15 years ago today (September 15th), the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis were awakened by the Eagles‘ “Hotel California. Don Felder and Joe Walsh were working on their solos for “Hotel California” when Don Henley walked in and said he wanted Felder to play what was on the original demo, which Felder had long ago forgotten. When guitarist Don Felder presented the initial demo for “Hotel California” to Don Henley and Glenn Frey, it was given the working title “Mexican Reggae.” When the Eagles began actually recording the song many months later, Felder tells us he’d pretty much forgotten the demo and was working on new solos for it with Joe Walsh. Until Henley walked into the studio, that is.
Eagles guitarist Don Felder on when Don Henley walked in the room:
“He says, ‘No, no, no. You gotta do it like the demo,’ ‘cause he had been listening to the demo over and over and over. So I had to call up my housekeeper back in Malibu – we were in Miami in the studio – have her go look through my cassettes and find this cassette that said ‘Mexican Reggae’ on the outside of it, put it in a blaster and play it. She held the phone up to the blaster and we recorded it. And I had to sit down and learn note for note what I just made up on the spot, which turned out to be the solo you pretty much hear on the record right now.”
REUTERS PHOTO
