Heart Hotels

So I'm thinking he is saying that he has treated his heart like a hotel - renting space for a time, but never having a permanent tenant. He was reckless with his relationships, and now he is paying the price with loneliness, and is basically giving up on love by shutting the hotel down because he has missed the opportunity to having a loving relationship. Just my take....love this song!

“Too many windows in this old hotel,”

Hotel is a place where anyone can have access for a price. I don’t think this necessarily has to do with sexual relationships, but maybe even just the process of writing his heart out in the midst of being a songwriter. Everyone has seen his inner thoughts, feelings, and life. He’s lost himself in the process.

“And rooms filled with reckless pride,”

His desire to please everyone and reach the top has left his heart filled with lots of resentment & other unhealthy attitudes towards himself and the world.

“And the walls have grown sturdy, and the halls have worn well, but there is nobody living inside.”

He’s tried to patch things up, cope with these feelings over time. He feels like it’s held up well given all he’s experienced, but in its current form, it’s not anything he (or anyone else) wants to love.

“Gonna pull in the shutters, on this heart of mine, roll up the carpets, pull in the blinds, and retreat to the chambers that I left behind, in hopes there still may be love left to find.”

He’s soul searching, trying to find himself again. He tried to dress himself up for everyone, and instead he needs to hunker down and examine things from the inside - let his real self back out from being hidden beneath all the facades he lays out.

“Seek inspiration from daily affairs, now your soul is in trouble and requires repair, and the voices you hear at the top of the stairs are only echoes of unanswered prayers.”

This is a restatement of the situation. He got so wrapped up in being a celebrity to all that he got damaged and lonely...and he feels as though God hasn’t provided the relief either.

I think the restatement of “Well there’s too many windows in this old hotel” provides hope. He recognizes the problem, he can’t keep exposing himself like he has. The question is whether there’s still something left that someone can love.

As I had responded to someone just now, it took me 27 years of this song constantly going in my head and not remembering who it was, or not being able to find it. I conversation with a friend of mine about childhood set me down a path to finally try looking once again for this song. The past three weeks or so, Dan Fogelberg‘s name was popping through my head because for some reason his voice seem to be the one matching this song before I knew who it was. But remembering how his tune went in longer than, it made perfect sense to me. I am usually good at finding tunes and remembering pieces of lyrics but I couldn’t until now. And it wasn’t so much the lyrics, it was definitely the piano and strings combo and as someone previously mentioned, classic to jazz. Or jazzy elevator music lol!

Interpretation for me of this song, I feel like he had multiple lovers in his life not necessarily all at the same time, but just many lovers. And he felt used in such away like a hotel, the stays obviously different lengths. And then came a point where he needed to work on himself so slowly working on everything while the hotel is closed a.k.a. his heart. All the while withdrawing into himself and hoping he can still find some humanity left in him to be able to love at least maybe one last time. Unanswered prayers sounds like to me had lots of hopes and aspirations to find a lover they can finally team the restlessness of being empty and lonely but not being able to find it. So until then the hotel remains closed and under renovation. That’s the best I can interpret . And as I said I can kind of resonate with that. And finally finding a song again after 27 years, and empathizing based on my interpretation, it’s a very bitter Sweet comfort. And past few days I’ve had it on constant repeat. I probably will continue to do so for a while since 27 years of missing this song in its entirety and now knowing what it feels like. It’s like getting in touch with the long lost friend. But at least my holy grail and needle in the haystack has been finally found

The song or at least part of it means that nothing is forever in life. Even our memories will come to pass.

Obviously he is very lonely, the song itself sounds like a lonely person reaching out. Not so complicated to figure this song out. He had too much price to look within himself and often pushed other people away. Only now they acknowledge mistakes hoping it is not too late to express love and receive love from those still around who he pushed away.

For anyone who has heard this song, the best part is the melody. It alternates between a classical-sounding composition with bold strings and piano to smooth jazz. The lyrics indicate a person who has lived their life under the expectation love would come to them without having to reciprocate. The lines with "reckless pride" and "shutters on this heart of mine" tell the key part of this story. I've never really paid much attention to the lyrics of this song, only because the melody is so stunning. It's one of those that can get stuck in your head for days at a time.