The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by whoiscloud, Teampeeta254, Matilda Is Rad, SpongeBobForPresident2016, MegaManGaming, nullportal, brian
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Its widely believed in my home town of Camarillo that Hotel California is based on the former mental hospital on the edge of town. In context, most of the lyrics make sense. The place on the edge of town on a bare road, lit up at night with a churchtower...
"Plenty of room at the Hotel California Any time of year, you can find it here " Camarillo is well known for having some of the best weather in the world, with no real winter to speak of. Archetypal soCal weather.
"How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember, some dance to forget" mental institution
"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" Camarillo itself was once used as a retreat for recovering artists before Ventura County's population went up. Famous Jazz musicians were known to visit to get clean, and rumor has it that many of them did this at the mental institution.
The mental hospital shut down in the late 90's and in 2002 it became California State University Channel Islands. Wandering around was creepy during restoration; the first classes were sometimes taught in rooms with the bars still on the windows (hence "can never leave")
but hell, it's probably about drug addiction.