Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Hotel California' and America's decomposing values; Why The Eagle's Hit Song was Prophetic
American Thinker ^ | 06/28/2018 | Tim Jones

Posted on 06/28/2018 9:12:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

"Hotel California," the signature song by the Eagles and probably their most popular, is a stinging critique and indictment of the American dream and the dominant consumer culture. There's a certain irony in that, since the band hit super-stardom early in their career in the seventies and quickly succeeded in reaching the ultimate American dream of becoming rich and famous.

Like most rock bands, they emerged out of the sixties rebelling against the blandness and conformity of previous generations, but whether the band realized it or not, Hotel California is really a conservative song. It paints a picture of a society run amok with hyper-individualism and selfishness that is the end result of a secular (i.e., godless) consumer culture that's rejected the spiritual and conservative values of restraint, tradition, and obligation.

Not only is there a correlation between secular humanism and materialism, but there is also a correlation between a society that values entertainment and pleasure and the dark side it engenders, as portrayed in "Hotel California" – a metaphor for a country that has descended into decadence and despair. There are two trends that bear this out.

First, there is the decadence as portrayed in present-day San Francisco. Recently SFGate.com posted a story on how bad downtown San Francisco has gotten: junkies, the homeless and petty criminals "smashing and grabbing" possessions out of parked cars (which made me think of "Hotel California"). This is the flip-side of the coin of a society pursuing fun and good times, just in more socially acceptable ways. It is the end result of and logical conclusion to a philosophy of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" that has been distorted beyond recognition, where happiness has become identified with "it's party time," rooted in materialism

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; Society
KEYWORDS: eagles; hotelcalifornia; pedo; pizzagate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last
To: SeekAndFind

I have to admit: I’ve never paid one bit of attention to the lyrics. Because guitar solo.


21 posted on 06/28/2018 9:56:14 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (Trump is a real estate genius because he lives rent-free in so many heads.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Albion Wilde

They stole the song from Jethro Tull....

We Used to Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAnh1waFPeY


22 posted on 06/28/2018 9:58:12 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: shotgun

They kicked Don Felder out of the Band because he wasn’t enthused about meeting CA Senator Alan Cranston and supporting Cranston’s Policies.

They used Politics as the final straw to get rid of Felder.


23 posted on 06/28/2018 9:59:01 AM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

As far as “Hotel California” is concerned being hard of hearing to the point of being called deaf by some is a benefit.


24 posted on 06/28/2018 9:59:42 AM PDT by rockinqsranch (Conservatives seek the truth. Democrats seek the power to dictate what truth is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I wrote my own lyrics to the song:

Welcome to the Desert of Arizona

On a dark desert highway, full moon in the sky
I was looking like the Wolf man, like that Lon Chaney guy
But my name is really Howard, H-o-w-a-r-d H-u-g-h-e-s
I was looking for a fix, maybe airplane glue

A flat truck pulled over, with seven girls inside,
Two wanted to stone me, three to give me a ride
“Relax,” said a beauty, “We aim to please
We’re headed for Winslow
A place you’ll never leave”

Welcome to Winslow, Arizona
Not a Sinatra place
With a Rat Pack face

We’re living it up in Winslow, Arizona
It’s a cartel place
With a Tex-Mex face

I’m perpetually twisted, Mercedes Benzedrine
It’s a fast German company, with pretty fast machines
But they don’t give me needles, they don’t give me Meth
They give me a Horse with no name, America’s best

We stopped in Winslow, I escaped the lass
Went to see Joe-Joe in Tucson
To buy some Californian grass
But the desert over took me, with peyote seeds
It’s there that I met Melvin, I was in terrible need

Melvin gave me a ride, playing some Eagle songs
I had a peaceful easy feeling, so I sang along
We saw a tequila sunrise, and I got the itch real bad
I’m giving Melvin my millions, maybe he can be glad

Welcome to the desert in Arizona
It’s a Castaneda place
With a Yaqui face

Living it up in the desert of Arizona
You’ll remember your name
If you don’t go insane


25 posted on 06/28/2018 10:00:11 AM PDT by BEJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GnuThere

Great song but it always creeped me out hearing it as a kid. Like it was some satanic gathering the guest stumbled upon.


26 posted on 06/28/2018 10:08:17 AM PDT by bethelgrad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

I loved Jethro Tull. And the original Genesis, particularly “Selling England by the Pound.” Also prophetic.


27 posted on 06/28/2018 10:21:15 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (Trump is a real estate genius because he lives rent-free in so many heads.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind; shotgun

Don Henley’s ‘Garden of Allah” is a better representation of the decay of America.

Plus the video of the same song has a appearance of Kirk Douglas as the Devil.

It was a pretty big year for fashion
A lousy year for rock and roll
The people gave their blessing to crimes of passion
It was a dark, dark night of the collective soul

I was somewhere out on Riverside
By the El Royale Hotel
When a stranger appeared in a cloud of smoke
I thought I knew him all too well
He said, “Now that I have your attention
I got somethin` I wanna say

You may not wanna hear it
I`m gonna tell it to you anyway
You know, I`ve always liked you, boy
`Cause you were not afraid of me
But things are gonna get mighty rough
Here in Gomorrah-By-The-Sea”

He said, “It`s just like home
It`s so damned hot, I can`t stand it
My fine seersucker suit is all soakin` wet”
And the hills are burning
The wind is raging
And the clock strikes midnight
In the Garden of Allah

“Nice car.........
I love those Bavarians.....so meticulous
Y`know, I remember a time when things were a lot more fun around here
When good was good and evil was evil
Before things got so.......fuzzy

Yeah, I was once a golden boy like you
And I was summoned to the halls of power in the heavenly court
And I dined with the deities who looked upon me with favor
For my talents; my creativity

