Hacienda Hotel

Album: Can't Talk Medicine (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Hacienda Hotel" was the first song that Pickwick wrote after deciding to change their indie folk sound for good. Guitarist Michael Parker played around with the song's opening riff while singer Galen Disston used the upstairs bathroom upstairs. Disston began singing with the riff. Half an hour later they completed the song and got their first foothold into the "indie-rock/neo-soul" sound that came to define them.
  • The song is about Sam Cooke's murder at the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The song was one of the band's biggest hits in Seattle, the city they call home. On July 22, 2011, it was the Song of the Day on 90.3 KEXP Seattle.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.