今月は「ホテル・カリフォルニア」という、イーグルスの曲について書かれた文章でした。
どんな曲かなと思って聞いたら、聞き覚えのある曲でした。廃退的なバックグラウンドもあって非常にもの悲しげな曲に聞こえます。
That is a song like this; A man, who is tired from his travel, finds a light far away in a desert in the evening and reaches a hotel by following it. The hotel possibly used to flourish in the past, but now it’s deteriorated and we cannot see its prosperity. The uncanny hotel depends on the memory of its heyday, which rather insinuates its decadence intensely.
Groans are heard from somewhere even in the midnight, which say "Welcome to Hotel California". Elegant but sorrowful voice incredibly brews a melancholy. Two guitars make aggressive sounds together as if they were wandering in a maze to escape. Besides, the rhythm of reggae playing behind gives off the scent of exoticism.
The song is "Hotel California". It’s sung by, of course, Eagles. Tt’s not enough to say that it determines the scene of California in 1970s, so it’s quick to say that it's one of the most successful groups in the history of American pop music. It was "Hotel California" that was made in fashion by Eagles between 1976 and 1977.
In the song, the traveller orders wine, but is replied as "We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine". Literally, "spirit" means the whole alcohol, but here it can be read as a soul or a mind too. 1969 is an anniversary year when the counterculture activity, which appeared in the latter of 60s, had one of its peaks. Like the Woodstock festival, there were some moments where the ideals of young people who posed their new values were achieved as a form of rock. And as a center of such activities and as a representation of freedom, California was a longing place for them.
