Of the millions of songs which have been recorded, only 30 songs can make it into The Lucy Museum of Musicians who deserve entry to Lucy's Museum of Musicians and at number 2 we have Hotel California by The Eagles (1976).Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull once said, with his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek, that he liked the tune to Hotel California and he wished that he had written it in the knowledge that anyone who has heard his 'We Used To Know', knew that he actually did.
Music plagiarism aside, the lyrics of the song have always been subject of debate with interpretations of the song ranging from drug use to Devil worship.
The band have explained that the song is about the trappings of fame and fortune which is much more boring but i ignore that and in my mind it's about a hotel out in the desert where you can check out but never leave.
What started out as a reggae tune (the working title was Mexican Reggae), it evolved into one of the best six and a half minutes of music with great lyrics which paint a picture in your mind while the guitar riff runs throughout the song before it breaks out into that amazing two minute extended dual guitar solo at the end of the song between Don Felder and Joe Walsh which annoyingly usually gets cut off on the radio and misses out the last minute when the guitars combine and the double drumbeat kicks in.
There was once an advert running for the Eagles Greatest Hits album and was advertised as being by 'the greatest band to come out of America' which is a bold statement considering that America is responsible for almost every decent band that has graced the world stage in my lifetime but they certainly performed the greatest song about a Hotel.
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