‘Hotel California’ is the title track from the Eagles' Hotel California album, released as a single in February 1977. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 26, 1977, and topped the Hot 100 singles chart for one week in May 1977, the band's fourth song to reach No. 1. Three months after its first release, the single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing one million copies shipped. In 2009, the song was further certified Platinum (Digital Sales Award) by the RIAA for sales of one million digital downloads, and has since sold over 3 million downloads.
The Eagles won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for ‘Hotel California’ at the 20th Grammy Awards in 1978. In 2003, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is considered the best-known recording by the band, and in 1998 its long guitar coda was voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of Guitarist.
Written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, the original recording of ‘Hotel California’ features Henley singing lead vocals and concludes with an iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with a Fender Telecaster, in which they take turns of playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out. The lyrics of the song have been interpreted by fans and critics alike, the Eagles themselves describing the song as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles." In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, Henley said that the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience ... that's all."
Label – Asylum
Songwriters – Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey
Producer – Bill Szymczyk
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]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
[Verse 2]
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin' 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
[Chorus]
"Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here"
[Verse 3]
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted
She got the Mercedes Benz, uh
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
[Verse 4]
So I called up the Captain
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here
Since 1969"
And still those voices are callin'
From far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
[Chorus]
"Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (What a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis"
[Verse 5]
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
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the beast
[Verse 6]
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 check out any time you like
But you can never leave"
[Guitar Solo]