Monday, November 2, 2015

Hotel California

Over the weekend, I was listening to music in my car and The Eagles' song "Hotel California" started playing. I immediately thought of the hotel-style of Hell of No Exit. The lyrics for the song are as follows:

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
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!

I thought of No Exit for the following reasons
- it is in a Hotel
- "This could be heaven or this could be hell"
- "you can never leave!"
- the protagonist of the song is fervently running for the door to try to escape
- everyone in the hotel is a "prisoner of their own device"
- can't kill people even with steel knives (you can't kill a dead person)
- they depend on alibis to keep themselves comfortable
- both have a woman who loves men and loves dancing and is very materialistic

Differences with No Exit:
- they can sleep in the Hotel California
- mirrors on the ceiling, whereas Hell has no mirrors
- can walk through the corridors and associate with other people


2 comments:

Jack Zheng said...

When I read the title of your post, it immediately clicked with me.

There would be plenty of room in Hotel California, just like in Hell. In the song, the traveler goes into the Hotel to take a break from the highway. He is a wandering soul on a dark, desolate road. A woman with a candle takes him in, and he becomes trapped there forever. This story could certainly be an allusion to death, if we interpret it that way.

Unknown said...

I completely agree. The eeriness of Hotel California is enough to make you think of hell much less the lyrics. The woman that leads him into the hotel specifically says that everyone in there is a prisoner of his or her own making. Personally, I believe that to mean that due to some sin that these people had committed, they are now trapped in this prison/hell. The whole idea of Hotel California being hell also makes me think of that rumor that was a really big deal during middle school when you played a song backwards and it sounded like it said "I worship the devil" or "666". I remember this song being one of the big ones that everyone always talked about. It's extremely fitting that it supposedly says things such as these since we are now comparing it to hell. The link to the reversed song with "lyrics" is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmhW5QiMymw