10/10 don't recommend cocaine
"people don't run out of dreams, they just run out of time." -glenn frey
as most people with basic knowledge of life (or went to college) know..drugs fuck your life up; but few people know this fact quite as well as the eagles. living in the prime of drugs, glenn frey, don henley, joe walsh, and timothy schmit definitely used their surrounding resources to their advantage and thus produced some of the trippiest lyrics of the 70s.
formed in 1971 in the city of angels, the eagles amassed a grandeur of accolades including five number-one singles, six grammys, five american music awards, and six number-albums, finally topping off their success, at the turn of the century, two of their albums were ranked in the top 20 best-selling albums in the united states. their success, however, was also sponsored by their incredible addiction to drugs. this all culminated into a brilliantly produced album summing up their addiction and the problems that ensued called hotel california right before their fifteen year hiatus. of course, this is their most popular album and easily most well known for the key titled song.
the cover art for the album was a picture of the beverly hills hotel. according to don henley, the picture was intended to depict the atmosphere of “faded glory, loss of innocence and decadence.” beverly hills hotel was notorious for its celebrity guests and also the amount of coke snorted off of their counters and flipped mirrors. the hotel, usually shrouded in living fantasies and fame, was turned into a sinister and edgy place in order to display the real hotel california.
culturally, this album was received well and actually came at a perfect time. 1976 was around the turning point to the gradual decline of hard drugs due to people realizing how fucking crazy they are. of course, drugs were never fully eradicated from pop/rock culture, but the eagles tweaked out personal experiences with it shown in the album was half the battle to the decline. their main focal point of the album is the self-indulgent nature of america. the rolling stones said the lyrics “present a convincing and unflattering portrait of the milieu itself....[the vocals] represent the weary disgust of a victim of the region’s luxurious excess.” the majority of the issues covered were about the negative and, frankly, scary reality of drugs rather than the hyped up culture that was currently surrounding them; this was the sad bitch slap in the face fans of the band and life received in the late 70s. the new and unconventional american dream was crushed under the weight of the west’s and, in particular, southern california’s dilemma through “los angeles country rock” as told by billboard. while many people create a different interpretation for each song on the album, the overall track-by-track analysis revolves around the different dilemmas involved with intense drug abuse.
1. hotel california
glenn frey is the mastermind behind the lyrics to the most popular song the band had ever produced. while the hotel seems like a dream from the outside, it shows his dark and lonely struggle from the inside. of course, with anything associated in something like drugs, many critics look to different reasons for the song including the other underlying message to the song: the deficit of california in the 60s and 70s. california used to be known as the home of the city of dreams and people flocked to it in order to fulfill their goals and start a new, however, it turned into a place of shattered dreams and addiction. the scary part and total turning point of the song is the macabre truth that the aspiring artists eventually face- the hell-trap that drugs leave you in. “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” is the climax of the song that highlights the hold that drugs have on someone forever, whether it’s a life long addiction or an eventual shortened life, as glenn frey saw this past year.
the most interesting part about the song, however, is that the meaning of the song that i just gave is total bullshit. or at least it could be…frey has said multiple times that there is no actual meaning to the song and that it reflects a personal dilemma. as henley puts it, ”it’s a fine line between the american dream and the american nightmare.”
in the musical aspect of the song, it has a country-like aspect with the simple, and melancholy acoustic guitar that takes the forefront of the song. it is a slow and very eerie sounding tune that has the perfect amount of beat that makes it equally trippy and beautiful. there is a black and white marker with stoner rock that i’ve mentioned before regarding pink floyd that straddles the line of trippy and existential crisis, in every scenario, this song is the only one in existence that i think takes the cake in both of those categories
2. new kid in town
this album goes through the crushed american dream that was condensed in california through drugs and heartbreak- this is the heartbreak side. not a romantical heartbreak but one of realization that the eagles were a rising sensation in los angeles and soon another one would take their place (which of course never actually happened but you get the point). “...emerged from out whole fascination with gunfire as an analogy. the point was at some point some kid would come riding into town that was so much faster than you and he’d say so, and then he’d prove it. that’s the story of life. that’s the story of aging, especially coming out of your teenage and young man years and as you approach 30, you begin to see that things don’t stay the same forever and that there’s a lot of other guys like you and gals like you that want the same thing that are coming up, and they want their moment, too, and they’re going to get it. and it’s fine. it’s as it should be.” is a quote eagles collaborator j.d. souther said about the song.
the song itself honestly screams “james taylor” due to its chill and laidback guitar and the lack of strong dynamics other than a slight increase in volume and added harmony mid song.
