Hotel California
"Hotel California" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Side A of the US single | ||||
Single by Eagles | ||||
from the album Hotel California | ||||
B-side | "Pretty Maids All in a Row" | |||
Released | February 22, 1977[1] | |||
Recorded | 1976 | |||
Studio |
| |||
Genre | Rock[4][5] | |||
Length |
| |||
Label | Asylum | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Bill Szymczyk | |||
Eagles singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio sample | ||||
Eagles – "Hotel California" | ||||
Audio | ||||
"Hotel California" on YouTube |
"Hotel California" is a song by American rock band Eagles, released as the second single of their album of the same name on February 22, 1977.[6] The song was written by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics), featuring Henley on lead vocals and concluding with an iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson Les Paul Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with a Fender Telecaster, in which they take turns playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out.[7]
The song is one of the best-known recordings by the band, and in 1998 its long guitar coda was voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of Guitarist.[2][8] The song was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978.[9] The meaning of the lyrics of the song has been discussed by fans and critics ever since its release, the Eagles themselves described the song as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles."[10] In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, Henley said that the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience ... that's all."[11]
Since its release, "Hotel California" has been widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and has been covered by many artists. Julia Phillips proposed adapting the song into a film, but the members of the Eagles disliked the idea and it never came to fruition. Commercially, "Hotel California" reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten of several international charts. The Eagles have performed "Hotel California" well over 1,000 times live, and is the third most performed of all their songs, after "Desperado" and "Take It Easy".[12]
History
[edit]Composition
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Glenn_Frey.jpg/180px-Glenn_Frey.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Don_Henley.jpg/180px-Don_Henley.jpg)
A demo of the instrumental was developed by Don Felder[13][14] in a rented house on Malibu Beach. He recorded the basic tracks with a Rhythm Ace drum machine and added a 12 string guitar on a four-track recording deck in his spare bedroom, then mixed in a bassline, and gave Don Henley and Glenn Frey each a copy of the recording.[15] Felder, who met the Eagles through his high school bandmate Bernie Leadon, said that Leadon advised him to make tapes of songs he wrote for the band so that other band members like Henley, whose forte is in writing lyrics, might work with him on finishing the songs they liked.[16] The demos he made were always instrumental, and on every album project he would submit 15 or 16 ideas. The demo he made for "Hotel California" showed influences from Latin and reggae music, and it grabbed the attention of Henley who said he liked the song that "sounds like a Mexican reggae or Bolero",[16] which gave the song its first working title, "Mexican Reggae".[17] Record World said that "a mild reggae flavor pervades the tune."[18]
Frey and Henley were both interested in the tune after hearing the demo, and discussed the concept for the lyrics. In 2008, Felder described the writing of the lyrics:
Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. 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, and so it was kind of about that [...] what we started writing the song about.[19]
Henley decided on the theme of "Hotel California", noting how The Beverly Hills Hotel had become a literal and symbolic focal point of their lives at that time.[20] Henley said of their personal and professional experience in LA: "We were getting an extensive education, in life, in love, in business. Beverly Hills was still a mythical place to us. In that sense it became something of a symbol, and the 'Hotel' the locus of all that LA had come to mean for us. In a sentence, I'd sum it up as the end of the innocence, round one."[21]
Frey came up with a cinematic scenario of a person who, tired from driving a long distance in a desert, saw a place for a rest and pulled in for the night, but entered "a weird world peopled by freaky characters", and became "quickly spooked by the claustrophobic feeling of being caught in a disturbing web from which he may never escape".[15] In an interview with Cameron Crowe, Frey said that he and Henley wanted the song "to open like an episode of the Twilight Zone", and added: "We take this guy and make him like a character in The Magus, where every time he walks through a door there's a new version of reality. We wanted to write a song just like it was a movie."[20] Frey described the song in an interview with NBC's Bob Costas as a cinematic montage "just one shot to the next [...] a picture of a guy on the highway, a picture of the hotel, the guy walks in, the door opens, strange people". Frey continued: "We decided to create something strange, just to see if we could do it."[2][22] Henley then wrote most of the lyrics based on Frey's idea, and sought inspiration for the writing by driving out into the desert as well as from films and theater.[20]
