Most people assume Don Henley is singing about sex, drugs and rock and roll in the song "Hotel California". But the song goes much deeper than those aforementioned topics. For example, the song itself is called "Hotel California", and when someone says California, usually the first thing anyone thinks about is Hollywood. Don Henley is singing about his rise to stardom and how much he began to hate the fame.
The song begins on a dark desert highway, and off in the distance he sees a shimmering light. The "highway" is the "road to fame," and the "shimmering light" is the beginning of fame. After it says he saw the shimmering light, he says his head got heavy, and his vision grew dim. He says that because after he saw it, he could think of nothing but to become famous. In the same stanza it says "This could be Heaven, or this could be Hell". There are many celebrities, such as Kanye West, who love being famous and reap its benefits. But there are also many celebrities, such as Eminem, who hate fame. So in that line he's saying fame could be Heaven or Hell to him.
The song continues to state that there's a girl who leads him and the girl is "Tiffany twisted" and has the "Mercedes bends." That means she is of some wealth, and likes to be "in fashion" with whatever the new fad is. The girl is also a metaphor for fame. In the lyrics he is basically saying that she's the total cliche celebrity. Let's pick on Kim Kardashian for a bit, (sorry Kim) she's always got about four billion pounds of diamond jewelry on (see "Tiffany twisted.") Kim also has a severe case of the "Mercedes bends." She, like the stereotypical celebrity, is worth about sixty-five million dollars, and is always wearing whatever fancy-shmancy brand of clothing that's popular, and wouldn't be caught dead wearing last season's Versace mini skirt, in case the paparazzi is around to take her picture.
