# In the song "Hotel California," what does "colitas" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 28, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008 "2006-01-28T20:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HolyDoom\_Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@HolyDoom\_Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HolyDoom_Witch)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008/1 "2006-01-28T20:21:13Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_001](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001) JBTW (Just By The Way) I also thought that colitas must be some kind of flower, and can’t say when I had in mind that I even saw it in a dictionary. But that was some false memory I think. This is to say that there is one more “CONFIRMATION” of the fact that colitas could be a hemp, other than the one from the letter from the sources who wrote the song. Cool wind… Warm smell of colitas Rising up to the air (not “through”) 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… The underlined sentence is in the poem to tell the effects of the drug going into the nose for a little longer period, thus forming a sound base for having to stop and enter the hotel. So this may be considered here a verification of the meaning of the word “colitas” as a hemp. Thx. (Me also into lyrics and music actually! Currently a ‘gigger’.) ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008/2 "2006-01-28T21:12:29Z")
> [@HolyDoom Witch](#): > > ``` > My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim > I had to stop for the night... > > ``` Isn’t it a lot more likely he’s just describing being tired? ---
**Author:** ![HolyDoom\_Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@HolyDoom\_Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HolyDoom_Witch)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008/3 "2006-01-28T21:52:51Z")
Lad, We have to go by the lyric. By the way er, sorry, Actually Mr. Cecil does not have an “edit” link for the posts on his website. Actually what I wrote is already clear by what Mr. Cecil wrote in his last sentence “touting the virtues…”. (They don’t call me tube-light just for nothin’.) > [@HolyDoom Witch](#): > > [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_001](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001) > JBTW (Just By The Way) > I also thought that colitas must be some kind of flower, and can’t say when I had in mind that I even saw it in a dictionary. But that was some false memory I think. > > This is to say that there is one more “CONFIRMATION” of the fact that colitas could be a hemp, other than the one from the letter from the sources who wrote the song. > > Cool wind… > Warm smell of colitas > Rising up to the air (not “through”) > 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… > > The underlined sentence is in the poem to tell the effects of the drug going into the nose for a little longer period, thus forming a sound base for having to stop and enter the hotel. So this may be considered here a verification of the meaning of the word “colitas” as a hemp. > Thx. > (Me also into lyrics and music actually! Currently a ‘gigger’.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008/4 "2006-01-29T00:24:31Z")
**HolyDoom Witch** , did you check an online music lyrics library, & make certain of the wording? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Machiavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Machiavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machiavel)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/342008/5 "2006-01-29T22:26:12Z")
The collection of female flowers on a marijuana plant is known as a bud or ‘cola’. The diminutive of cola would be colita, and I’ve always assumed it was the smoke of burning pot flowers that was referred to.