Part of the lyrics, such as "Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends / She got a lot of pretty pretty boys she calls friends", are based on Henley's break-up with his girlfriend Loree Rodkin.[15][21] According to Frey's liner notes for The Very Best Of, the use of the word steely in the lyric "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast" was a playful nod to the band Steely Dan, who had included the lyric "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening" in their song "Everything You Did".[23] Frey had also said that the writing of the song was inspired by the boldness of Steely Dan's lyrics and its willingness to go "out there",[20] and thought that the song they wrote had "achieved perfect ambiguity."[22]
Recordings
[edit]The Eagles recorded the track with Don Henley on lead vocal three different times, twice at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and finally at the Criteria Studios in Miami.[2][3] They first recorded a riff, but when it came to recording the vocal, it was found to be in too high a key for Henley's voice, so Felder progressively lowered the key from E minor, eventually settling on B minor. The second recording, however, was judged too fast.[2] In Miami, the band fine-tuned the instrumentation and the lyrics and recorded numerous complete takes. Five or six best ones were selected, and the best parts were then spliced together to create the released version. According to the producer Bill Szymczyk, there were 33 edits on the two‑inch master.[3] The final section features a guitar battle between Joe Walsh (who had replaced Bernie Leadon after Leadon's departure from the band in 1975) and Felder, which took the two of them sitting together working for around three days to achieve the necessary precision.[15] Walsh and Felder initially started improvising but Henley insisted that the recording should follow the music as first recorded in Felder's demo.[16] However, according to Szymczyk, Walsh and Felder's improvisations did make the final cut of the song, with the producer splicing different Walsh and Felder licks together while he, Walsh, and Felder arranged harmonized guitar parts together in the studio.[3]
Henley decided that the song should be a single, although Felder had doubts and the record company was reluctant to release it because, at over six minutes, its duration far exceeded that of the songs generally played by radio stations.[16][24] The band took a stand and refused the label's request to shorten the song.[25] The song was released as the second single from the album after "New Kid in Town". The front cover art for some overseas editions of the 45rpm single released was a reworked version of the Hotel California LP cover art, which used a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel by David Alexander, with design and art direction by Kosh.[26]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/The_Eagles_in_concert_-_2010_Australia.jpg/220px-The_Eagles_in_concert_-_2010_Australia.jpg)
As "Hotel California" became one of the group's most popular songs and a concert staple for the band,[27] live recordings of the song have therefore also been released. The first live recording of the song appeared on the Eagles' 1980 live album, and an acoustic version with an extended intro is a track on the 1994 Hell Freezes Over reunion concert CD and video release.[28] The Hell Freezes Over version is performed using eight guitars and has a decidedly Spanish sound, with Felder's flamenco-inspired arrangement and intro.[29]
A music video for the song, filmed at the Capital Centre in March 1977, was first aired on the USA Network as part of the Night Flight program in August 1985.[30] This video would continue to air on VH1.[31] In 2013, a re-edited version of the video, as well as other footage from the Capital Centre concerts, was released as part of the History of the Eagles documentary set.
Chart performance
[edit]"Hotel California" first entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated February 26, 1977,[32] and topped the Hot 100 singles chart for one week in May 1977,[33] the band's fourth song to reach No. 1 on that chart.[9] It peaked at number 10 on the Easy Listening chart in April 1977.[34] Billboard ranked it number 19 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart.[35] 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,[36] and has since sold over 3 million downloads.[37]
Accolades
[edit]The Eagles won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Hotel California" at the 20th Grammy Awards in 1978.[38] Cash Box said that "the luxuriant harmonies are here, of course, along with muted rhythm guitars and vocal inflections that add a West Indian flavor" and "the multi-tracked guitar harmonies...end the cut with melodrama".[39] In 2003, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[40]
The song is rated highly in many rock music lists and polls. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 49 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[41] It was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[42] At the induction of the Eagles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, all seven former and present members of the band reunited to perform "Hotel California"[43] and "Take It Easy."
