Hotel California By The Eagles

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“Hotel California” by The Eagles is a very popular classic rock song that exposes the dark side of excess and the American Dream. Personally, I enjoy this track and chose to analyze it because of its desolate tone and mysterious vocals. The lyrics provide vivid details and imagery that allows you to get immersed into the narrative of the song and its setting. Surprisingly, this is the only song I have listened to by The Eagles. However, from this track alone I not only admire their musical talents but the message they convey.
Listening to the lyrics and interpreting them literally can lead you to conclude that the song is a spooky story about a traveller who is lured into a hotel by a woman. The hotel mesmerises and entices the traveller with a life of wealth, popularity and dreams. Nonetheless, the traveller realizes that the hotel is a trap and no one can leave.
Coincidentally, the literal meaning of the song is a parallel to the actual meaning. The title of the song and the main phrase in the chorus, “Hotel California” is an example of symbolism (The Eagles 13). It replaces the ‘hotel’ with the American Dream and the cliche, ‘white picket fence’, we commonly assume with the American Dream. …show more content…

The belief that people all revere the lifestyle is referenced in the chorus, “Such a lovely place (such a lovely place) / Such a lovely place”, in which the lovely place is the Hotel California (14 - 15). These lines are actually an example of anaphora because “Such a lovely place” is repeated in the beginning of each line. The line in verse two “Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she's got Mercedes bends”, is actually an allusion Tiffany’s, a jewelry shop, and Mercedes, a luxury car brand (18). This means that the woman and the American Dream are rich lifestyles similar to those found in

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