Is "Hotel California" a Lucid Dream?

**Soul_Sleeper** · 08-20-2007 01:12 AM

Hey,

Just the other day i was listening to "Hotel California" and thinking about trying a WILD, when it struck me...

Is the whole song about a Lucid Dream?

I mean, just listen to it and think about lucid dreaming. could everything could be a metaphor for a lucid dream?

just listen to it, think about lucidity, and lets hear what you think.

Thanks

**TaNK** · 08-20-2007 01:49 AM

Ha, I like the way you think. That's certainly an interesting interpretation.

However, I believe they're said before that it's about materialism, particularly in California.

**Oneironaught** · 08-20-2007 02:13 AM

I've always heard that it's about a "house of ill repute".

**pyroguy305** · 08-20-2007 02:40 AM

I've always heard it was someone on a bad high.. "warm smell of colitas"..

**Tmer** · 08-20-2007 03:15 AM

actually its about a hotel in "Baja California" mexico, near "La Paz".
Beautifull hotel really, been there myself

**zoo york is cool** · 08-20-2007 04:06 AM

I love that song!

Actually, I really do see some relationship to a lucid dream, although I doubt it's about one.

**Kromoh** · 08-21-2007 08:38 PM

it's more like a horror movie LOL

but I'm a creep so my opinion doesn't count

**Seeker** · 08-21-2007 09:20 PM

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...

It sure sounds like it could be. I'll never look at that song in the same way again. The way it get surreal after this line is so amazing and so like a lucid dream!!! Cool!

**Soul_Sleeper** · 08-21-2007 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by Seeker

It sure sounds like it could be. I'll never look at that song in the same way again. The way it get surreal after this line is so amazing and so like a lucid dream!!! Cool!

OMFG an administrator is replying to MY thread.... im speechless...

ZOMFGZOR!

**ninja9578** · 08-21-2007 10:50 PM

I've never thought about it. I'm curious to know if "Good Girls Go to Heaven" by Meat Loaf is about lucid dreaming.

IZ · 08-21-2007 10:51 PM

I love that song, its a classic. People tell me its evil though. And a couple of years ago I had a car accident while listening to it.

**Oneironaught** · 08-22-2007 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by Soul_Sleeper

OMFG an administrator is replying to MY thread.... im speechless...

ZOMFGZOR!

I wouldn't get too excited. I think you're looking too deeply into it.

There's as many theories about its meaning as there are people trying to decode it. For instance, suppossedly there's a rumor that it's about Satanism. I've heard many times that it's about a prostitution house.

One hotel claims they were called "Hotel California" at the time and that the Eagles once stayed there.

Others claim it to be about heroin addiction. Other theories include that it's about a mental hospital, cocaine addiction, or a fireworks factory in "the town of Colitas in Greece".

There are countless other theories. But, read what the Eagles themselves had to say about it.

In the end, it has only the meaning the listener gives it.

**polmc** · 08-22-2007 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Tmer

actually its about a hotel in "Baja California" mexico, near "La Paz".
Beautifull hotel really, been there myself

Yes, I had been living near to it for 8 years. It's pretty much abandoned now. I'm not sure whether the song is taken from there, or the name of the hotel from the song... or neither of both

**Liero_26** · 08-23-2007 11:15 AM

I think the song is about drugs. They stab it with their steely knives...
Just can't kill the beast...

Up ahead in the distance i saw a shimmering light...

its all about drugs and trying to quit.

**bc8109** · 08-23-2007 07:48 PM

"How To Disappear Completely" by Radiohead IS a song about a Lucid Dream Thom Yorke (lead singer) had. Read the lyrics...very very cool stuff. Perhaps my favorite Radiohead song of all time and not until a few weeks ago did I realize what it was actually about.

**Soul_Sleeper** · 08-24-2007 02:56 AM

hey I just learned the start of Hotel California cuz i got a Capo today!

w00t!

it's pretty easy though just chords with strange picking style.

**Fordy** · 08-24-2007 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by Liero_26

I think the song is about drugs. They stab it with their steely knives...
Just can't kill the beast...

Up ahead in the distance i saw a shimmering light...

its all about drugs and trying to quit.

There is also a part saying, "You can check out, but you can never leave"

It is about drugs

**Zek** · 08-24-2007 07:55 AM

I've never been a big fan of the song but after reading this thread and googling the lyrics I found that this bit ...

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 checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

could have well been describing one of the not so good recurring dreams I get. LOL I check out from the dream time and time again but always find myself back there.

I suppose a person could read anything into the lyrics, but I don't think I will be able to hear it anymore without thinking of my recurring dream lol

**Wildman** · 08-24-2007 08:19 AM

What I've heard mainly is that it's about drugs, like Liero said. This seems to work well with most of the song. " Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way", they say this could mean lighting up a joint. "Steely knives", seringues. "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave", once you start you can quit but in the end you're still a drug user, if you know what I mean. There's a lot more of this imagery throughout the song, so that's really what I think it's about, although it's open to interpretation and this is an interesting idea, though I doubt that was their original meaning.

**Oneironaught** · 08-24-2007 05:19 PM

Try reading the link I provided where the band members themselves talk about it...

IZ · 08-26-2007 05:30 AM

Well the creators can say what they ment or wanted for the song to be seen as. But famous musicians always have a secret drug life. It must have gotten reflected on the song even if they intended for it or not, many do this to express a message that isn't up to social standards, but did it as a way to secretly express it without judgement. But yeah, I guess we have to go with what they have to say, we must believe what the creator has said from the beginning. For if the truth is not with the source then what are we suppost be believe.

**Alucinor Architecton** · 08-26-2007 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by IZ

But famous musicians always have a secret drug life.

umm ya its usually not very secret lol... everyone knows famous people struggle with drugs quite often.

**TweaK** · 08-26-2007 09:57 AM

I think all of you guys are looking far too deep into it. I know in those days they used a lot of metaphors and meanings behind the lyrics (unlike nowadays, where they go "yo I'm a rappa from teh hood, I have loads of bitches and hoes, and I pop a cap in yo ass homie", or something*), but it doesn't have to mean anything! But if you guys are really going to interpret weird songs, Do this one.

* No offense 50 cent! If you read this, please don't pop a cap in my ass. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

**Alex D** · 08-26-2007 10:01 AM

I feel the same as TweaK does on the subject. While the lyrics may be abstract in nature, no doubt about that, many lyrics were at the time. It's just a nice quirk of the era.