We sat beneath the palms in the warm afternoon
And drank the wine with Fitzgerald and Huxley
They pawned a biting phrase
From tongues hot with blood
And drained their pens of bitter ink
Vainly reaching for the bottle full of empty Edens
Branded specially for the ones
Who had come with great expectations
To the perfumed halls of Allah
For their time in the sun

We were stokin` the fires
And oilin` up the machinery
Until the gods found out we had ideas of our own”
And the war was coming
The earth was shaking
And there was no more room
In the Garden of Allah

“Today I made and appearance downtown
I am an expert witness, because I say I am
And I said, `Gentleman....and I use that word loosely...I will testify for you
I`m a gun for hire, I`m a saint, I`m a liar
Because there are no facts,there is no truth,just data to be manipulated

I can get you any result you like....what`s it worth to ya?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right
And I sleep very well at night
No shame, no solution
No remorse, no retribution
Just people selling t-shirts
just opportunity to participate in this pathetic little circus
And winning, winning, winning` “

It was a pretty big year for predators
The marketplace was on a roll
And the land of opportunity
Spawned a whole new breed of men without souls
This year, notoriety got all confused with fame
And the devil is downhearted
Because there`s nothing left for him to claim

He said, “It`s just like home
It`s so low-down, I can`t stand it
I guess my work around here has all been done
And the fruit is rotten
The serpent`s eyes shine
As he wraps around the vine

In the Garden of Allah
in the Garden of Allah
in the Garden of Allah


28 posted on 06/28/2018 10:24:19 AM PDT by RedMonqey (" Those who turn their arms in for plowshares will be doing thSome Fe plowing for those who didnÂ’t.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fellow Traveler; Yaelle; Pelham

I never heard of any of them as junkies

Cocaine booze and quaaludes

And girls....often barely legal groupies at parties in the Hills

The usual late 70s fare

These were Texan and Midwestern boys caught up in the hedonism of LA and music machine of Irving Azoff

That’s what the song is about

Henley also wrote about the death of summer of love idealism like deadhead sticker on a Cadillac

Certain kind of fool is my favorite eagles song and one last note

No Jackson Browne

No Eagles

Joe Walsh equals good guy who the girls loved for that....but he was wild


29 posted on 06/28/2018 10:36:54 AM PDT by wardaddy (Hanged not hung.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: shotgun

Fielder and Leadon were the early country southern soul of the band

Then Frey and Henley wanted more rock

Frey hater Felder over Felders equal ego and Felder was apolitical

Gator country produced a lot of 70s talent

I like Walsh and I like Henley lyrics and I oddly enoug prefer Frey vocals for eagles songs

Henley did great solo

Take it easy....summer of eighth grade.....monumental

First major country rock hit since Buffalo Springfield and CSN


30 posted on 06/28/2018 10:41:36 AM PDT by wardaddy (Hanged not hung.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy

Back in FLA, Felder taught music/playing guitar.

One of his students was a kid named Tom Petty.


31 posted on 06/28/2018 11:02:09 AM PDT by newfreep ("INSIDE EVERY PROGRESSIVE IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT" @HOROWITZ39, DAVID HOROWITZ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: jiggyboy
I thought it was just a cobbled together collection of random scrawls from a couple of guys who were high. Kinda like most of Elton John's stuff.

IMO Phil Collins takes the cake. The lyrics to every one of his "hits" is a random grabbag of expressions--mostly Americanisms--strung together in a way that proves he doesn't understand what they mean.

32 posted on 06/28/2018 11:23:42 AM PDT by Oratam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy
The Church of Scientology had a recruiting drive called “Project Celebrity” and I think that’s what the song is about:

Bring Your Alibis: Revealing the Hotel California
JB Maddawg Oct. 31, 2012

33 posted on 06/28/2018 11:33:43 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the matrix, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Fellow Traveler; shotgun

Henley was stoned/bored in a hotel room somewhere in middle America while on tour ... late night TV was on ... and he decided to write a song that reminded him of Twilight Zone ,,, or at least that’s what he now gives as the genesis of the song in radio interviews.


34 posted on 06/28/2018 11:41:38 AM PDT by Neidermeyer (Show me a peaceful Muslim and I will show you a heretic to the Koran.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy
Take it easy....summer of eighth grade.....monumental ..First major country rock hit since Buffalo Springfield and CSN

A Jackson Browne composition, local kid from the suburbs of North OC. Eighth grade...making me feel old at 21.

The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers were into country rock as well. I don't remember if any of those tunes had become hits.

35 posted on 06/28/2018 12:09:43 PM PDT by Pelham (California, Mexico's socialist colony)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: bethelgrad

Exactly.


36 posted on 06/28/2018 12:23:33 PM PDT by GnuThere
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"Hotel California," the signature song by the Eagles and probably their most popular, is a stinging critique and indictment of the American dream and the dominant consumer culture.

I always thought it was about that old episode of "The Outer Limits," "The Guests." They also could have left at any time but chose not to (plus there was a Beast upstairs!)

Of course that "former Illuminist" whose name I forget and who claimed that the master of every recording was prayed over in a Satanic temple to fill it with demons claimed it was about something called "the night winds." I have no idea what that is.

37 posted on 06/28/2018 12:24:05 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator ("Conservatism" without G-d is just another form of Communism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oratam

In my experience, any song that references California will increase its appeal compared to the same song that does not reference California.

People not from California have a fantasy about California. Most of them are 16.

An example would be every 4th song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Simply throwing in a line about California is a fundamental part of their schtick.


38 posted on 06/28/2018 1:11:02 PM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Get off my lawn and GTFO of my country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy

Band on the Run: Wings and Eagles, yes?


39 posted on 06/29/2018 2:28:48 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson