kyoryu July 24th, 2005 09:46PM  
The generally agreed upon interpretation is that Hotel California is a song about the music business in California, and the effect that it has on young and naive artists. That's actually kind of the theme of the whole album.

The song talks about the alluring and unreal life of California, and the music business.

"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" speaks to the difficulty of leaving the lifestyle, even if you are able to see how ultimately self-destructive it is.

bucky52 August 29th, 2005 08:18PM  
Kyoryu is correct about this song's referring to the music business in California. I was reading an interpretation on a similar website and it had one written by a guy who had been in a college class with a professor who was good friends with Don Henley. He stated that the professor gave them an assignment which included the lyrics to this song, asking them to interpret the lyrics in their own words. at the end, he revealed to the class what Don Henley had told him about why Joe Walsh and the newly revised Eagles had written such a song. If you follow the album, there are songs with titles such a The New Kid In Town, which distinctly speaks about fame and Hollywood. The whole rest of the album seems to follow this same trend.

anonymous September 1st, 2005 03:34PM  
This is the interpretation I garnered from a multitude of sources, way back when I started playing my Bm, F#7th and so on.... One day, I was on pot and while playing guitar, it all came together and when I related to my friends they shit their pants and were spooked and did not listen to this song for days.

I will not provide literal meaning, where the guy is in top down car, or about whore house, or music industry or the life in the fast lane as those are self-evident.

The man has embarked upon the highway to the dark side (the initiation)

Warm smell of peculiar things burnt in ritualistic offerings (as in Bohemian Grove)

The new arrival gets a heady dizziness from the superb brightness of the place as it is being approached and all senses that can caution grow numb and the decision to stay for a little while is made

The usher herself is the embodiment of the all the lucrativeness of that world

Cautioned by the mission bell, the new arrival is fully cognizant of the dangers now (making of a Dr. Faustus like pact with Lucifer)

The new arrival is lead through a darkened corridor (clearly tells about the physical aspect of the building that was converted into "the place") where faint/mocking/encouraging voices extend the suspicious welcome

The wild orgies/celebration/decadence abound in the place and people are gethered for different reasons, and some have been selected as sacrifices (real or mock ritualistic)

The new arrival is denied any repree back bacause as of 1969 the palce had become Satanic with the Holy Spirit removed

At the height of the ritual, the dissidents try for a desperate escape by stabbing the high priest of the chamber instead of the sacrifice, but guess who is the high priest and of course He can't be killed

The situation getting more desperate and the new arrival tries to run away, but once somebody has made a pact with the devil He holds them to it (like at the end of 25th year with Dr. Faustus). You are given all materialism and riches but the soul is for His to keep. The best line probably is "you're programmed to recieve". It is Hell To Pay from that point on.

The beauty of the song is that parallel meanings are all acceptable and hold true.

sma_taz@yahoo.com

anonymous January 5th, 2006 02:04AM  
Wow, after reading all the previous interpretations, that's all I can say Wow. THEY ARE ALL WRONG.

This song is about the Hotel California (aka Beverly Hills Hotel, it is on the cover of the album after all). The message of the song is materialism and excess, which is exactly what the Eagles (Henly, Fryy, Walsh and others at the time) were getting into after just moving to Hollywood once they were becoming more renouned and popular. This info is paraphrased from Don Henly himself. Its not about recovering from drugs or anything like that. Its very similar in meaning to "Life In The Fast Lane", so says the composer himself...Don Henly.

anonymous January 20th, 2006 09:07PM  
The song is about anything addictive and corruptive that drags you down and wrecks your life, be it lust (which is the example), gambling, drinking, drugs or anything else which you allow to possess you.

anonymous March 24th, 2006 04:21PM  
This song is about the attactive qualities of worldly things but their ultimate end. the man drives along the highway (his life) and his head grows heavy and his sight grows dim, forcing him to stop for the night (he dies). he sees a pretty woman in the doorway of the hotel but cannot decide if he is in heaven or hell. When the woman invites him in he sees the other people in the hotel. these people are mocking him as he comes in (such a lovely face) and they realize he does not know where he is. He goes to a party in the courtyard and sees people dancing (to remember better times, to forget the present). he askes the captain to bring him his wine, but the captain claims that they have not had that spirit (hopefullness or eagerness) since 1969. when the man starts to realize where he is (hell) he tries desperately to get back to his car (life). the doorman tells him there is nothing to worry about, he can check out at any time, but he can never leave (referring to the fact that, once in hell, a person can realize their mistakes, and repent of their wrong doings, but by the time they realize this, they cannot leave hell.)


