About The Song
The Eagles’ fifth studio album rang out with stories of the American experience—the one that emerged after the rose-colored glasses were tossed aside. Songs like “Life in the Fast Lane,” and “New Kid in Town” consequently marked Hotel California as something in a category all its own.
To put it simply, Hotel California is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, and to put it more elaborately, the album has now been certified Platinum 26 times by the RIAA. And that doesn’t even begin to get at the legacy of its title track. With all of this to unpack, though, the album’s packaging caught our eye. What is the story behind the chillingly utopic album cover?
The album cover for Hotel California is a photo of The Beverly Hills Hotel just before sunset. Photographer David Alexander shot the scene, and renowned art director John Kosh designed the shoot. (Kosh had already designed both The Beatles’ Abbey Road and The Who’s Who’s Next album covers by this point in time.) Together, Alexander and Kosh captured the mythical California experience to pair with the Eagles’ new nine-track record.
“For the album cover, Don wanted me to find and portray THE Hotel California—a hotel which would best exemplify a classic ‘California hotel’, and to portray it with a slightly sinister edge,” Kosh said in a 2007 interview. “Photographer David Alexander and I set out to scout suitable locations. We photographed three hotels (including some with a rather ‘seedily genteel’ character) that fit the brief and large prints were made for approval. By now I was dealing mostly with Henley—the rest of the band would saunter in as we progressed and mutter their approvals—and he preferred more sumptuous images. The shot of the Beverly Hills Hotel against the golden sunset was deemed the favorite.”
Further, to physically get the shot, both Alexander and Kosh perched above Sunset Boulevard in a 60-foot cherry picker. Kosh recalled that they were “shooting blindly into the sun” using high-speed Ektachrome film to achieve the grainy look that appears on the album cover. The results were, as you know, stunning. Kosh then collaborated with airbrush artist Bob Hickson to create the Hotel California neon sign in the bottom right-hand corner.
“It is interesting to note that I got tangled in the same heated debate with Asylum Records over the using of the band’s name on the cover that I had years earlier with EMI in London,” Kosh continued. “I thought it unnecessary to use the words, ‘The Beatles’ on Abbey Road considering the album was so eagerly anticipated and The Beatles were the biggest band in the world at the time. Such was the case with Hotel California. By 1976 the Eagles were the biggest band in the world and eventually only the title, ‘Hotel California’ appeared on the original cover of the album.”
After the album’s official release in 1976, The Beverly Hills Hotel learned that it was their hotel on the cover of the Eagles’ album. Hotel representatives were not pleased about this unsolicited publicity. At least at first. “Subsequently, as the sales of ‘Hotel California’ went through the roof, lawyers for the Beverly Hills Hotel threatened me with a ‘cease and desist’ action—until it was gently pointed out by my attorney that the hotel’s requests for bookings had tripled since the release of the album,” Kosh concluded.
Video
Lyrics
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 thinkin’ 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-Benz, uh
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that 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 1969”
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’re 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”