The Eagles: "Hotel California"

Les Eagles sortent "Hotel California" aux États-Unis (Face B: "Pretty Maids All in a Row" et "The Sad Cafe"), pour le label Asylum. Ils seront numéro 1 le 7 mai. La chanson, tirée de l'album "Hotel California" et signée par Don Felder, Glenn Frey, et Don Henley, a été enregistrée en 1976.

Trois mois après sa sortie, le single est disque d'or. Il deviendra disque de platine, ce qui représente plus de 1,5 million d'exemplaires vendus. The Eagles gagnent le Grammy Award de l'album de l'année en 1977, et Hotel California figure dans le classement des 500 plus grandes chansons de tous les temps du magazine Rolling Stone.

La chanson raconte l'histoire d'un voyageur s'arrêtant dans un hotel qui semble idéal mais y reste prisonner. C'est en réalité une métaphore du monde de l'industrie musicale  de Los angeles à cette période, dans laquelle un artiste entre et ne peut ressortir. Elle illustre les menaces et les excès du rêve américain. Elle contient aussi ucoup de doubles sens qui font référence à la drogue et l'alcool.

Paroles:

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 shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking 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 bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys 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 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
They 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!'