Post by dbrotman on Nov 13, 2011 20:36:41 GMT -5
Hotel California-The Eagles
This song is representative of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. For the most part the imagery plays upon the issues that are brought to the surface by Mary. Mary Tyrone is perpetually drowning in her morphine addiction. This vice of hers has become so engulfing that even though she can abstain for a short period she must always return ("you may check out any time you like, but you can never leave). In fact, the entire Tyrone family is blinded by their own addictions, struggling to cope with reality. Mary is undoubtedly the worst off, clouded by her morphine until her "head grew heavy and [her] sight grew dim". It is her way of escaping from the world into her "Heaven" but to everyone else it is a "Hell". She is using morphine to forget the present and remember the past ("some dance to remember, some dance to forget"), joining her in this venture is Edmund getting lost in the sea. And like the fog horn "still those voices are calling from far away / Wake you up in the middle of the night". The Tyrone family are truly "prisoners here of [their] own device".
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
Then I was thinking to myself this could be Heaven or 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 place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
(Any time of year)
You can find it here"
Her mind is Tiffany twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
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 1969"
And still those voices are calling from far away
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 place)
Such a lovely face
They're living it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise
(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 the 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 night man, "We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like but you can never leave"