[Macfan4life]

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.