The song's guitar solo was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine in 1998,[8] and was ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine's Top 100 Guitar Solos.[8] The song was also included in the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour. It was ranked number 1 in the list of the best 12-string guitar songs of all times by Guitar World magazine in 2015.[44]
Themes and interpretations
[edit]Glenn Frey said that originally "We decided to create something strange, just to see if we could do it," and that the song was meant to mimic the imagery of the 1965 novel The Magus by John Fowles, about a man in an unfamiliar rural setting who is unsure about what he is experiencing.[45]
Don Henley has given a number of explanations about the song, ranging from "a journey from innocence to experience"[11] to "a sociopolitical statement."[46] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Henley said that the song was meant to be "more of a symbolic piece about America in general," and added, "Lyrically, the song deals with traditional or classical themes of conflict: darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age, the spiritual versus the secular. I guess you could say it's a song about loss of innocence."[15]
The song has been described as being "all about American decadence and burnout, too much money, corruption, drugs and arrogance; too little humility and heart."[15] It has also been interpreted as an allegory about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s.[47] Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles,"[48] and later said, "It's not really about California; it's about America. It's about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It's about excess, it's about narcissism. It's about the music business. ... It can have a million interpretations."[49] In the 2013 documentary, History of the Eagles, Henley reiterated:
On just about every album we made, there was some kind of commentary on the music business, and on American culture in general. The hotel itself could be taken as a metaphor not only for the myth-making of Southern California, but for the myth-making that is the American Dream, because it is a fine line between the American Dream, and the American nightmare.[50]
In a 2009 interview, The Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Henley if he regretted writing the lines "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'" because wines are fermented while spirits are distilled. Henley responded:
Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention – and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes.[51]
In his Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 1, Steve Sullivan theorizes that the "spirit" that the Hotel California hasn't had since 1969 refers to the spirit of social activism of the 1960s, and how disco and the related pop music of the mid-1970s had turned away from it.[15]
Conjectures
[edit]The metaphorical character of the story related in the lyrics has inspired a number of conjectural interpretations by listeners. In the 1980s, the Rev. Paul Risley of Cornerstone Church in Burlington, Wisconsin, alleged that "Hotel California" referred to a San Francisco hotel that was purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into his Church of Satan.[52][53] The song also allegedly contained backwards messages purportedly referring to Satanism: "Yes, Satan, he organized his own religion... It was delicious... He puts it in a vat and fixes it for his son and gives it away."[54] Don Felder denied any such allegations in a 2019 interview, maintaining that the song was about "the underbelly industry in Los Angeles, how it can be less than beautiful."[55] Other rumors suggested that the Hotel California mentioned in the song was actually the Camarillo State Mental Hospital, which was shut down in 1997, and redeveloped into California State University Channel Islands.[56]
The term "colitas" in the first stanza ("warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air") has been interpreted as a sexual slang or a reference to marijuana.[57] "Colitas" means "little tails" in Spanish; in Mexican slang it refers the flowering buds of the cannabis plant.[58][59] According to Glenn Frey, the "warm smell" is "colitas ... it means little tails, the very top of the plant."[60] The Eagles' manager Irving Azoff appears to lend support to the marijuana hypothesis;[61] however, Felder said, "The colitas is a plant that grows in the desert that blooms at night, and it has this kind of pungent, almost funky smell. Don Henley came up with a lot of the lyrics for that song, and he came up with colitas."[62]
Other interpretations of the song range from drug addiction to cannibalism.[2] On the various interpretations, Henley said: "Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing. It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce."[57]
Harmonic structure
[edit]The intro and verses' chord pattern counts eight measures, each one assigned to a single chord. Seven different chords are used in the eight measures. As the song opens, it is not until the eighth measure that a chord is repeated. The song is initially in the key of B-minor.[63] The presence of E major (a borrowed chord that contains a G#, which isn't usually found in the key of B minor), gives a hint of B Dorian mode.
