Artists
Musicians featured in this piece are:
Don Henley – lead vocals, drums
Don Felder – guitar, slide guitar
Joe Walsh – guitar, keyboards
Glenn Frey – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Randy Meisner – bass, guitarrón, backing vocals
Jim Ed Norman – string arrangement, conductor
Sid Sharp – concertmaster
Written by Don Felder (music) and Don Henley & Glenn Frey (lyrics). Produced by Bill Szymczyk, recorded at Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, and The Record Plant, Los Angeles. Released as the second single from Hotel California on February 22, 1977 (album released December 8, 1976). Reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song began as an instrumental demo Don Felder recorded at his Malibu beach house, later built out lyrically by Don Henley and Glenn Frey around the theme of the dark underside of the American dream and the L.A. music business. Felder said the closing guitar solo, played alongside Joe Walsh, was carried over note-for-note from his original demo, since Henley had lived with that recording for over a year and wanted it kept intact. The band tracked Henley‘s lead vocal three times before settling on a final take. The solo has since been repeatedly voted among the greatest guitar solos in rock history, and the song itself won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1978.
Eagles – Hotel California 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 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
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys 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 place)
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (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
They 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 check-out any time you like
But you can never leave!”
To listen to other songs from the Teleskop 17 program and the full program, click here.