Hotel California, Church of Satan?

[caption id="attachment_256508" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cover Album "Hotel California" (sumber: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hotelcalifornia.jpg)"][/caption] Pasti kita hapal atau paling tidak pernah dengar lagu legendaris dari The Eagles ini. Lagu yang meledak pada Mei 1977, memuncaki chart Billboard Hot 100 selama seminggu. Lagu ini juga menduduki peringkat 49 dari The 500 Greatest Song of All Time oleh majalah Rolling Stones. Part solo gitarnya pun menduduki peringkat 8 Top 100 Guitar Solos oleh Guitar Magazine. Albumnya yang bertitel sama telah terjual sebanyak 16 juta kopi sejak perilisannya. Tak diragukan lagi, lagu ini memang legendaris. Tapi pernahkah anda memperhatikan liriknya? Nah kalau belum, simak ini: Hotel California Writers: Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley 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 thinking 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 face Plenty of room at the hotel california Any time of year, you can find it here Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends 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 nineteen sixty nine’ 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 face They livin’ it up at the hotel california 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 The 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 checkout any time you like, But you can never leave! Phew, panjang juga yak. Mungkin pikiran pertama yang terlintas di kepala adalah, ini adalah cerita tentang si lakon yang lagi dalam perjalanan, kemudian capek dan mampir di "Hotel California". Dari sini mulai muncul kejadian aneh dan seterusnya dan seterusnya. Tapi tahukah anda bahwa lirik lagu ini juga secara kontroversial dinterpretasikan tentang Church of Satan dari Anton LaVey. Saya tidak akan membahas tentang apa itu church of satan yang memang diluar konteks tulisan ini, tapi saya hanya menyebutkan alasan penginterpretasian. Ini alasannya:

• The Eagles merupakan anagram dari "gales (of) heet" yang berarti winds of hell.
• Pada tahun 1969 sebuah hotel di California Street, San Francisco dialihfungsikan menjadi church of satan oleh Anton LaVey.

[caption id="attachment_256450" align="aligncenter" width="186" caption="Anton LaVey (sumber: http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2008/06/geuu_01_img0200.jpg)"][/caption]

• "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the Beast," menunjukkan kekuatan setan(beast).
• "You can check out at any time you like, but you can never leave" dan "We are all just prisoners here of our own device." menyiratkan sumpah anggota church of satan yang mengikat.
• Dan yang paling creepy adalah kemunculan Anton LaVey di cover album

[caption id="attachment_256446" align="aligncenter" width="231" caption="Kelihatan ga si Anton LaVey? (Sumber: http://itwillpass.com/HotelCaliforniaAlbumBackCover.jpg)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_256455" align="aligncenter" width="209" caption="Penampakan Anton LaVey (sumber: http://www.centrosangiorgio.com/occultismo/immagini/lavey_hotel.jpg)"][/caption] Bagaimanapun juga Don Henley mengkonfirmasi di Daily Mail “It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce” Dijelaskan bahwa tema dibelakang dari lirik lagu ini adalah dekadensi industri musik di Los Angeles yang dideskripsikan sebagai "penjara" para artis dalam petikan lirik "We are all just prisoners here of our own device." dan akhirnya tidak dapat keluar "You can check out at any time you like, but you can never leave". Yang jelas kata Don Henley, lagu ini bukan bercerita tentang church of satan, hotel secara harfiah yang bernama "Hotel California" ataupun tentang rumah sakit jiwa. It is all about symbol. Tentang benar tidaknya, tak ada yang pernah tahu kecuali pencipta lagunya sendiri. Percaya atau tidak percaya itu pun terserah masing-masing. Atau mungkin lebih baik just let it be, a mystery. Seperti kata pepatah sakti: Good song has many interpretations :D Semoga bermanfaat, Salam. resources: hotelcaliforniameaning.com www.wikipedia.org www.songfacts.com