The chords are played as follows:
- Bm–F♯7–A–E–G–D–Em–F♯7
- or
- Assuming the key of D (the relative major of B minor):
- vi–III7–V–II–IV–I–ii–III7
The eight-measure sequence is repeated in the intro, for each verse and in the outro, providing the harmonic framework for the entire extended dual guitar solo at the end of the song.[63] One explanation of the progression is that it is a common flamenco chord progression called the "Spanish progression" (i–VII–VI–V in a Phrygian context) that is interspersed with consecutive fifths.[63] With its descending ostinato pattern, it could be considered a fandango, a forerunner of the Baroque chaconne form.[64]
This chord sequence is not commonly used, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has pointed out its similarity to his song "We Used to Know" from their 1969 album Stand Up, an international hit which reached No. 1 in UK album chart and No. 20 in U.S. Billboard album chart, suggesting the Eagles heard it on the album or when they toured together.[65] While the Eagles did open for Jethro Tull in June 1972, Don Felder, who wrote the music, did not join the band until 1974 and would not have been backstage at their concerts.[66] Felder has said that he had never heard "We Used to Know", and that he was unfamiliar with Jethro Tull apart from the fact the frontman plays a flute.[67] Anderson himself indicated that his comments on the similarities between the songs were meant as a joke, and said: "It's not plagiarism. It's just the same chord sequence. It's in a different time signature, different key, different context. ... Harmonic progression—it's almost a mathematical certainty that you're gonna crop up with the same thing sooner or later if you're strumming a few chords on a guitar."[68]
The chorus, or refrain, uses five of the verse's seven chords, structured with the melody in a way that infers a key change from B minor to its relative major key of D.[63]
- G–D–F♯7–Bm–G–D–Em–F♯7
- or
- assuming a key of D:
- IV–I–III7–vi–IV–I–ii–III7
Notable cover versions
[edit]- The Orb, under the name of Jam on the Mutha, produced a version that charted at No. 62 in the UK in 1990.[69][70]
- Gipsy Kings recorded a flamenco version sung in Spanish, and the version was used as a theme tune for "the Jesus" in the Coen brothers film The Big Lebowski.[71][72]
- Mike Piranha recorded the parody "Hotel Honolulu" in 1998, satirizing overdevelopment, crime, and other issues on Oahu; the song became a local hit in Hawaii.[73]
- The Romanian band Vama Veche recorded its version with different lyrics entitled "Hotel Cişmigiu", sung in its native language.[74]
- The Cat Empire recorded a version sung in French titled "L'hotel de Californie" for Triple J's Like a Version segment, and is included in its 2005 compilation album as well as the band's 2003 live album On the Attack.[75]
- The Killers and Rhythms del Mundo collaborated their version with Afro-Cuban music for the 2009 Artists' Project Earth charity, and it appeared on the album Rhythms del Mundo Classics.[76]
- Frank Ocean released a song that samples the entire instrumental track of "Hotel California" on his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra (2011), entitled "American Wedding".[77] Don Henley threatened Ocean with a lawsuit for copyright infringement.[78]
- Hong Kong singer-songwriter Sam Hui covered the song in 1977,[79] and Peter Lai and he also sampled part of the intro of the song in an original song called "Modern Bodyguard" as the bridge of the song.[80]
Cultural influence
[edit]"Hotel California" and its lyrics have become absorbed into the wider culture around the world, and have been used by various writers and commentators to reflect on issues ranging from politics to social media and welfare,[81][82][83] or as an observation on a particular situation.[84][85] The lines "We are programmed to receive / You can check out any time you like / But you can never leave!" were used by an economist to refer to how the appeal of an attractive "Hotel California"-type host country to foreign investors may be countered by the cost of exit on leaving the country.[86] A term "The Hotel California Effect" was then used to refer to the negative effect of financial regulations on investment,[87] and the problems foreign investors faced when getting their money out of China.[88][89] It has also applied to other ideas such as problems when leaving a service provider or social media network,[90][91] or when exiting cloud computing.[92] The same analogy has been used by various commentators considering scenarios for Brexit, with the term "Hotel California Brexit".[93][94][95]
A book titled Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq was written about the clandestine operation named after the song title by CIA–US Special Forces teams in Iraqi Kurdistan in the lead-up to the Iraq War.[96][97]
