Hotel California? what do u guys thik the hidden meaning(s) is/are?

Question

this is one of the most debated songs in history, and i want to know what u guys think? what is the song about(dont be a smartass and say a hotel in california, im not an idiot)

Answer 1

Here goes:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1121
No ghosts, no satan, it's all BS.

Answer 2

participants of Eagles have defined the album as a metaphor for the perceived decline of u.s. into materialism and decadence. In an interview with Dutch magazine ZigZag presently in the past the album's launch, Don Henley mentioned: “ that's a theory album, there is not any thank you to conceal it, regardless of the undeniable fact that that is no longer set in the old West, the cowboy ingredient, you recognize. that is greater city this time that is our bicentennial 300 and sixty 5 days, you recognize, the rustic is two hundred years old, so we figured considering the fact that we are the Eagles and the Eagle is our nationwide image, that we've been obliged to make some sort of somewhat bicentennial assertion utilising California as a microcosm of the full united states of america, or the full international, in case you will, and to objective to wake human beings up and say 'we've been ok so a techniques, for 2 hundred years, yet we are gonna could exchange if we are gonna stay around.'

Answer 3

I had always believed it had to do with a family member and a sickness such as cancer. This is another i found online...

as a metaphor the song may be commenting on drug addiction or simply the decadent lifestyle the hugely successful band had been caught up in. Another theory is that the song is about a mental hospital or a federal prison. The expression "check out" is also considered a metaphor for dying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California_(song)

Answer 4

The simple answer is the spiral of addiction.

Temptation & then Evaluation before trying it the 1st time
The Euphoria
Choosing a substance you desire
The realization you can't just quit when you want
The desperation of feeling completely pulled in

I may be way off base, I've never really thought about it, and never heard/read of discussion regarding the lyrics.
I simply pulled up the lyrics because I thought this was an interesting question. When I read them, this was my opinion

Answer 5

It's mainly a commentary of life after the flower power era. Of course you can always play the song backwards and hear about Satan organizing his own religion, but to quote Bill Hicks, "If you play records backwards, you ARE Satan."

Answer 6

I have heard it is about the ghosts that inhabit "The Hotel California" in Baja California.

Answer 7

From what I've heard it is refering to a cult that is satantic. I've also heard that it is/was an actual place. Judging by the lyrics this does seem to be true. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave, we are all just prisoners here, they stab it with their steely knives but they just cant kill the beast. These lines seem to depict someone joining a cult to find happiness but instead find themselves imprisoned.

Answer 8

My children always laughed at me and said all the songs from "your day" are about the same thing DRUGS

Answer 9

The First Church of Satan. It's a known fact Anton Levey funded the album. Just look in the balcony on the album cover, (inside.)

Answer 10

Drug Addiction,Hence,you can check out anytime you like,but you can never leave.Meaning,you can quit anytime,but you;ll always have that monkey to deal with!