# Lyrics of Eagle's song Hotel California
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [August 10, 2008, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488 "2008-08-10T10:56:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@deedeewp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deedeewp)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/1 "2008-08-10T10:56:47Z")
In this song, reference is made to ‘pink champagne on ice’ and I remeber reading somewhere that this was a drug for treatment of schizophrenia, that had to be injected cold or it was too thick to go through the hypodermic needle. Can anyone tell me the name of the drug?
* * *
MODERATOR COMMENT: Please note that this thread is from 2008, until revived in Jan 2014 in Post #38. – CKDH
---
### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/2 "2008-08-10T11:52:30Z")
Or it could be just a reference to pink champagne, on ice.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/3 "2008-08-10T12:12:52Z")
“Pink” champange is a cheap knock-off of real champange, and works well as a metaphor for the surface sophistication but essential emptyness of the “California life style.”
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/4 "2008-08-10T12:26:46Z")
It makes you forget about the warm smell of colitis.
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/5 "2008-08-10T12:59:37Z")
Since this may turn into a discussion of Cecil’s take on the song, let’s link to the column and move it to CoCC. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_001.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001.html)
**samclem** GQ moderator
---
### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/6 "2008-08-10T15:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=deedeewp]
I remeber reading somewhere that this was a drug for treatment of schizophrenia, that had to be injected cold or it was too thick to go through the hypodermic needle.
[/QUOTE]
Usually when a liquid is made colder, it gets thicker. Why would this liquid have to be cold or it’s too thick?
---
### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/7 "2008-08-10T15:11:39Z")
“Mirrors on the ceiling depict champagne on ice” were the lyrics on the karaoke discs I used when I did that as a second job.
---
### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/8 "2008-08-10T19:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
It makes you forget about the warm smell of colitis.
[/QUOTE]
I had colitis once. Musta been on the can for two weeks. Believe you me, no amount of cheap champagne will mask _that_ smell.
---
### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/9 "2008-08-10T19:35:43Z")
[QUOTE=Scumpup]
“Mirrors on the ceiling depict champagne on ice” were the lyrics on the karaoke discs I used when I did that as a second job.
[/QUOTE]
I just did a search for the lyrics to the song and looked at a bunch of different sites. All of them list the line as “The pink champage on ice,” although none of them are Don Henley or any of the other Eagles. They could very well have all copied bad lyrics from each other.
[http://www.lyricshotelcalifornia.com/](http://www.lyricshotelcalifornia.com/)
[http://www.metrolyrics.com/hotel-california-lyrics-the-eagles.html](http://www.metrolyrics.com/hotel-california-lyrics-the-eagles.html)
[http://www.mp3lyrics.org/e/eagles/hotel-california/](http://www.mp3lyrics.org/e/eagles/hotel-california/)
[http://www.lyrics007.com/Eagles%20Lyrics/Hotel%20California%20Lyrics.html](http://www.lyrics007.com/Eagles%20Lyrics/Hotel%20California%20Lyrics.html)
> **[Eagles - Hotel California Lyrics | AZLyrics.com](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eagles/hotelcalifornia.html)**
>
> Eagles "Hotel California": On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up a...
I just listened to the album version cranked up loud, and he distinctly says “the pink champage on ice.” When my girlfriend is done watching X-Files, I’ll listen to the live version of the song and see if they change the lyrics up, but it seems the people who made the karaoke version didn’t listen to the original version of the song. (Well, admittedly, my copy is from the Greatest Hits, so it may not be the original?)
Oh and wanted to add:
[http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Eagles/hotel.php](http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Eagles/hotel.php)
That site does a close study of the lyrics (although they aren’t Don Henley either so could be wrong)
Wikipedia offers some alternatives to the colitas reference and some other lyrics in the song:
> **[Hotel California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California_(song))**
>
> "Hotel California" is a song by American rock band the Eagles, released as the second single of their 1976 album of the same name on February 22, 1977. The song was written by Don Felder (music), Glenn Frey, and Don Henley (lyrics), featuring Henley on lead vocals and concluding with a 2-minute-12-second-long electric guitar solo performed by Felder and Joe Walsh, in which they take turns playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out.