Although the Eagles were noted for their reluctance to license their songs for use in shows,[98] the song has been used in a number of films and television shows, such as The Big Lebowski (performed by the Gipsy Kings),[99] Absolutely Fabulous, American Horror Story (Hotel), The Sopranos,[57] and the end credits of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.[100]
Alleged theft of handwritten lyrics
[edit]On July 13, 2022, three individuals – rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz and rock memorabilia specialists Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski[101] – were charged after allegedly conspiring to sell Henley's handwritten lyrics to the song "Hotel California" and two other songs from the same album that the Manhattan District Attorney's office claims were improperly obtained. Prosecutors claim the lyrics could be worth over $1 million at auction. The three men pleaded not guilty and were released without bail pending trial. Eagles manager Irving Azoff said the case exposed "the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a façade of legitimacy".[102] In February 2024, Henley testified that he never gave the lyric sheets away and repeated his claim from 2012 that they were stolen from his barn in Malibu, California decades prior.[101] Henley also acknowledged that he granted writer Ed Sanders, who in 1979 began working with The Eagles on a biography which was never published, some access to them, but stated that he never allowed Sanders to have permanent possession of them.[101] Though Sanders was not among those charged, he was acknowledged to have sold 100 pages worth of Hotel California lyric sheets to Horowitz in 2005 after alleging to Horowitz that Henley's assistant sent him the documents.[103][101] Eventually, Inciardi and Kosinski would begin auctioning them in 2012.[101] Defense lawyers have claimed Henley legally gave Sanders the lyric sheets.[103] On March 6, 2024, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Aaron Ginandes abruptly dropped the criminal case against Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski midtrial, stating to the presiding judge that prosecutors believed that newly released emails backed defense arguments which questioned the trial's fairness.[104][105]
Personnel
[edit]Partial credits from Richard Buskin and Bill Szymczyk.[3]
- Don Felder: 12-string acoustic guitar, 12-string[7] electric guitar,[3] backing vocals
- Don Henley: lead vocals, drums,[3] percussion
- Glenn Frey: 12-string acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Joe Walsh: electric guitar,[3] organ, backing vocals
- Randy Meisner: bass,[3] backing vocals
Live performances
[edit]Hotel California has been performed at least 2,204 times by 167 different artists as of the end of 2021. This includes 1,057 performances of the song by Eagles, 202 by Don Felder solo, and 187 by Don Henley solo.[106]
Charts
[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
|
Year-end charts[edit]
|
Certifications
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[135] | 2× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
France (SNEP)[136] | Silver | 250,000* |
Italy (FIMI)[137] Digital download/sales since 2009 |
2× Platinum | 100,000‡ |
Japan 1976-1978 sales |
— | 350,000[138] |
Japan (RIAJ)[139] 1996 release (physical sales) |
Platinum | 100,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[140] | 9× Platinum | 270,000‡ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[141] | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[142] | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
United States (RIAA)[143] Physical single |
Gold | 1,000,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[143] Digital download |
Platinum | 3,000,000[37] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
References
[edit]- ^ Fong, Kevin. "Discography of Eagles". superseventies.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Savage, Mark. "Glenn Frey: How Hotel California destroyed The Eagles". BBC.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Buskin, Richard (September 2010). "The Eagles 'Hotel California' Classic Tracks". Sound on Sound.
- ^ Aspden, Peter (April 3, 2017). "Why Hotel California marked a watershed for rock". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022.
- ^ "Hotel California". BBC.
- ^ Dodd, Philip; Du Noyer, Paul (1999). The Encyclopedia of Singles. Paragon. p. 89. ISBN 0752533371.
- ^ a b Felder, Don (December 28, 2016). "Don Felder Reveals the Roots of "Hotel California" and Shows You How to Play It". www.guitarworld.com. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Rocklist.net...Guitar Lists..." www.rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
- ^ a b Trust, Gary (May 7, 2014). "Rewinding The Charts: Eagles' 'Hotel California' Checks In At No. 1". Billboard.
- ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. December 11, 2003.
- ^ a b History of the Eagles. 2013. Event occurs at 1:27:50–1:28:10.
- ^ "Listen to Timothy B. Schmit's New Single, 'Cross That Line'". September 10, 2020.
