Hotel California

So what does this song really mean?

This is about materialism and excess. California is used as the setting, but it could relate to any place in America. Don Henley in the London Daily Mail November 9, 2007 said: "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."

On November 25, 2007 Henley appeared on the TV news show 60 Minutes, where he was told, "everyone wants to know what this song means." Henley replied: "I know, it's so boring. It's a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream, and about excess in America which was something we knew about."

But then, as it usually is, urban legends always make for interesting reading. Here's the most bizarre interpretation of Hotel California:

An alternative interpretation of the meaning of the lyrics is that the song is a description of the journey from 'Need to Love' and 'Marriage & Divorce' and ultimately to the impossibility of regaining the life and happiness of the pre-divorce state.

Initially the traveler is feeling the need of being in a relationship ("My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night"). The traveler meets his love and gets married ("There she stood in the doorway. I heard the mission bell"). A marriage commitment opens up the possibility of happiness but the traveler is also aware and vulnerable to the possibility of intense unhappiness ("And I was thinking to myself, this could be heaven or this could be hell").

Unfortunately the marriage dissolves and his love becomes obsessed with money ("Her mind is Tiffany-twisted") where Tiffany" refers to the very expensive jewelry store, Tiffany & Co. With the divorce there is the division of property - she got the Mercedes Benz. After the breakup when he sees her with any guys she reassures him that the pretty, pretty boys "are just friends". In this new world of being single, the other singles he meets 'do their dance' in the courtyard of life. They generally fall into two groups: There are those who can't stop talking about their ex ("Some dance to remember"), and there are those who don't what to say anything at all about their past ("some dance to forget").

Now in this world of being divorced he longs to return the pre-divorced state of happiness ("So I called up the captain, please bring me my wine"), but he finds that his happiness is now irrevocably in the past ("We haven't had that spirit here since 1969"). Deep into the post-divorce single's scene with "mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice" he is reminded that "we are all just prisoners here, of our own device".

He and others want this divorce nightmare to be over yet ("they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast". Now frustrated, he panics and is "running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before". But he is brought up short when the night man informs him that "You can checkout any time you like (commit suicide), but you can never leave".

There are two choruses in the song and each mention the "Hotel California." Around the time the song was written, California was experiencing the highest divorce rate in the nation. Each chorus has lines that remember his past marriage ("Such a lovely place") and his past lover ("Such a lovely face"). The first chorus indicates that there can always be more divorces ("Plenty of room at the Hotel California, any time of year, you can find it here").

Mind-blowing, huh? Anyway, it's best to sing, it without thinking about it.



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,
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...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends,
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,

So I called up the captain,
please bring me my wine,
He said, we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine,
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night,
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the hotel california
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
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

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 checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!