Hotel Song

I see this song as being about a girl who tries to find love or self esteem by having cheap meaningless flings with lots of different people, but inside she knows they'll never give her what she needs ("you will never be my fool/my dear dear friend"). And yet it's the only way she knows to connect with people ("come into my bed, I've got to know you" sex is the only way she knows to try and "know" someone, or make a connection with them).

So she's gotten pulled into this cycle and this world of messed up people and unhealthy actions, and realizes it's not good for her ("I'm a child, it's too soon", "I wake up in fear", etc.) but she doesn't really know how to get out of it all.

So that's my take on it.

To me, the song isn't about a hooker, but a girl who has promiscuous sex alot.

"come into my world I've got to show show show you come into my bed I've got to know know know you" She's inviting and enticing the man into her world, and her bed, and she is having hopes of getting to know him better after sex.

"I have dreams of orca whales and owls but I wake up in fear you will never be my, you will never be my fool will never be my fool"

She dreams of innocence, and cute hopeful things, but realizes the nightmare she is living in everytime she wakes up. She realizes the men she has sex with will never love her, and don't have feelings for her. They will never want to be her fool, and she has no power over them.

"Floaters in my eyes wake up in the hotel room cigarettes and lies I am a child, it's too soon"

This is about the morning after.I think the floaters in my eyes could be a metaphor for the way she sees the men, just bodies. Like floaters is slang for a dead corpse found floating in a body of water. The men are dead to her. She always wakes up alone in the hotel rooms, never feeling at home. She is trying to reason with herself saying she's just a kid, it's too soon to be acting like this.

"a little bag of cocaine a little bag of cocaine so is the girl wearing my dress"

THESE LYRICS SHOULD ACTUALLY BE SO WHO'S THE GIRL WEARING MY DRESS. After doing enough cocaine she doesn't even know who she is anymore. She does this so she can forget the pain of the ordeal, and keep going on.

"I figured out her number inside a paper napkin but I don't know her address I wade downstairs"

She has a number on a paper napkin, probably from some guy she met. So she could call him, and do it all over again. She doesn't know her own address because she doesn't have a home, so she just goes downstairs.

"the porter smiles to me a smile I've bought with a couple of gold coins a sign that I've been caught"

She tries to leave, probably without paying for the hotel room or something. And the porter would know. So she bribes him to keep quiet, and he does. She's been caught, but it doesn't matter.

"you will never be my, you will never be my dear will never be my dear, dear friend"

None of the men she finds will ever be her friend, or a dear friend, or anything. They are just one night stands.

So that's my take on this song. It's probably way off, but whatever. It's how I see it. Anyways, I love this song, and all of Regina's work. She is an unbelievable inspiration.

I actually don't think the whole song is about a hooker. Since the title is "Hotel Song" it makes sense that the song is about the various things that occur in the hotel. Each verse is from a different point of view perhaps... the older man, the virgin, the suspecting wife, the drug dealer... maybe not exactly those roles, but it's definately different people who talk, not the same person.

I love the way she says the line "A little bag of cocaine"

It so cute.

It makes it sound like she's talking about something cute and fluffy, when in reality she's tlaking about Well,

Cocaine.

It is written from the perspective of a hooker, and it sounds like she fell for one of his customers, but she knows that that's unrealistic and she's scared that they can never have a relationship.. and the napkin bit.. is she stalking his girlfriend? I don't know about that but here

"the porter smiles to me a smile I've bought with a couple of gold coins a sign that I've been caught"

she has bribed the doorman not to tell on her

I've always thought along the lines of itsraninheaven's idea, that the song was told from multiple viewpoints. The way I see it, the first half of the song it is the story of a cheating husband told by his young lover, and his wife. The first half of the song (first four verses) are being told by the young lover, who says things like "come into my bed" , "I have dreams of orca whales and owls", "floaters in my eye" and finally "I am a child it's too soon." I think this young woman represents a desperate need to make herself "mature" and an "adult" by engaging in sex and drugs, just find herself "waking up in fear" and having dreams of orca whales and owls, which I think represent childhood.

The last verses I think are being sung by the wife, who after snooping around, has found bags of cocaine and tthe girls phone number, and coming to a sad realization she "wades downstairs."

