Hotel California (song)
 

Hotel California is probably one of if not the most brilliant songs written in rock history. The music, intro, and guitar solo are incredible but the writing and the endless metaphors are beyond brilliant. You literally could have a college course in unwinding the hidden meaning in every line and verse. Most of us know this but I learned something today that floored me. Don't flame me if you already know it.

As Henley says all the time, the secret meanings of Hotel California are misinterpreted all the time. One of the ones I heard as a youngster was the line about the steely knives and killing the beast. There was lots of speculation this was about the devil and some sort of satanic reference. I am sure there are other interpretations out there as well.

The line was written as a swipe at Steely Dan. They did not want to be so obvious to mention him directly so they used the "steely knives line." Apparently the bass player of Steely Dan had a girlfriend that loved the Eagles and it drove him nuts. So much so that when they would fight, they put a line in one of their songs " Everything you did" that says "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening."
Henley states the Eagles wanted to strike back without being too obvious. The knife is a metaphor of a penis....stab it...refers to the thrusting.

I never knew any of this. But its pure brilliance. I can only assume that the beast is the girlfriend or maybe the Eagles.

I've never heard that, even though Henley talks about it in History OTE.

Petty, and I'm sorry, but Steely Dan wasn't "a" man. I HATE it when people say about FM, "oh yeah, I like him". Him? Who TF is him?
:xoxo:

I was talking Steely Dan as a band, not a man. That's the point Henley was making. They did not want to be so obvious and name Walter Becker. It was a joking retaliation since they were mentioned in his song. But it did frustrate the Eagles that Becker did not like the Eagles and it drove him nuts that his girlfriend liked them.

A similar situation but just way obvious is when Lynyrd Skynyrd mentions Neil Young in Sweet Home Alabama.

The line “They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast,” is a reference to the band Steely Dan. Both bands were represented by the same manager, Irving Azoff, for a period of time and a healthy competition began between the two bands. Steely Dan made a reference to The Eagles in their song ‘Everything You Did’, so The Eagles took a shot at Steely Dan in ‘Hotel California’.

Speaking of Irving. He sort of broke up the Eagles insisting Frey and Henley get paid more than the other members which was one of the claims in Felder's lawsuit. But we can also say Irving broke up the Mac with Stevie firing Lindsey. I would love to know if during Mirage how much more Irving insisted Stevie get paid and I am sure when Lindsey left in 1987, her percent went up even more. I would love to know the percent. We would probably freak out. Imagine Stevie getting 40% of tour proceeds :eek:

You know WAY more about Steely Dan than I've ever wanted to know. I only know it's not "a man"!:lol:

Henley and Frey didn't get more UNTIL they reunited, correct? There's a fairly large segment in History(do you have it?) about it. And to be fair, Felder was the last full member(according to his book). Every member had an equal share, up until Felder joined. After that, greed set in, I guess. Timothy and Joe were never full share members.

Soooooo, after Bernie and Randy quit, the three "owners" were Don, Glenn, and Don. On paper, Felder deserved his 1/3 share of everything, including merch and what not. I'm sure if he had a time machine he'd back up and not be such a dick about it, but he was always demanding(rightfully so) to see the books, and make sure he was getting his cut.

It would suck to have your cut taken away, but at the same time, be happy and accept the millions you're still going to walk away with. I think they should have given him one last chance. "Buddy, this is IT. If you can't let it go, you're gone".

Supposedly before Christine came back, the SYW split was:
$tevie 40%
Lindsey 30%
John 15%
Dick 15%
I'm sure $tevie probably still makes more, but how would they split it now? $tevie 30%
Lindsey and Chris 20%
John and Dick 15%
Just a guess on the current split...

That's my understanding. They split up in 1980 when everything was still split evenly 5 ways. During the Hell Freezes over era, Irving pushed and got this new equation. He had the Fleetwood Mac example to use with the Eagles.