Another interpretation I have found interesting is comparing the hotel with alcoholism/drug addiction (they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't till the beast) and trying to overcome the addiction.

anonymous April 22nd, 2006 06:47PM  
This song is about whatever you want it to be about. Whatever it means to YOU. And THAT is what music's about.

anonymous September 7th, 2006 09:06PM  
I think this song was made so evry 1 could create their own interpretation no one right no one wrong it is all correct. I personally think it is about drugs...

anonymous September 23rd, 2006 05:22PM  
I think the lyric mercedes bends was quite intentional. The subject of the song (in this case california, and all it represents in people's heads) is afflicted. She's "tiffany twisted" and has the "mercedes bends". "the bends" is a condition that divers get when they surface too quickly and the pressure drop allows dissolved gasses in their blood to become gasses again. Severe pain and often death then occur.

"hotel california" is obsessed with material wealth and money. The idea of california is an idealistic draw for artists all over (what with free love and the sixties "age of aquarius and all that), but, as the song says "we haven't had that spirit here since 1969" ... The summer of love is long over, and is now replaced by the avarice, greed, and cynicism of the music industry.

Once you're sucked into the west coast dream "you can check out" via drugs, or whatever "but you can never leave". Whatever youthful idealism you once had is forever gone and sucked up by the machine that is the music business.

TSMUnro October 22nd, 2006 09:16PM  
I must say some of these interpretations are just crap. Kyoryu is correct the widely accepted interpretation of the song is that about Los Angelas and cesspool that it is. When the band arrived there they could not believe what they saw - drugs, etc. It a theme that runs through the album including the last resort which depicts man's destruction of the natural beauty of California.

anonymous December 10th, 2006 10:40AM  
Hahaha! I had to comment to this. I love all the theories here, even the ones I disagree with, but please, get the basic details correct.

It's "The Church of Satan," not "The Satanic Church." It's "The Satanic Bible," not "The Demonic Bible."

Your credibility completely goes out the window when you make statements like this. And the Church of Satan was founded in 1966, not 1969. 5 seconds of research blew your whole theory.

anonymous December 12th, 2006 10:39PM  
The only person who got the interpretation right was F.T.R. Well someone else got it too, but the name is unknown. The song has NO real meaning. Don Henly, the composer, said in an interview that everyone was meant to create their own interpretations.

anonymous March 1st, 2007 06:39AM  
Hotel California was actually a commentary on the perceived social decline of American in the 1970's, into a more greedy, corrupt, and materialistic culture.

In Rolling Stone's 20th Anniversary issue (1987) Don Henley was quoted:
"Actually, I was a little disappointed with how the record was taken, because I meant it in a much broader sense than a commentary about California. I was looking at American culture, and when I called that one song "Hotel California, I was simply using California as a microcosm for the rest of America and for the self-indulgence of our entire culture.

It was, to a certain extent, about California, about the excesses out here. But in many instances, as California goes, so goes the nation. Things simply happen out here or in New York first whether it's with drugs or fashion or artistic movements or economic trends and then work their way toward the middle of America. And thats what I was trying to get at."

anonymous March 29th, 2007 01:55PM  
Aw, you're so cute! *pats head* Rolling Stone is the name of one of the most widely read and influential magazines dealing with the rock industry.

HendrixHead April 8th, 2007 10:21PM  
I thinks this song is about what stardom can do to a young naive soul it can corrupt you the woman he speaks of in the song could be a refrence to heroin but I really don't care because it's a great song

anonymous April 19th, 2007 08:18PM  
I don't know what the hell it means. But I have loved the song for years.

anonymous April 25th, 2007 11:14AM  
All these people are bought into the materialism, the "dance" of pursuing possessions. Some do it to remember back to earlier times in their life. Some go after money to forget about something else more painful in their life.
-Niniane Wang

anonymous May 15th, 2007 07:25PM  
"Sorry to inform everyone this, but you are all wrong. This song is about a mental hospital in the city of Camarillo (my home town, and that's how I know) in Ventura County. I know this for a fact so don't think I am trying to BS anyone. The mental hospital was abandoned and restructured and has now become CSUCI (California State University of Channel Islands). Read the lyrics again and think of a mental hospital, you'll know what I mean. Classic Rock for LIFE!" (Some idiot)

Oh yeah... I forgot that everyone smokes pot before they go to mental institutions...

"Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air"

And that would not make sense with the rest of the album either... good job.

Katiesmommy May 29th, 2007 03:40PM  
I wish we could just get Don Henley and ask him. I'm not interested in anyones 'interpretations' I want to know what it REALLY DOES MEAN!!!!

I have loved the eagles since high school (for me it was 1973)and regrettably, never saw them in concert)

Anyway I'm just as confused as when I signed into this website.

anonymous June 1st, 2007 10:29PM  
This whole song is spiritual. I am dumb founded about the ignorance displayed here. The amount of scripture that hasn't been read by 90% of people that have replied stuns me. The beast from the bible? all of the worldly things that are attractive that you can't turn back from, even if you do you've done them and you know the pleasures they provide. Whore house, yes, another worldly pleasure. By the way the man who started the demonic church, Anton Lavey is on the album cover, Just so you know.