Drug addiction, tribulations of fame, and a yacht rock rivalry? The Eagles'
timeless masterpiece "Hotel California" is even more intricate than its guitar solo!
Drummer and vocalist Don Henley told biographer Marc Eliot that,
at the time the Eagles released "Hotel California," the band was getting a,
quote, "extensive education in life, in love, in business." Their 1975 record One of These Nights
had garnered the band three top-10 singles and hurled all five members into overnight stardom.
They were thrust under the microscope of public scrutiny, and pressure for a follow-up was high.
1976's Hotel California was that follow-up, and with its title track lead single, the members of
the Eagles gave their verdict on the experience of whole glitz, glam, fame, and commercial success.
"We're 25, and guess what? We could do anything we want! So we did."
Guitarist Don Felder first breathed life into the song while messing around with
some chords on a Malibu beach house, inspired by the serene environment
surrounding him. Felder's time on the beach got passed along to lyricist Don Henley,
whose descriptions draw the listener into the song's story. The choice of California,
a place mythologized for its idyllic beauty and cabal of Hollywood celebrity, is intentional.
By the time the Eagles wrote and recorded Hotel California, the allure of the state
was fading. There was never any physical Hotel California, as Living a Lot reports, but Henley
did take inspiration from the Beverly Hills Hotel where the band had stayed for a while. That hotel
became the figurative center of the web of Los Angeles and the Eagle's Californian experience.
A big part of the mystery of "Hotel California" lies in the dream logic of its lyrics, which often
shift from scene to scene without any linear, rational progression. According to Song Facts,
guitarist Glenn Frey compares the song to a "Twilight Zone" episode,
where chains of images create a flowing, imprecise type of narrative.
This is why many folks have come to the conclusion that "Hotel California" is about drug addiction,
especially given the line about "colitas," which is a Spanish slang term for cannabis.
In this case, the addiction is the "beast" that people just can't kill.
Lyricist Don Felder, though, says he just wanted to craft a tangible,
concrete scene using the senses, like the "I hear the mission bell" line. The "steely
knives" lyric is actually a reference to fellow 1970s rockers Steely Dan.
Steely Dan and the Eagles had the same manager, and the two bands had something
of a rivalry. Steely Dan had mentioned the Eagles the year prior in their song,
"Everything You Did," saying, "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening."
Some listeners think that "Hotel California" is about mental health. In this case,
the fictional Hotel California plays the role of the sanatorium. Whether the hotel actually
helps people recover or just creates new psychoses, however, is up for debate.
In 2007, singer Don Henley told 60 Minutes about the meaning of "Hotel
California" directly. He stated that the song is about, quote, "the dark underbelly
of the American Dream, and about excess in America which was something we knew about."
According to Song Facts, Glenn Frey expressed a similar notion, explaining that "Hotel
California" takes the ideas of success and comfort and flips them on their head. All
these insights were informed by how disillusioned the band had become while living in California.
Not only were the Eagles enduring a crash course in the realities of fame during the late '70s,
they were also wrestling with internal power struggles. Various members vied for song credits,
and there was tension and drama within the group. According to Rolling Stone,
Henley became known as a "control freak". These tensions eventually came to a head,
as the band split up just a few years after Hotel Californa came out.
"You kind of band together, you're not so sure of yourself, and, ya know, now that
we're a little older it seems like a logical progression to sort of set up my own practice."
All in all, "Hotel California" is about way, way more than living large at a weird roadside
hotel. Living a Lot very succinctly summarizes the song's meaning, saying,
"'Hotel California' is a metaphor about greed in the music industry
that eventually leads to the artist's own self-destruction."
And yet, in the end, all of these ingredients somehow came together to form the Eagle's
biggest hit, lightning-in-a-bottle-style. The song's longstanding success can serve
not only as a beacon of musicianship but a lighthouse for would-be stars.