VIDEO -- "Mexican Reggae" (1977 - Live Version)

Start here. 

I'm visiting the Golden State right now. So this message is pre-programmed.

Singing starts at 2:10.  "Mexican Reggae" was a tentative description of the song before the group settled on "Hotel California." There is no real Hotel California. The building on the album cover is in fact the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. 

I lived in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1991. Growing old ain't for sissies.

"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."

-- Don Henley, 9/11/07

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. 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:

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year) you can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz. 

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends.

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget.

So I called up the Captain, "Please bring me my wine."

He said, "we haven't had that spirit here since 1969."

And still those voices are calling from far away,

Wake you up in the middle of the night just to hear them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They're livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise), bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice,

And she said, "we are all just prisoners here, of our own device." 

And in the Master's chambers, they gathered for the feast.

They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast.

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 check out any time you like, but you can never leave!"

© The Eagles