Words &Music by
Glenn Frey, Don Felder & 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
And 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 face.
Plenty of room at the Hotel California,
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.
They 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 face.
They livin'it up at the Hotel California,
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 their 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 programmed to receive,
You can check out anytime you like,
But you can never leave.'