Hear the isolated bass for Eagles song ‘Hotel California’
Few songs capture the bell-bottomed swagger of the 1970s quite like Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’. A song intricately bound to the era it was born, the sun-soaked classic blends the jangling of ’60s folkies with the swing and churn of reggae, which, by 1976, was being lapped up and reimagined by rock artists the world over. Here, we’ve bought you an isolated recording of Randy Meisner’s simple yet effective bassline.
‘Hotel California’ was written by Don Felder, Glenn Frey and Don Henley as a way of criticising the excess of California and its now-bloated countercultural heroes. Once the hippy capital of the world, the state is now little more than a simulation which offers luxury and happiness but at a terrible cost. Eagles have frequently pointed out that of all the fan interpretations that have emerged over the years, few have been accurate.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2007, Henley said: “Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing. It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce.”
Indeed, the true meaning of ‘Hotel California’ has been a constant source of debate since the song became a hit. Religious zealots claimed it was about the devil; others said it was all about drug addiction and the dangers of hedonism. According to Henley, however, it’s far less interesting than that. Appearing on an episode of 60 Minutes on November 25th, 2007, he said: “I know, it’s so boring. It’s a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream, and about excess in America which was something we knew about.” However, in the 2013 History of The Eagles documentary, he offered a more ambiguous reading, stating: “It’s a song about a journey from innocence to experience.”
Recalling how the song came together, Henley told Rolling Stone: “Felder had submitted a cassette tape containing about half a dozen different pieces of music. None of them moved me until I got to that one. It was a simple demo – a progression of arpeggiated guitar chords, along with some hornlike sustained note lines, all over a simple 4/4 drum-machine pattern. There may have been some Latin-style percussion in there too. I think I was driving down Benedict Canyon Drive at night, or maybe even North Crescent Drive [adjacent to the Beverly Hills Hotel] the first time I heard the piece, and I remember thinking, ‘This has potential; I think we can make something interesting out of this’.”
He was right. Today, ‘Hotel California’ is one of the most revered songs in the ’70s rock canon.
