in the mid seventies, I was smart enough to enroll in the yearbook class. Not only was it a fun class that taught me many things about publishing, once the proofs were done and sent to the printer, there was nothing else to do. As the deadline was in March, that left several weeks of scheduled free time. Many of my fellow students used this hour as study time. There was a hand full of us that used the time to discuss Science Fiction and music.
Our teacher, a recovering hippie who'd been to Woodstock didn't mind if we listened to music in the classroom as long was we didn't blast it. Having grown up in a fairly conservative family, this was my first exposure to the amazing music coming out at the time. The first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon was that spring.
We held discussions of music, and our teacher often included himself in the conversation. His assertion was that Hotel California was about addiction, specifically heroin ("stab it with their steely knives"..."you can never leave"....)

As for the line in question, substitute "attitude" for "spirit". Pretty simple.

(I wrote this while you posted your reply to bowser, but am posting after having read your reply.)