Don Felder of the Eagles fame talks about how the mega-hit song "Hotel California" came to be, why he was initially nervous about selecting the song as a single, and how the "Hotel California" album ranks in history.
The Conversation
how can I do an interview with you and
not touching the fact that you co-wrote
one of the most legendary rock songs in
history Hotel California what is it
about that song
that has made it
so successful
Well if I knew that formula I could
repeat it you know it's like a recipe
unfortunately I don't think there is a
repeating recipe in that song I think
it's a unique combination of the basic
chord progression from the demo that I
wrote which was the kind of the start of
that whole song idea
uh and Don Henley and Glenn Frey
especially Don wrote some just brilliant
lyrics Don is a Lyricist writes these
little postcard pictures and he throws
you a picture on a dark desert highway
you can see that Cooling in my hair you
can feel it the warm smell of colitis
you can smell it you know he's he's got
a brilliant way of writing these little
picture postcards lyrically that takes
you up to a place where when he sees the
chorus then you're like it all makes
sense you know so I think it was a
special combination of Don's singing a
really beautiful vocal performance
his lyrics
the music that we started off with the
Paracord progression that I wrote for
the song and the incredible guitar stuff
that Joe and I did at the very end of it
all of those elements together in one
song
as a matter of fact when we finished
that record I remember we were in the
studio and the record company had been
banging on the door wanting to get that
record done and out they wanted it
wanted so finally we had a playback
party for them and everything was mixed
and we had a bunch of record Executives
down and we played it and when Hotel
California played back Don turned around
and said that's going to be our next
single
and in AM radio had a specific
formula for what it would play it had to
be three to three minutes and seconds
long
from needle drop to the singer singing
could not be longer than seconds it
had to be an Up Tempo like rock or
something or kind of a wet mushy ballad
and that was pretty much the formula if
you look at that Hotel California is six
and a half minutes long
it's almost a minute before Don starts
singing that introduction is long it
stops in the middle the drums and bass
just stop in the middle then it's got a
two-minute solo on the very end it's
just the absolute wrong format for AM
radio so when dawn said that I said Don
I don't I don't think that's the right
song to come out of the shoot with you
know it's the wrong format maybe FM
would be perfect but not am he said nope
that's going to be our our single I'm so
happy that he didn't listen to my
suggestion that we don't put that song
out of this because everybody played it
even though it was six and a half
minutes right well the these jooxies
loved it because they could put it on
and they could go out and smoke a
cigarette or go to the bathroom they had
six and a half minute break to go out
and come back into the studio so they
loved it so I don't know if that was
part of the reason they got played so
much or not but it it worked out quite
well for us all
well the recording industry Association
of America recently recalculated album
sales and then they said they realized
that the Eagles Greatest Hits
- album is the highest selling
album of all time when you were
recording these songs that made up the
album did you have any idea that it
might scale those Heights
you know uh I only played on some of the
songs on that first album and it was an
honor to have been part of the songs
that wound up on that record as well but
it was uh something that no one ever
expects to those kind of accolades and I
think the the ultimate acknowledgment
should really go to the songwriting of
Don Henley and Glenn Frey for that first
Greatest Hits volume one uh -
because there's so many great songs in
that collection
that they were responsible for it and so
uh but the album Hotel California was
designated to be the third largest
selling that's the way it goes It goes
the is number one Michael Jackson's
Thriller is number two
and then Hotel California yeah I thought
actually in the riaa awarded the
Eagles the largest selling album of the
th century and I was just stunned by
that calculation I don't know where
that's ever going to stop it may or may
you know fade off in the distance as a
lot of people that like those songs pass
on who knows but uh anyway it is a huge
honor