Many people have believed that Hotel California was a euphemism for Camarillo State Hospital, a California State mental institution northwest of Los Angeles. This may be the case. However, you can see by pictures of the now renamed site, that although close, the bell tower is slightly different. The Beverly Hills hotel has one arch under the cupola dome, like the so name Hotel California. The Camarillo State Hospital, now California State University Channel Islands, Bell Tower has an arch, with a porthole above it, and then is topped by a dome.
The song still will always be about a bout with mental illness to me. The trying to kill the beast by stabbing it with their steely knives is a lobotomy. "Some Dance to Remember, Some Dance to Forget" is Shock treatment.
It would be easy to make the mistake, even growing up in Camarillo. You would not really ever see or stay at the Beverly Hills hotel, since it was only 45 minutes away by freeway. And, unless you worked at Camarillo State Hospital, you really never went on the grounds. The campus is in a secluded valley, far from the cities of Camarillo and Oxnard. It would be easy to take a sketchy memory of the tower and transpose it onto the record album. The Beverly Hills Hotel and the Camarillo Bell Tower are both Southern California "mission style" buildings.
Lyrics (Don Henley):
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
And 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 (background)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
You can find it here
You can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany twisted
She's got the Mercedes bends
She's 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 (background)
Such a lovely face
They're livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise
What a nice surprise (background)
Bring your alibies
Mirrors on the ceiling
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 nightman
We are programed to recieve
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave
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