The song Don Felder intended to be a sequel to ‘Hotel California’
Many counterculture legends have tried to capture the atmosphere of the moment through song. Some, like Bob Dylan, opted for a more sceptical lament about its pretences. But few ever came closer to anchoring everything good and bad about it than the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’.
At the time, many counterculture figures felt like it was the most wonderful thing to be a part of. To many, it was the ultimate message of peace and unity, a place where anybody was welcome. A silent, peaceful protest against violence and prejudice. To others, however, it was a living, breathing contradiction. It talked about change without actually doing anything about it. Worse, it lured you in, only to trap you in.
Entrapment wasn’t an uncommon experience across counterculture. Aside from political differences, there was also the vicious cycle of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. But it was also far more complicated for that. Because the fictional hotel in ‘Hotel California’ and everything it symbolised didn’t just connect to the fallacies of the movement but also the challenges in the Eagles’ personal journey.
As Don Henley once explained to author Marc Eliot: “The concept had to do with taking a look at all the band had gone through, personally and professionally, while it was still happening to them.”
He also explained elsewhere in History of the Eagles how that tied to their broader connection to the LA scene: “There was some kind of commentary on the music business and on American culture in general,” he said.
Adding, “The hotel itself could be taken as a metaphor not only for the myth-making of Southern California but for the myth-making that is the American Dream because it is a fine line between the American Dream and the American nightmare.”
Perhaps it’s easier to understand if you focus solely on the final line: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” Something you once thought to be paradise is eventually your undoing, all because you fell for the dream it sold. And you only realise when it’s too late. Worse – you can remove yourself, you can check out, but you’ll never actually leave. Psychologically, you’ll always be there. Forever a victim of its whims.
Don Felder actually attempted to create a follow-up to the country rock masterpiece a few years later in 1981. ‘Heavy Metal’, the theme song for the film of the same name, borrowed from a song he’d written for the Eagles’ The Long Run that didn’t make it onto the tracklisting. The original was a slower progression with a similar feel to ‘Hotel California’, but it eventually morphed into its own thing, melodically and lyrically. This wasn’t a rumination on counterculture, but something that started in the same place sonically.
When asked by Goldmine if it was a successor to the earlier hit, Felder said, “Yes. I had come up with a very similar idea to that for The Long Run because I wanted to write something that Joe [Walsh] and I could continue that trading off of solos against each other and with the harmony guitar parts. It was a little slower, but very similar to it.”
He concluded: “It was a mapped-out demo with a feel that we could play on it as we did with ‘Hotel’, building the solos and trading the solos.”