- ^ Runtah, Jordan (December 8, 2016). "The Eagles' 'Hotel California': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Eagles' Hotel California: the real story". Louder Sound. October 30, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sullivan, Steve (October 4, 2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 2. Scarecrow Press. pp. 135–137. ISBN 978-0810882959.
- ^ a b c d Bosso, Joe (August 21, 2012). "Interview: Don Felder on The Eagles' classic song, Hotel California". Musicradar.
- ^ Crowe, Cameron. "Conversations with Don Henley and Glenn Frey" (The Very Best Of liner notes) (2003)
- ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. March 5, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
- ^ "Don Felder interview segment". The Howard Stern Show. Sirius Satellite Radio. July 17, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Crowe, Cameron (August 2003). "Conversations With Don Henley and Glenn Frey". The Uncool.
- ^ a b Eliot, Marc (December 13, 2006). "The Eagles: "It's A Record About The Dark Underbelly Of America"". Team Rock. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016.
- ^ a b "1992 Glenn Frey Interview with Bob Costas". KIOA. January 19, 2016. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
- ^ "Liner Notes - The Very Best of The Eagles". Glenn Frey Online.
- ^ "'Hotel California' – The Eagles". BBC.
- ^ Eliot, Marc (2004). To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles. Da Capo Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-3068-1398-6.
- ^ Ochs, Micheael (2005). 1000 Record Covers. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-4085-8.
- ^ Ferguson, Kevin; Keller, Chris (May 15, 2014). "20 things to know about Hotel California". 89.5 KPCC.
- ^ Reiff, Corbin (November 8, 2014). "20 Years Ago: The Eagles Release 'Hell Freezes Over'". Ultimate Classic Rock.
- ^ DeRiso, Nick (September 21, 2015). "Top 10 Don Felder Eagles Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock.
- ^ Jessica (March 2, 2023). "The Eagles At The Capital Centre, March 1977: A Closer Look". Randy Meisner: A Retrospective. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
- ^ Don Felder Heaven & Hell, my life in the Eagles Howard Stern Show [2008], retrieved September 5, 2023
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100: February 26, 1977". Billboard.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100: April 7, 1977". Billboard. January 2, 2013.
- ^ "Adult Contemporary Tracks: April 16, 1977". Billboard. January 2, 2013.
- ^ a b "Pop Singles of 1977". Billboard. December 24, 1977. p. 64.
- ^ "Gold & Platinum – Diamond Certifications". RIAA. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ a b Appel, Rich (December 10, 2014). "Revisionist History, Holiday Edition: Mariah Gets a 'Christmas' Gift, Wham! Gets the Boot". Billboard. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ^ "GRAMMY.com". GRAMMY.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009.
- ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 12, 1977. p. 34. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
- ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Award". Grammy Award.
- ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. December 9, 2004. Archived from the original on December 14, 2006.
- ^ "Experience the Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ^ Greene, Andy (February 7, 2013). "Flashback: All the Eagles Unite for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Hart, Josh; Fanelli, Damian (July 16, 2015). "The Top 30 12-String Guitar Songs of All Time". Guitar World.
- ^ "Hotel California by the Eagles: What was it actually about?", BBC News, August 22, 2018, retrieved August 24, 2018
- ^ Soeder, John (March 20, 2009). "Don Henley gets into the spirit talking about 'Hotel California'". The Plain Dealer. p. T14.
- ^ DeMain, Bill (2006). "Rock's Greatest Urban Legends". Performing Songwriter. Vol. 13, no. 92. pp. 50–55. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. October 28, 2011.
- ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: The Eagles, 'Hotel California'". Rolling Stone. December 11, 2003. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ "Now it's the Eagles vs. Hotel California in a federal court". The Washington Post. May 3, 2017 – via The Florida Times-Union.
- ^ History of the Eagles. 2013. Event occurs at 1:30:50–1:31:10.
- ^ Soeder, John (May 20, 2009). "Don Henley gets into the spirit talking about 'Hotel California'". The Plain Dealer.
- ^ Denisoff, R. Serge; Schurk, William. Tarnished Gold: The Record Industry Revisited (1986): 407
- ^ Stoffels, Kenneth. "Minister Links Rock, Sympathy for the Devil Archived January 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine" The Milwaukee Sentinel September 28, 1982: 6
- ^ Dickey, Nathan. The Devil Has the Best Tunes: The Fundamentalist Crusade against Rock Music (Thesis).