I actually don't know very much about Steely Dan. I never owned any of their music but some of it is pretty good IMHO. What I wrote here was from an interview with Henley. I would never had known the bass player's name to save my life. Although Christine really dug Steely Dan. There is a story of hers when she lived in the Hollywood Hills in the mid 70s where she said she had outside parties at the pool and their amplifier cranked the Steely Dan album "Aja" all down through the valley. She said she wore the album out. I would have loved to have been her neighbor. I bet she had the best parties ever. I also bet she had the best Hi-Fi stereo money could buy ;)

BTW, I bet even without Lindsey, her rate probably went up to 45% at least :eek: She is filling more than 50% of those seats sadly :(

So you don't have History of the Eagles? It's FANTASTIC. I've watched it probably 50 times. I've made DVD copies for probably a dozen people. I have a set in my car right now, because I was talking to an old man at a bar last week, and he was telling me how much he loved The Eagles. I told him I'd have him a Xmas present the next time I saw him(even though I'd never met him before). Hey, Don Henley's got plenty of money!:lol:

Honestly, I've just never given Steely Dan a chance. I don't own any, either. My prejudiced take on it is that it's probably too jazzy for me. With Christine being a big fan, you'd have thought I'd have tried it. Nope!

I'd have LOVED to have gotten sh*tfaced with her, back in the day. Couple bottles of wine and some blow? SIGN ME UP!:wavey:

I know the old goat fills at least half of the seats. There's no accounting for taste! Those are "lowest common denominator people"!!!

When I was an early teen. There was a girl in my neighborhood who had an aunt who would watch those crazy Christian channels where everything was satanic and everyone going to hell. She sent her parents these cassette tapes from these preachers talking about rock bands and their satanic influence. Hotel California was a major topic of discussion. The "Beast" was considered Satan. But I forgot about the shadowy figure on the back of the album that was supposedly a tribute to Satan which of course the band denied. They also went off on Fleetwood Mac and those crystal balls on the White album and Rumours and how the band was into the occult.
Here is a short clip that brought back the memories of Satan and Hotel California

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QmYKgYLJfM

People are just dumber than a bag of hammers.

Maybe part of the reason $tevie works my last nerve is - that I don't believe in fairy tales. I'm a realist, and an atheist. I need science and PROOF to believe in sh*t like that. I remember when I was about 10, after my parents had got divorced, and Mom was trying to raise me right. So we went to my Pentecostal preacher uncle's church for a couple of years. We ended up going to some revival one weekend. People around us were speaking in tongues, and they had snakes at the altar. My Mom and I looked at each other like, "what the F*CK are we doing here?" We got up and left, and never went back. Religious people scare the f*ck out of me!:p

There was a time when many people tried to find the "hidden satanic message" within Hotel California, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, Styx' Snowblind and other songs. :rolleyes:

Henley also explained that the lyrics don't have to be that accurate. In fact, he laughs at criticisms about wine not being a "spirit" drink (wine is just fermented, spirits are distilled). They wrote "Please bring me my wine" just to rhyme with "1969".

And yes, History of the Eagles is a great doc. I watched lot of times until Netflix removed it from its catalog.

PS: It's amazing how you guys find the way to mention Stevie Nicks in every thread, even in those which it seems that there was no relationship with her. :laugh:

We only mention $tevie in every thread BECAUSE $HE SLEPT WITH EVERYONE WE'VE EVER HEARD OF.

How can you have a Don Henley discussion without her and their baby $he aborted?

And everyone should buy History on Ebay. I did. I think I paid maybe $20 for the 3 DVD set. Well worth it.

[QUOTE=HomerMcvie;1262878]So you don't have History of the Eagles? It's FANTASTIC. I've watched it probably 50 times. I've made DVD copies for probably a dozen people. I have a set in my car right now, because I was talking to an old man at a bar last week, and he was telling me how much he loved The Eagles. I told him I'd have him a Xmas present the next time I saw him(even though I'd never met him before). Hey, Don Henley's got plenty of money!:lol:

Honestly, I've just never given Steely Dan a chance. I don't own any, either. My prejudiced take on it is that it's probably too jazzy for me. With Christine being a big fan, you'd have thought I'd have tried it. Nope!

OH David Steely Dan is AWESOME!!!!!! You are missing some great music.

[QUOTE=secondhandchain;1262982]What's their best album? I'll look for it. Do they have a greatest hits? (Totally off my radar)

I always thought ..Hotel California was about drug addiction, you know.
“You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”
I’m not a big Eagles fan, but they wrote some bloomin good songs.

Though Hotel California sounds a bit like a Jethro Tull track.

[QUOTE=HomerMcvie;1262984]Ha...never listened to it but I know their biggest record was Aja.
It was nominated for a Grammy the same year as Rumours.

[QUOTE=FuzzyPlum;1262988]Yeah, Aja is the only album name of theirs I knew, without looking it up.