Next Stop - Hotel California

One of the most mysterious and widely speculated songs in rock history, "Hotel California" by The Eagles featured on their album Hotel California, has been interpreted as a song that is about drug addiction or Satan worship. When diving into the song, what appears is how the members of The Eagles viewed Southern California at the time. All the members were middle-class kids from the Midwest; "Hotel California" was their interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles. The lyrics are symbolic of a world of excess that one cannot escape once they have entered.

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends

In these lines, the pronunciation of "Benz" and "bends" plays into the "twisted" of the line's first half. Which creates a perfect rhyme with "Benz" and "friends." The girl they are speaking of seems to have all the material things she has ever wanted, she shows up to Hollywood seeking to be discovered. Impressed with the fabulous wealth and fame, wanting a piece of it for herself. "Her mind is Tiffany-twisted" depicts how she has become perverted and corrupted by the fabulous wealth. "She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends" illustrates that these so called "friends" are not really her friends but men who control the Hollywood celebrity machine (directors, producers, etc), and she will do anything with whomever in order to get a shot at fame and become a big star. This girl cannot escape this path she has already put herself on. She craves the attention and possibility of fame. Which many young men and women in Hollywood want, to which The Eagles are seeing this happen while they are rising to fame

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find a 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!"

The door that he/she was running back to has a double meaning. A door that leads him/her away from the materialism and hedonistic culture of Hollywood, and back towards who they truly are as a person. Or that the person is trying to find an exit from the nightmare of the night man, who could possibly represent the part of the person who has succumb to this Hollywood lifestyle. "We are programmed to receive" asserts that the human psyche is "programmed" to enjoy receiving more than giving; that it's only natural for people to surrender to their desires. The last lines signal that you can surely leave this lifestyle, but it will always be a part of you now. It's still got a hold on you and always will.

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 is an alliteration in the first line of the words dark desert. The dark desert suggests that the speaker is somewhere they may be trapped. Or that the desert is a place of blindness, not knowing where to go or who to turn to. In the next following lines, the use of imagery, specifically the smell and sight senses, awakens the speaker to a place of solace. The introduction to the lights introduces the trope of a weary traveler stumbling on to something illusory or supernatural. A wanderer succumbing to a mirage. As you drive into L.A. for the first time at night, you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have.


Lyrics: Hotel California