1 Part of The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ Took Weeks to Finish
Some classic rock songs were thrown together haphazardly, but the best of the best took a lot of planning. For example, one aspect of The Eagles’ “Hotel California” took weeks to complete. The Eagles’ Don Henley dismissed the idea that all this work counted as perfectionism from his bandmates.
The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ has amazing guitar solos that connect to its setting
Most pop and rock hits are over in three minutes or so. Meanwhile, “Hotel California” goes on for over six minutes. One of the reasons for the song’s titanic length is its narrative, which feels more like a short story by Edgar Allan Poe than a 1970s pop song. Another reason the song goes on for so long is its dueling guitar solos by Don Felder and Joe Walsh. The solos give “Hotel California” a Latin rock flair that works well for a tune about the Golden State, which has been heavily impacted by Latin music and culture.
During a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Henley discussed the solos. “Rather than perfectionism, I like to refer to it as craftsmanship,” the “Boys of Summer” singer said. “Songwriting and recording are an art, but they are also a craft. Don and Joe sat down and worked on those solos for days. Then [producer] Bill Szymczyk and I did some editing on those solos. Then they relearned the parts after we edited them together.”
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Henley said that his bandmates put an incredible amount of work into the “Hotel California” solos. “They’ll be pissed at me for saying this [laughs], but that wasn’t them just sitting down and spontaneously playing it in one take,” he recalled. “That was weeks of work to get there. I’m not taking anything away. I have to give them props. They wrote those solos, worked over those harmony parts for days, then played them over and over again.”
Henley was asked if he saw the album Hotel California as a turning point in the band’s history, both artistically and commercially. “We realized we had taken another step in the evolution of the band, as songwriters and players, in the studio,” he said. “[The Eagles] were fully aware that we were taking a leap forward. We had Don Felder in the band, and that was part of the edge.”
‘Hotel California’ was 1 of 3 hits from the same album
That edge paid off. “Hotel California” reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week and remained on the chart for 19 weeks in total. The tune’s parent album, Hotel California, was an even bigger hit. It topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and spent 158 weeks on the Billboard 200 altogether.
The record Hotel California spawned two other hit songs. One was “New Kid in Town,” which climbed to the peak of the Billboard Hot 100 and lasted on the chart for 15 weeks. The other was “Life in the Fast Lane.” A more modest hit, “Life in the Fast Lane” reached No. 11 and lasted on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks.
“Hotel California” is a masterpiece — and it wouldn’t be the same without weeks and weeks of hard work.