> The song is one ...
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/10 "2008-08-10T20:20:32Z")
I accept the band’s asertion that “colitas”, in this song, refers to the desert plant. Partly because of location (dark desert highway) and partly because the word is plural. But, colita was a popular nickname for marijuana bud around that time. Largely because of it’s turd like shape.
I might add that the guitar solo in this song is the most beautiful in rock. There are about a million solos in second place.
Peace,
mangeorge
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/11 "2008-08-10T20:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=samclem]
Since this may turn into a discussion of Cecil’s take on the song, let’s link to the column and move it to CoCC. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_001.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001.html)]
**samclem** GQ moderator
[/QUOTE]
You might want to delete that bracket after ‘html’. 😉
---
### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/12 "2008-08-11T00:09:29Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
I might add that the guitar solo in this song is the most beautiful in rock. There are about a million solos in second place.
[/QUOTE]
Check out [the inspiration](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgO7MamJnqM).
---
### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/13 "2008-08-11T03:17:42Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius]
“Pink” champange is a cheap knock-off of real champange
[/QUOTE]
So the $400 I paid for a bottle of Krug Rosé was a waste of money? :smack:
---
### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/14 "2008-08-11T12:25:03Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin]
So the $400 I paid for a bottle of Krug Rosé was a waste of money? :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Actually, according to one of the articles I referenced above, pink champagne is considered a luxury item.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/15 "2008-08-11T13:33:56Z")
\*Californian \* pink champange was hardly a luxury item in the Seventies. The song isn’t “Hotel Montagne de Reims” after all.
---
### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/16 "2008-08-11T13:36:57Z")
I just wanted to step in and say I was hired (on a rush basis, no less) to do the lead sheets for the entire original Hotel California album for copyright purposes. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of the music I wrote. Too bad, because the lyrics I used for lead sheets were typically supplied by the writer(s) – I encouraged this practice because many lyrics were too hard to understand and my guesses wouldn’t contribute to the accuracy. I even charged more if the lyrics were not supplied to me (on paper) when I got the recordings.
So I guess this is useless info, just a bit o’ trivia. Sorry!
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/17 "2008-08-11T14:34:01Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius]
\*Californian \* pink champange was hardly a luxury item in the Seventies. The song isn’t “Hotel Montagne de Reims” after all.
[/QUOTE]
It was certainly a luxury in Hong Kong bars in the Sixties. 😃
Why are we capitalizing decade names?
---
### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/18 "2008-08-11T14:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat]
I just wanted to step in and say I was hired (on a rush basis, no less) to do the lead sheets for the entire original Hotel California album for copyright purposes. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of the music I wrote. Too bad, because the lyrics I used for lead sheets were typically supplied by the writer(s) – I encouraged this practice because many lyrics were too hard to understand and my guesses wouldn’t contribute to the accuracy. I even charged more if the lyrics were not supplied to me (on paper) when I got the recordings.
So I guess this is useless info, just a bit o’ trivia. Sorry!
[/QUOTE]
And your aging, stuffed, filled-to-capacity brain cannot remember what the lyrics were??? :eek:
😃
---
### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/19 "2008-08-11T16:28:43Z")
[depict](http://www.netsozluk.net/index.php?InParent=hotel%20california)
[depict](http://www.canim.net/sarki/-136212-hotel-california.html)
[depict](http://www.eileen.at/liederliste/print/hotelp.htm)
---
### Author:  [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488/20 "2008-08-11T17:55:18Z")
I don’t know about the lyrics given in any of the cites. But I just played Hotel California from the Hotel California album, from the Hell Freezes Over album, from the Greatest Hits album, and from the Eagles Live CD. I hear the same thing every time. Maybe it’s just my poor ears, but I hear
…mirrors on the ceiling,
pink champagne on ice…
I do not hear any “there” or “there’s” before “pink”. Same for “depict”. In a couple of the versions I hear what might be a sound, but might not.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-of-eagles-song-hotel-california/459488.md?page=2)