<P> The song is considered the most famous recording by the band, and its long guitar coda has been voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of Guitarist in 1998 . The song was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978 . The lyrics of the song have been given various interpretations by fans and critics alike, the Eagles themselves described the song as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles". In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, Henley said that the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience...that's all ..." </P> <P> The melody of the song was composed by Don Felder in a rented house on Malibu Beach . He recorded the basic tracks with a Rhythm Ace drum machine and added a 12 string guitar on a four - track recording deck in his spare bedroom, then mixed in a bassline, and gave Don Henley and Glenn Frey each the resulting demo cassette . Felder, who met the Eagles through his high school bandmate Bernie Leadon, said that Leadon advised him to make tapes of songs he wrote for the band so that other band members like Henley, whose forte is in writing lyrics, might work with him on finishing the songs they like . The demos he made were always instrumental, and on every album project he would submit 15 or 16 ideas . The demo he made for Hotel California showed influences from Latin and reggae music, and it grabbed the attention of Henley who said he liked the song that "sounds like a Mexican reggae or Bolero", which gave the song its first working title, "Mexican Reggae". </P> <P> Frey and Henley were both interested in the tune after hearing the demo, and discussed the concept for the lyrics . In 2008, Felder described the writing of the lyrics: </P> <P> Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words . All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night . Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night...you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that...what we started writing the song about . </P>

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