- ^ Trzcinski, Matthew (October 28, 2022). "Why Some Fans Felt The Eagles' 'Hotel California' Was About Satanism". Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
- ^ Bishop, Greg. Weird California (2006): 228
- ^ a b c "Hotel California by Eagles". Song Facts.
- ^ De Artega y Pereira, Fernando. Practical Spanish (1902): 243
- ^ Avant-Mier, Roberto. Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora (2010): 81–82
- ^ Ostler, Scott. "Rockin' 'Round the Round" San Francisco Chronicle February 5, 2003
- ^ Adams, Cecil (August 15, 1997). "In the song "Hotel California," what does "colitas" mean?". Straight Dope.
- ^ Don Felder Interview Songfacts. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Tillekens, Ger. "Locked into the Hotel California: Or, expanding the Spanish progression" Archived October 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Soundscapes.info, 2006. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
- ^ "The Harvard Dictionary of Music — Don Michael Randel | Harvard University Press". www.hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ "Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull". Song Facts.
- ^ Vaughan, Andrew (February 1, 2015). The Eagles FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Classic Rock's Superstars. Backbeat Books. ISBN 9781617136238.
- ^ Feenstra, Pete (September 2012). "Interview: Don Felder". Get Ready to Rock. hotdigitsnewmedia group. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- ^ Scapelliti, Christopher (November 15, 2017). "Did Jethro Tull Inspire the Eagles' "Hotel California"?". Guitar Player.
- ^ "Jam on the Mutha". Official Charts Company.
- ^ Green, Thomas H. (April 26, 2007). "The song that won't check out". Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Avant-Mier, Roberto (May 6, 2010). Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 167. ISBN 9781441167972.
- ^ Rowell, Erica (2007). The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 235. ISBN 9780810858503.
- ^ "Livin' it up with a parody of paradise: Mike Piranha's 'Hotel Honolulu' gets airplay and guffaws". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. June 8, 1998. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- ^ "HOTEL CIŞMIGIU la 100 de ani: reînvierea uneia dintre cele mai frumoase clădiri istorice" (April 9, 2012), "Gandul" (in Romanian)
- ^ Owens, Air (December 24, 2015). "Five Best Covers of Hotel California". Popcorn. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016.
- ^ "The Killers – Hotel California" (December 2, 2009), The Telegraph.
- ^ "R&B Resurgence". Billboard. April 2–9, 2011. p. 31.
- ^ Schneider, Marc (June 4, 2014). "Don Henley Slams 'Arrogant' Frank Ocean for Using 'Hotel' Music". Billboard.
- ^ Hotel California, archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved November 1, 2021
- ^ 摩登保镖 许冠杰 (歌词版), archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved November 1, 2021
- ^ Hendrickson, Mark (February 3, 2015). "The EU's Nightmare In The 'Hotel California'". Forbes.
- ^ Pineiro, Victor (April 17, 2015). "Navigating the 'Hotel California' effect of social platforms". Digiday.
- ^ van Ours, Jan C. (2006). "Leaving 'Hotel California': How Incentives Affect Flows of Benefit Recipients in the Netherlands". Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung. 75 (3, S): 186–207. doi:10.3790/vjh.75.3.186. hdl:10419/99446.
- ^ Fineman, Mark (August 11, 1992). "States – Foreign Relations – Iraq Troops Check Out 'Hotel California' : Persian Gulf: West Coast Marines wait nervously in Kuwaiti desert camp as tension rises between U.S., Iraq". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Aspan, Maria (February 11, 2008). "On Facebook, leaving is hard to do". The New York Times.
- ^ Görgh, Holger (2003). "Fancy a stay at the "Hotel California"? Foreign direct investment, taxation and exit costs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ^ Malan, Todd (November 23, 2006). "Time to change rules at Hotel California". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022.
- ^ "China Joint Ventures And The Hotel California Effect". Alibaba. May 22, 2013.
- ^ "China and the Hotel California Effect in Banking". China Economics Blog. January 5, 2009.
