

Any time of year you can find it here

"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"

Three days to make music history

It took Walsh and Felder 3 days in the studio to get their battling guitars just right and they made history with their accomplishment.

The Eagles' original recording of the song features Henley singing lead vocals and concludes with the iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with a Fender Telecaster, in which they take turns of playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out.

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Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes-Benz, uh

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 1969"

And still those voices are calling from far away

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say

You can check out anytime you want but you can never leave

When Glenn Frey was asked about the meaning of Hotel California he shared the original intent for the song.

"We decided to create something strange, just to see if we could do it," and that the song was meant to mimic the imagery of the 1965 novel The Magus by John Fowles, about a man in an unfamiliar rural setting who is unsure about what he is experiencing."

I never knew what the Eagles intended but I always saw the song as a metaphor for someone hooked on drugs or alcohol who was running for the door trying to escape only to be told they can "check out anytime they want but they can never leave".

"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"

What a nice surprise

The line “this could be heaven, or this could be hell” had many believing the song was about being stuck in purgatory and others said it represented capitalism and American greed. Other viewpoints suggest it represents celebrities stuck in the Hollywood lifestyles and being unable to just get out when they want to. During an interview in 2002, Don Henley confirmed what some fans believed all along when he said the following about Hotel California.

“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. We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest. Hotel California’ was our interpretation of the high life in L.A.”.

"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"