So it’s the morning after, but in my defense, I did not anticipate being out past four in the morning.  Today, you shall be rewarded with two entries.  Everybody still wins.  And what was Monday’s song, you ask?

Day Five:  Hotel California – The Eagles

Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice

And she said, “We are all just prisoners here of our own device…”

Last night, I ventured out to karaoke on a mission:  make an ass of myself by plaguing a bar with tone deaf singing.  I’d participated in such events once before, back in university on an extremely drunken night where I was forced to join in on Madonna, Britney Spears and Spice Girls (including a rousing choreographed version of Stop).  This time, I’ve been itching to do something a little more to my liking.  To break me in, Joe the expert took me up for a duet for one of the few songs we both knew:  Hotel California.

But this song is more meaningful to me than simply a night out at a bar.  The Eagles are a staple band in my dad’s music collection, and one of the few bands remaining on my ‘see before they or I die’ list.  The melodic acoustic rock filled my ears as I grew, and Don Henley’s voice became one of my most beloved singers.  The Hell Freezes Over disc is the epitome of a perfect mix CD for me, blending staple songs from the band with my two favourite Don Henley solo tunes.

One of my most vivid memories involving the song is a family party from when I was maybe seven years old.  Relatives from England were over visiting, and everyone got very, very tipsy.  My godfather whipped out a guitar and the singing began, including my former aunt belting out Hotel California…  That memory of that party, that song ringing out through the house, brings back so many others involving my grandfather, now deceased, my grandmother, and my parents, still married at that time.

Certain songs endure over time for reasons of being pure genius.  No one will ever write another Hotel California.  It was a moment that the muses came together and created perfection on every level.  It is a song that never fails to elicit emotion from me, never fails to make my feet tap in time.  It is truly a classic.