THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

198-Eagles-Hotel California.

1977-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 4.20. A Five Star Hotel.

The Eagles (see also best songs 505) were formed in 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States, and remained active until 1980. After the break up the former members all pursued solo careers, and then in 1994 Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmit, Don Felder, and Glenn Frey (1948-2016) reformed, with Frey being quoted as saying,’We never broke up, we just took a 14-year vacation.’ At the time writing the Eagles continue to tour as Henley, Walsh, Schmit, and Vince Gill, who has been an official band member since 2017. The Eagles have released seven studio Albums between 1972-2007, and 30 singles, of which 17 have reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 chart in America, including five which have made the Number 1 spot. In the UK seven of their singles have made the top 40, with this song charting the highest when making Number 8 in 1977. The Eagles can boast of having the best selling ‘Greatest Hits 1971-1975’ Album in American history, with sales at around 38 million copies, and 40 million worldwide. They also have the second best ever selling studio Album in America with ‘Hotel California,’ having sold around 26 million copies in the States, and 32 million copies in total worldwide.

‘Hotel California’ was co-written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, and was produced by Bill Szymczyk who produced all of the bands studio Albums with the exception of ‘Eagles,’ (1972) and ‘Desperado’ (1973.) ‘Hotel California’ has become the Eagles signature song, with the guitar solo (from 4.20, until fade) being voted the greatest of all time by the British music magazine ‘Guitarist’ in 1998. The songs lyrics which were mainly written by Don Henley, and Glenn Frey have been studied endlessly by music critics and fans, and like many of the best lyrics the songs subject is open to interpretation, which is exactly what this countdown of ‘best songs ever’ is made for. In my opinion the most likely scenario is that the song is about materialism and excess. California is used as the setting but it could relate to anywhere in America. There are those who think the song is about drug use, and others have pondered if it is about the breakup of a romantic relationship.

Don Felder has offered an insight in to how the song came about, he has said,’Don Henley, and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night … you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that … what we started writing the song about.’ Don Henley has also offered an explanation,’We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest. Hotel California was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles,’ he also said,’It’s a song about a journey from innocence to experience.’

‘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.’