What do the lyrics of Hotel California mean?

This song is about America's reputation and culture. Once you are famous in this country, you will be famous at least to some extent after you die, even if you don't want to. Fame and wealth seem to bring everything: wealth, respect and any physical happiness, but you will soon find that these are all empty. People are actually unhappy. These so-called "happiness" are disappointing, and all your thoughts of controlling your life are just illusions. So at the end of the story, when the narrator tries to escape, he says that he can "check out" but "never leave". "Check out" is also an old slang for "death". This is a pun. When you leave the hotel and pay your "check out".

Don henley also said in the interview that this song is about life in the music industry. Perhaps this song helps to remember many rock musicians who suddenly became famous in extreme forms. Unless you see through fame and fortune, in the entertainment circle, wealth is usually the chief culprit that confuses musicians. The stress and lack of privacy brought by overnight fame will make you exhausted. This song is a great music lesson. The reason why it has such a strong and lasting appeal is precisely because of the information that the lyrics want to express or what people think it wants to express.