Eagles – Hotel California

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The Eagles - Hotel California
The Eagles – Hotel California

The single “Hotel California” has been released on February 22, 1977, from the album with the same title. Reached #1 in the US singles chart (Billboard) on May 7, 1977.

Eagles – Hotel California

The fifth studio album of the Eagles, going platinum 16 times in the US, 6 times in the UK, and 10 times in Canada. It reached #1 in the US four times in 1977, making it one of the best-selling albums of that year.

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“Hotel California” won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year, but the Eagles didn’t show up to accept it. That’s because Don Henley didn’t believe in contests, and the band had work to do: Timothy B. Schmit had just joined and was learning the repertoire. Schmit says they watched the ceremony on TV while they were rehearsing.

Hotel California

“Hotel California” was recorded at three different sessions before the Eagles got the version they wanted. The biggest problem was finding the right key for Henley’s vocal.

Glenn Frey compared this song to an episode of The Twilight Zone, where it jumps from one scene to the next and doesn’t necessarily make sense. He said the success of the song comes from the audience creating stories in their minds based on the images.

The line, “They stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast” is a reference to Steely Dan. The bands shared the same manager (Irving Azoff) and had a friendly rivalry. The year before, Steely Dan included the line “Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening” on their song “Everything You Did.”

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Don Felder and Joe Walsh played together on the guitar solos, creating the textured sound.

All seven past and present members of the Eagles performed “Hotel California” in 1998 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The hotel on the album cover is the Beverly Hills Hotel, known as the Pink Palace. It is often frequented by Hollywood stars.

The photo was taken by photographers David Alexander and John Kosh, who sat in a cherry-picker about 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard to get the shot of the hotel at sunset from above the trees. The rush-hour traffic made it a harrowing experience.

Hotel California - The Eagles

Although it is well known that Hotel California is actually a metaphor, there are several strange internet theories and urban legends about the “real” Hotel California. Some include suggestions that it was an old church taken over by devil worshippers, a psychiatric hospital, an inn run by cannibals or Aleister Crowley’s mansion in Scotland. It’s even been suggested that the “Hotel California” is the Playboy Mansion.

The album “Hotel California” reached #1 in the US and Australia. The album produced their biggest hits: “New Kid In Town”, “Hotel California” and “Life In The Fast Lane”.

Album sales: 16,000,000
First release date: December 1976

The Hotel California album is #37 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time. According to the magazine, Don Henley said that the band was in pursuit of a note perfect song. The Eagles spent eight months in the studio polishing take after take after take. Henley also said, “We just locked ourselves in. We had a refrigerator, a ping pong table, roller skates and a couple cots. We would go in and stay for two or three days at a time.”

Eagles - Hotel California (Live 1977) (Official Video) (HD)
Eagles - Hotel California

 

The Eagles
The Eagles

Single lansat la 22 Februarie 1977, de pe albumul cu același titlu: Hotel California

Melodia a fost compusă de Don Felder,  versurile aparțin lui Don Henley și Glenn Frey. Interesant este că nici unul nu era din California: Henley este din Texas, Frey din Michigan și Felder din Florida.

Înregistrarea originală îl are că lead vocal pe Don Henley și se încheie cu o secțiune lungă de chitare, între Don Felder și Joe Walsh

De atunci, “Hotel California” a devenit o piesă ‘clasică’, care continuă să fie în playlist la radio-urile de muzică Pop, Rock și Adult Contemporary.

Melodia a luat premiul Grammy pentru ‘Record of the Year’ în 1977.

Versuri/Lyrics:
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 she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking 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…

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
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

So I called up the Captain,
‘Please bring me my wine’
He said, ‘We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

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
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

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 checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

Songwriters: DON FELDER,DON HENLEY,GLENN FREY
© Universal Music Publishing Group
For non-commercial use only.
Data From: LyricFind

The Eagles
The Eagles

 

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