Le véritable Hotel California n'est pas un hôtel, mais un établissement spécialisé dans le traitement des dépendances aux drogues courru par les rock star de l'époque. Dans un entretien au San Francisco Chronicle du 26 novembre 1995, Don Henley raconte que la chanson capturait l'esprit de l'époque, qui était une période de grands excès dans cette région et dans le business de la musique en particulier. Plus tard, il parlera d'une perte d'innocence.
Hotel California est une chanson américaine du groupe The Eagles composée par Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey et sortie en 1976. Elle est classée no 1 au Billboard Hot 100, deux fois disque d'Or et une fois disque de platine (soit plus de 1,5 million d'exemplaires vendus)1 et parmi les 500 plus grandes chansons de tous les temps selon Rolling Stone.

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)
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 bends
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 nineteen sixty-nine'
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 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!'