- ^ Walsh, Larry (October 15, 2015). "Walmart disrupts 'Hotel California effect' in cloud". Channelnomics. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
- ^ Pineiro, Victor (December 16, 2015). "Five Social Trends Marketers Won't Be Able to Ignore in 2016". Advertising Age.
- ^ Cohen, Reuven (May 2, 2013). "Cloud Computing at the Hotel California, Check-in and Never Leave!". Forbes.
- ^ 'A Hotel California Brexit?'; The Telegraph, June 8, 2018
- ^ 'Yanis Varoufakis says Brexit is like Hotel California: 'You can check out any time you like but you can't really leave''; The Independent, September 28, 2016
- ^ "Brexit, 'no-deal' vicino. Ue come l'Hotel California": Alessandra Caparello in Wall Street Italia, November 30, 2018
- ^ Matt P. "Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq" (PDF). CIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2010.
- ^ Stillman, Deanne (August 23, 2014). "Some Dance to Remember, Some Dance to Forget: A Few Thoughts on Iraq, "Hotel California," and Coming Home". Los Angeles Review of Books.
- ^ Kayeon, Ben (September 14, 2014). "David Letterman punks The Eagles over licensing their music – watch". Consequence of Sound.
- ^ "The Definitive Guide To The Music of The Big Lebowski". LA Weekly. March 7, 2013.
- ^ Francisco, Eric (September 2, 2021). "'Shang-Chi' post-credits scene: Director explains that game-changing cameo". Inverse. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Peltz, Jennifer (February 26, 2024). "Don Henley tells court he never gave away drafts of 'Hotel California' lyrics". AP News. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ Peltz, Jennifer; Hays, Tom (July 12, 2022). "3 charged in scheme to sell stolen 'Hotel California' lyrics". AP NEWS. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ a b Peltz, Jennifer (February 22, 2024). "On decades-old taped call, Eagles manager said 'pampered rock star' was stalling band biography". Associated Press. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ Peltz, Jennifer (March 6, 2024). "Prosecutors drop charges midtrial against 3 accused of possessing stolen 'Hotel California' lyrics". Associated Press. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ O'Conner, Roison (March 6, 2024). "Hotel California trial over stolen Eagles lyrics abruptly dropped by prosecutors". The Independent. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ "Hotel California performed by Eagles". setlist.fm. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5268a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 4362." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California" (in French). Les classement single.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
- ^ "ORICON NEWS".
- ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 21, 1977" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California". Top 40 Singles.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California". VG-lista.
- ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959-2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
- ^ "Eagles – Hotel California". Swiss Singles Chart.
- ^ "Eagles: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Eagles Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ "Eagles Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
- ^ "Eagles Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "Eagles Chart History (Global 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
- ^ "Top 200 Singles of '77". December 31, 1977. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- ^ "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ "1977年 年間シングルヒット曲".
- ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1977". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1977". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ "End of Year Charts 1977". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
- ^ "Top de l'année Top Singles 2012" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
- ^ "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ "Billboard Global 200 – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- ^ "Billboard Global 200 – Year-End 2022". Billboard. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
- ^ "Danish single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "French single certifications – The Eagles – Hotel California" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved October 8, 2020. Select THE EAGLES and click OK.
- ^ "Italian single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved November 26, 2020. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Hotel California" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
- ^ "Western Influence" (PDF). Billboard. May 27, 1978. p. J-25. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
- ^ "Japanese single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved May 4, 2020. Select 1996年5月 on the drop-down menu
- ^ "New Zealand single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
- ^ "Spanish single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
- ^ "British single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
- ^ a b "American single certifications – Eagles – Hotel California". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
External links
[edit]- 1976 songs
- 1977 singles
- Asylum Records singles
- Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
- Cashbox number-one singles
- Eagles (band) songs
- Fictional hotels
- Grammy Award for Record of the Year
- Nancy Sinatra songs
- Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles
- RPM Top Singles number-one singles
- Song recordings produced by Bill Szymczyk
- Songs about Los Angeles
- Songs about hotels and motels
- Songs written by Don Henley
- Songs written by Glenn Frey
- The Killers songs