[Vision2020] "The Last Resort" By The Eagles

[Ted Moffett]

All:

I just stumbled upon this quote below from Glenn Frey, one of the
co-composers (with Don Henley) of "The Last Resort" from the album Hotel
California.  I had previously speculated:

http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2007-October/048347.html

Note what, at least as I interpret this song, to be the "environmental"
message about the expansion of Western culture from Europe to the "New
World," justified in part by the "authority" of religion and God, resulting
in a destruction of Nature, which is the "paradise" that they are "kissing
goodbye," as the religious sing about paradise "up there."
-----------------
It appears an "environmental" message was deliberately a main point in
writing the song!  And this was in 1976...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California

The album's final track, the epic "The Last
Resort<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Resort_%28song%29>",
was about the demise of society. Glenn
Frey<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Frey>on the
*Hotel California* episode of In the Studio with
Redbeard<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Studio_with_Redbeard>explained
about the track:
  " It was the first time that Don took it upon himself to write an epic
story and we were already starting to worry about the environment...we're
constantly screwing up paradise and that was the point of the song and that
at some point there is going to be no more new frontiers. I mean we're
putting junk, er, garbage into space now.

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*From the album "Hotel California" by the Eagles:
*
The Last Resort

She came from Providence,
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way,
and how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere
to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide

Down in the crowded bars,
out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all,
what it's like up there
And they called it paradise
I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high

Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
through the canyons of the coast, to
the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
hungry for power
to light their neon way
and give them things to do

Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus
people bought 'em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea

You can leave it all behind
and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign

Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here

We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny and the name of God

And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kissing it goodbye
--------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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