Life in the Fast Lane - 2013 Remaster

This song describes a man and woman who had everything but lost it because of their lifestyles. Hotel California was the Eagles' first album with their new guitarist Joe Walsh, who helped write this song with Don Henley and Glenn Frey. In a 1981 interview with the BBC, Frey explained: "Life In The Fast Lane' kind of expressed the stereotyped LA 'run around in your Porsche' 24 hour boogie mode that unfortunately is too true for a lot of people. It wasn't really a statement about the guys in the band, or about anybody in particular – just it's kind of disturbing to see the extremes that the bourgeois jet set will involve themselves in. For instance, disco almost turned into a lifestyle, and it's such a non-meaningful thing on which to base one's life." When reminded that his Eagles bandmates may have exhibited some symptoms described in this song, Walsh replied: "Yeah, that's probably true, and I think it was healthy, though, that we realized that running around and parties and fast cars are really not the answer – it's kind of a shallow way to approach why we're on this planet, and it probably came as a band consciousness."

After this song came out, the phrase "Life in the fast lane" became a popular saying used to describe a jet-set lifestyle. It remains a fairly misinterpreted track, as it's not supposed to glamorize the lifestyle, but to be a warning about the dangers of drugs ("Lines on the mirror, lines on her face" describe cocaine on a mirror about to be ingested), alcohol and bad decisions. The Eagles formed in Los Angeles, where many people get caught up in a lifestyle of excess, a topic they take on in "Hotel California."

The famous guitar riff for this song started off as a warm-up exercise Joe Walsh was doing before a rehearsal. When the band heard it, they made him play it again and decided to develop it into a song.