One might say since the last verse of the song is very much similar to the verse sung by the young lover earlier, it might be changing again to the young girl, but I think that the lines "You will never be my fool" changing to "You will never be my dear, dear friend," signify a difference in who is saying the lines. The young girl would use the word fool, because that what she was looking for in the relationship, a fool, not a dear dear friend. The wife, however, was looking for a dear friend, a life companion. Both women are disappointed, finding that they can't handle to be each other's fools, nor dear friends.

I agree with the view that it's about a girl who's sleeping with men in hopes that they'll turn around and love her and want to be with her, but finding that she's just being used.

'So who's the girl wearing my dress I figured out her number It's on a paper napkin But I don't know her address'

I think this is about realizing that she's turned into someone who would be unrecognizable to her former self. The line about the number on the paper napkin could be referring to her finding her own phone number left behind by one of the men she's slept with, and realizing that she's nothing but a one night stand, that he never had any intention of calling. And as for the address, I agree with those who said that it's about her not being anchored or having the kind of stability she'd really like to, that she's lost and doesn't really have a home anymore.

i disagree with everyone haha i think when she says "whos the girl wearin my dress?" shes talkin about herself, i figured out her number (not phone but the number of things shes done wrong) but "i dont know her adress", she doesnt know where she lives or belongs, maybe its like home is where the heart is and she doesnt yet know where her heart lies. shes done and seen a lot of things (cocaine vegas the works maybe just been around people even her parents, into that stuff) and yet she thinks shes a child sometimes, she just wants to get away because its too soon her dreams of owls and what not just mean shes goin through life havin a good time but then she wakes up sometimes (like wakes up her conscience not literal from a sleep) and thinks what about my friends? what about a goal? when am i gonna get married? where im going? like she needs to get out of this cycle of the bad life and get back to living and figure out who she is. and shes using this person that she wants to "know" an "show" her world to stop learning about herself and learn about someone else, shes trying to avoid the hard part of life: figuring out who you are really are and where youre headed in life. i think the smile she bought means she bought it from him, as in she's never truely happy because shes seeing people working in the hotel doing what they want to do and shes just living life like its some big vacation never going towards a career and she wishes she could be happy in a stable job like them. but i do agree with loverly23 "wanting some stability in your life--in the form of a home, a belief, or the promise of a constant lover/friend/relative--but not being able to obtain it...much like a hotel cannot obtain a permanent resident. " kudos

This song is about giving yourself away for nothing real in return, and then the discovery that that’s what’s happening — specifically, with the image of a woman having sex at a hotel, but there are some hints that it applies to a singer. Take a look at another Regina Spektor song that touches on these same themes, â€�Happy Hooker.â€�

In the first stanza of â€�Hotel Songâ€�, it is pretty straightforward: An invitation. The words â€�come into my world,â€� are an invitation to the song itself — her world as we hear her sing. Then, in the second part, it’s sex: an invitation to bed, to â€�knowâ€� in the biblical sense. Performing sex, performing a song — the two are right there together.

The woman in the hotel dreams of â€�orca whales and owls but I wake up in fear.â€� There must be significance behind Regina's specific choice of Orca whales and owls. Both are hunters, one that swims the depths, one that flies in the night — both silent almost mythical predators. They have an image of friendliness — they are animals that appeal to children -- but the truth is that they are each skilled killers. I think this maybe says something about why she wakes up in fear. Between the night and the morning, between the mythology of these animals and the reality, there are two worlds, a dangerous reality and an enchanting illusion.

What she fears are explained in the lines â€�you will never be my foolâ€� and â€�you will never be my dear, dear friend.â€� This is her discovery, and it’s made in the morning, seeing the little bag of cocaine, looking at herself and wondering â€�Who’s the girl wearing my dress.â€� The porter is just another professional at the hotel, offers a smile as part of his job, and there is no enchanting illusion left from the night before. Her phone number has been left behind, discarded, and she delivers a stunning line about herself: â€�I don’t know her address.â€�

She doesn’t know her home, what this arrangement is, only that she’s woken up in â€�cigarettes and liesâ€� and she’s too young: for her, orca whales and owls should still be full of wonder -- not killers that do their work silently.

She has given everything she’s got inside, and come away without a fool, without a dear friend. And I would think that fear would be real for anyone who’s taken the stage to sing their song.

If any one could tell who it is that does the "sound-effects" in the background I would be so pleased.