Hotel California Analysis

1048 Words5 Pages
Nobody really knows what happens after death, but everyone at least has their own idea about it. The song "Hotel California" can be seen as The Eagles' interpretation of death. This song was first recorded and released as a single in the late 70s. This song "Hotel California" written by the Eagles, tells the story of a man's tripped out journey after he does. The song begins with him driving "on a dark desert highway..." (Stanza 1). He is really high because of the "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air" (stanza 1). He then somehow dies, which isn't specified how in the song because he still isn't aware of it. He just believes that he's tired and decides to stop for the night. So, he comes to his place where he thinks its called "Hotel California". While he's there he meets this woman who appears to be very popular because "she(s) got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends" (stanza 3). He then begins to settle down in the hotel, calling up the captain to bring him some wine. The captain is obviously not used to having guests like him around. He later comes up to this dining room where people are gathered for a feast, but in reality everyone is there for a reason hence the "we are all just prisoners here of our own device" (stanza 6). They are sentenced to death by a beast and they can choose to die or try to survive, but can't ever really escape. He starts to realize what's really going on, "last thing I remember I was running for the door" (stanza 7). Yet, he couldn't really go anywhere and was told this by the nightman. My interpretation of this is that he is obviously on drugs because he's been breathing in the smell of colitas. Colitas is, in Spanish, a slang word that refers to buds of marijuana. He somehow gets into an accident that leads him to death. From this point onward everything he's experiencing isn't really what's going on
Open Document