Monday, 11 May 2009

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

Then she stood in the doorway
I heard the misson 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


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-Benz
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 place)
Such a lovely face
They're 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
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 check out any time you like
But you can never leave

That's Eagles - "Hotel California" lyrics. The lyrics to my favourite song of all time by my favourite band of all time. And I had the honour of seeing them perform it live in 2006 and I can honestly say that's one of the top three moments of my life.

The show lasted about 4 hours and I'd thoroughly enjoyed three and a half hours of it when they all stood up, said thank you to the audience and walked off. I was horrified and outraged, because they hadn't played Hotel California. I demanded an encore, I nearly lost my voice, yelling "Hotel California! Don! Don! Don! It was no use, the lights had gone out on the stage. I was so upset. Then a little light went on. In the middle of a stage there was a guy in a sombrero playing the trumpet. "Very nice", I thought, but I was still upset.

Then he played a really long note, and stopped. All of a sudden, all the lights went on, and that unmistakable first chord boomed out. Hotel California! There was Don Henley on the drums and, of course on vocals, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmidt, and Joe Walsh on the guitars and a host of backing singers and other guitarists. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened.

They played it perfectly and Don sang absolutely beautifully. They even had the famous guitar duet from the original recording. I was singing along with the hugest grin on my face.

You can't really get much better than that. It is a truly amazing song. All of their other songs are absolutely brilliant but "Hotel California" is their best. I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to learn about real music should buy "Eagles: The Complete Greatest Hits" released in 2008.

Hotel California was released as a single in 1977 and went to number one in the US. It won the Grammy for Song of The Year in 1978. It was written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Don Felder. Eagles were inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of fame in 1998.

It's a staple rock n' roll song for a lot of people, hence my earlier post.

6 comments:

  1. This song holds such as special place in my heart because of my Dad who introduced me to The Eagles in the first place.

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  2. Aww that's lovely. It's a really special song for lots of people. I used to hear it on a jukebox a lot when my mum took me to a social club as a child.

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  3. CTV! Thank you SO MUCH for the comment on my blog because now I know about yours! This is a great place, I will add you to my links. Us female rockers have to stick together since we seem to be in the minority :)

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  4. If I learn to play guitar, this would be the first song that I want to learn how to play. Can' get enough of it :)

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  5. I know Kai, however much one listens to it, it never gets old :)

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