3. life in the fast lane
other than hotel california, this might be the eagles most popular song. this goes back to the album’s theme of drugs and the negative impact they have on people as well as the intense surplus in anything anyone could get their hands on. the story is of a couple that had everything but lost it all due to their poor lifestyle of “live fast, die young”- well it happened, except instead of losing their lives, they lost everything they lived for. the jet-set and competitive life style of the 70s had taken over everyone’s mind and, of course, it all eventually caught up to them- the same theme discussed in hotel california.
this song is a well needed change of pace from the previously slow moving pieces. while the last two were more of a sit-in-a-dark-room-and-roll type of song, this one is getting high and literally speeding through nowhere letting the wind whip. joe walsh’s accidentally catchy riff in the beginning is the only real melody you hear the entire song and, honestly, it works.
4. wasted time
this is one of the only songs on the album that honestly has no meaning (or maybe that is meaning?). this was don henley and glenn frey stepping out of the box and going “what the hell- let’s make a soul torch tune.” this song was testing the waters of henley’s singing abilities and attempting to stretch the board all the way across the country, as frey describes, “he [henley] could sing the phonebook it didn’t matter.”
this song, for little/no meaning, actually has an incredibly catchy tune- almost like a single person slow dance. with that being said, the catchy tune lasts about ⅔ of the song until the whole single-person-slow-dance part really kicks in and you realize the melody hasn’t changed and the lyrics make you want to cry.
5. wasted time (reprise)
for a song that had no fucking meaning they really did amp it up didn’t they? no lyrics mixed with violins and a solid beat makes a beautiful arrangement for a james bond sex scene*.
6. victim of love
this song has two wicked cool back stories to it. the first one goes to the romantical heartbreak involved with fame in the 70s. it is simply a “fuck you, i don’t need you” song post-don felder romance problems. with that being said, here comes the second wicked cool backstory: he was going to sing it. the only thing is that it took the band about 1 ½ takes for them to realize that felder can’t sing. after a sneaky send off of felder, henley took the vocals back over.
7. pretty maids all in a row
this is a damn new sound for the eagles. piano and synthesizer make their first appearance on the album and they run together in a waltzy style song. this is like a graduation song- reflective and meaningful. it looks back on the observations each band member experienced together and that they hope to stay together in the future given all they have been through as a band.
8. try and love again
this song is a turn on the female heartbreak song and makes it in the male's perspective. after a breakup, usually the woman is the one that is shown with all the emotions in it and tries to start over, but the eagles turned it into the male breakup song and the experience they had in lifting each other up through them and getting back out in the dating world.
the music itself is actually uplifting, definitely the most positive song on the album due to its higher notes and entrance of an electric guitar and faster beats
9. the last resort
while the rest of the album is a mix of problems currently in the west, this song focuses on the shitty past the west actually holds. it is said that drugs and the new, fucked up american dream wasn’t actually the first hard time the west held but it was originally screwed over by the original american dream a long time ago: taking over the west itself from native americans. the main premise of the song is how the more west the dream goes the more selfish it becomes. henley says this song describes how “...we [america] have mortgaged our future for gain and greed.”
this is a perfect example of a classic rock ballad. the sweet balance between rock aspects including complicated guitar and the forefront of drums and then soft lyrics create an ideal ending for this album as it brings it all the way back to the depressing and melancholy past of the west.
on the lighter side of things, smoke a joint and toke out to, specifically, to life in the fast lane, wasted time (reprise), pretty maids all in a row, and, of course, hotel california.
life in the fast lane is an obvious choice as, unless you got the first hit, it’s gonna take a few hits for your head to start rolling thus giving the perfect musical backdrop to picking things up. no matter what the background meaning of the song is, the riff and and catchy beats allow a great start to a stoner sesh.
while it might be surprising, the reprise for wasted time i think is super rad for the buildup for a great high (hence my sex scene reference *insert wink*). it starts slow and gradually adds more instruments and intensity as the song goes- same as if you’re laying on the floor feeling the high well up inside.
pretty maids all in a row is just trippy, honestly. this is perfect for a climactic high where you don’t want to think about an existential crisis or even lyrics in general- the music’s grandeur enough to get you through the shit.
and of course, finally, hotel california. this should only be appropriate when you want to have that existential crisis (what kind of lavender diesel shit you on). the comedown is shit and makes you want to fall asleep and this song will make you never wanna smoke again.
needless to say, hotel california as an album is musical genius that has been revered for almost 40 years. it has a deeper and much darker meaning than could originally be intended and is perfect for figuring out the decline of the american dream or just simply smoking some dank.
in the wise words of don henley:
“when we were all on the run, we were all using cocaine...cocaine in the mornings and cocaine in the afternoons.”
* like pierce brosnan jb sex scenes
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