I’ll wait in this place where the sun never shines/
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves.

Cream’s “White Room” is some convoluted story about an apartment and a hookup at this apartment. The narrator then walks the girl to the train station and wishes she wouldn’t go but we don’t get the feeling he is devastated. We really just don’t know. The song ends with a party (perhaps back at the apartment) and the girl has come back. What happens next?

“White Room” is obviously a very experimental song. The lyrics are a bit out there and the introductory time signature is non-standard. Combine that with Bruce jumping in and out of falsetto, Clapton liberally using his whammy bar and fuzz box and you have a very trippy experience. More interestingly, is that despite all the bizarre individual pieces, it works really well as a rock song.

White Room Lyrics

In the white room with black curtains near the station
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes
Dawnlight smiles on you leaving, my contentment

I’ll wait in this place where the sun never shines
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves

You said no strings could secure you at the station
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows
I walked into such a sad time at the station
As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning

I’ll wait in the queue when the trains come back
Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves

At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd
Consolation for the old wound now forgotten
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes
She’s just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings

I’ll sleep in this place with the lonely crowd
Lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves

written by Jack bruce/ Pete Brown

You can check out any time you like/
But you can never leave.

The narrator of “Hotel California” is driving down the highway, doing drugs and in his haze sees a hotel. He could use a rest. “Hotel California” seems to be a brothel or something very close to it. Somewhere where you can get your fantasies fulfilled. He is led to his room and he partakes of the goods. He parties quite hard.

Eventually he sobers up and wants to quickly leave the hotel. As he leaves the night-man tells him the great line above. Meaning, once you partake in the excesses of “Hotel California”, it will always be a part of you in some way. Another read is once you’ve sampled the high life of California you can’t go back.

The live version of “Hotel California: that The Eagles performed on their Hell Freezes Over Tour was exciting. The intro is different than the live version and while it sounds cool, you can tell the audience doesn’t recognize it at first. Then it transitions into the more famous chord progression and the crowd goes wild.

The dueling guitars of Joe Walsh and Don Felder show two great guitarists at the top of their game. The bass-line for “Hotel California” is underappreciated. You rarely  hear it mentioned as a great bass-line, but it is unique, and adds a lot to the song. Henley’s vocals are great, of course.

For more great Eagles songs.

Hotel California Lyrics 

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
And I was thinkin’ 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, uh
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 livin’ 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”.

Oh mother tell your children/
Not to do what I have done.

The Animals’ “The House of the Rising Sun” is the original Hotel California. The details are slightly different, but the story is about a man who spends his time and money in a brothel, and he is advising others against it. Specifically, he mentions that mothers should tell their children not to do as he has done, “Spend your life in sin and misery in the House of the Rising Sun”. The song ends with narrator admitting that he is going back to New Orleans to wear that ball and chain.

This song is an old folk song—The Animals weren’t the first to record it, but their version is probably the best and the most famous. It may have been written as far back as 1905. The Animals helped begin the era of folk-rock which included electric guitars with folk music. The Animals version featured the organ prominently.

Interestingly Dylan had a good cover of the song that was more folksy, several years prior. While most people cover Bob Dylan, early in his career he did do a couple covers and his cover of House of the Rising Sun is excellent.

House of the Rising Sun Lyrics

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun.
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy,
And God I know I’m one.

My mother was a tailor,
She sewed my new blue jeans;
My father was a gamblin’ man,
Down in New Orleans.

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk.
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when he’s all drunk.

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done:
Spend your lives in sin and misery,
In the House of the Rising Sun.

Well, I got one foot on the platform,
The other foot on the train.
I’m goin’ back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun.
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I’m one.