Tag Archives: Don Henley

♫ Desperado ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I last played this one almost three years ago, but it remains one of my absolute favourite Eagles’ songs, so let’s hear it again, shall we?

You know how some songs get stuck in your head and just refuse to leave?  This one does that to me periodically.  This, and Girl From Ipanema.  And these days, of course, Fool on the Hill.

Don Henley began writing parts of this in the late ’60s, but it wasn’t arranged into a song until his songwriting teammate Glenn Frey came along. It was the first of many songs Henley and Frey wrote together.

Henley explained in the liner notes for The Very Best of the Eagles: “Glenn came over to write one day, and I showed him this unfinished tune that I had been holding for so many years. I said, ‘When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles –  Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It’s really a Southern gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.’ Glenn leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure. And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership – that’s when we became a team.”

Desperado is a classic rock staple, but it was never released as a single.  The song has also been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Kenny Rogers, the Carpenters, Bonnie Raitt, and Ringo Starr, but I prefer the Eagles version.

I love the lyrics to this … yes, there is a certain sadness to them … but … they are poignant and remind me of …

Desperado
Eagles

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now
Oh, you’re a hard one
But I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow

Don’t you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet

Now, it seems to me some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get

Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home

And freedom, oh freedom, well that’s just some people talkin’
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the night time from the day
You’re losin’ all your highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you (let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you
Before it’s too late

Songwriters: Glenn Lewis Frey / Don Hugh Henley
Desperado lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Take It To The Limit ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I played this one just over two years ago during what became ‘Eagles Week’ here on Filosofa’s Word, and for some reason it popped into my head this evening.

I’ve picked one of my favourites for this morning’s post, but if you have a favourite that I haven’t already played, let me know and I’ll squeeze it in this weekend!

Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey wrote this song. Meisner sang lead, making this one of only three US Top 40 Eagles songs not sung by Don Henley or Glenn Frey, the others being I Can’t Tell You Why and In the City.

Meisner, who is from rural Nebraska, was the most subdued member of the band, describing himself to Rolling Stone as “Shy and nervous about putting myself on the line.” He was a founding member of the Eagles, but left in 1977 as tensions rose and the lifestyle became too much for him. Leaving the band may well have been a good mental health decision. Don Felder, who joined the band in 1974, said:

“Really the only thing you can do when you’re in the Eagles is eat, breathe, and sleep Eagles. I mean, you’re either on the road, writing in the studio, or doing press – it’s just all consuming.”

The high note at the end of this song was not easy for Randy Meisner to hit. He could pull it off in the studio, but not always in concert, since he would get nervous. At one point, he asked to take the song out of the set, which became a source of contention and a factor in him leaving the band.

In the 2013 History of the Eagles documentary, Glenn Frey and Don Henley recall a show where Take It To The Limit was planned as the encore, but Meisner refused to do it. Frey says that he got in a fight with Meisner backstage, and that Henley made sure security at the venue stayed out of it so they could settle it. Meisner left the band soon after and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who was in the band Poco.

The song reached #4 in the U.S., #16 in Canada, and #12 in the UK

Take It to the Limit
Eagles

All alone at the end of the evening
And the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking ’bout a woman who might have loved me
I never knew
You know I’ve always been a dreamer
Spent my life runnin’ ’round

And it’s so hard to change
Can’t seem to settle down
But the dreams I’ve seen lately keep on turning out
And burning out and turning out the same
So put me on a highway and show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
And when you’re looking for your freedom
Nobody seems to care
And you can’t find the door
Can’t find it anywhere
When there’s nothing to believe in still you’re coming back
You’re running back, you’re coming back for more
So put me on a highway and show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Glenn Frey / Don Henley / Randy Meisner
Take It to the Limit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Against The Wind ♫

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I used to drive a little tiny 2-seater Subaru hatchback that I named “Little Silver Bullet” because at the time I drank Coors Light beer (yes, I name my cars … and my vacuum cleaners … what of it?).  When the company I worked for hired a sign painter to paint our logo on the new trucks, he offered to paint “Little Silver Bullet” on the back of my car, free of charge.  Of course I took him up on his offer, and thereafter I was known among CB enthusiasts and truckers as the Little Silver Bullet, or sometimes just Li’l Bullet for short.  Ahhh … the good ol’ days!  “10-4 good buddy — I got your six.”  Back in those days, the CB radio was to me what the internet is today!  Another era, a different lifetime.

This song by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band was released in 1980, the second single from the album of the same name.  Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles sang background vocals on this song.  Seger said of this song:

“My old friend Glenn Frey of the Eagles had an idea that our guitarist Drew Abbott should play along with the piano solo. He and I then went out and did the background vocals together. The line ‘Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then’ bothered me for the longest time, but everyone I knew loved it so I left it in. It has since appeared in several hits by other artists, so I guess it’s OK.  

The only thing that bothered me about that phrase was the grammar. It sounded grammatically funny to me. I kept asking myself, ‘Is that correct grammar?’ I liked the line, and everybody I played it for – like Glenn and Don (Henley) – were saying, ‘That’s the best line in the song,’ but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t right. But I slowly came around. You have to understand that songwriters can’t punctuate anything they write. I work in such a narrow medium that I tend to second-guess things like that. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen that line in a few other songs since I came up with it, so I guess it was okay after all.”

Against the Wind
Bob Seger

Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in darkness with the radio playin low
And the secrets that we shared, mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Til there was nothin left to burn and nothin left to prove

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Against the wind
We were runnin against the wind
We were young and strong we were runnin against the wind

And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was livin to run and runnin to live
Never worried about payin or even how much I owe

Movin’ eight miles a minute and for months at a time
Breakin all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin
Searchin for shelter again and again

Against the wind
Little somethin against the wind
I found myself seekin shelter against the wind

Well those drifters days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I’m still runnin against the wind
I’m older now but still runnin against the wind

Well I’m older now but still runnin against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind
Still runnin
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind…

Songwriters: SEGER ROBERT CLARK
Against the Wind lyrics © Gear Publishing, Gear Publishing Company Inc, GEAR PUBLISHING CO., INC., HIDEOUT RECORDS/DISTRIBTRS INC (GEAR PUBLISHING DI, HIDEOUT RECORDS DIST. INC.

♫ Take It To The Limit ♫

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I really didn’t start out with the intention of making this “Eagles’ Week”, but I started on Wednesday playing Tequila Sunrise, then someone asked for Lyin’ Eyes, and when I jokingly said perhaps it ought to just be Eagles’ week, a couple of people jumped on that!  So … I’ve decided to finish out the week (through Sunday) with more of … the Eagles!  

I’ve picked one of my favourites for this morning’s post, but if you have a favourite that I haven’t already played, let me know and I’ll squeeze it in this weekend!

Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey wrote this song. Meisner sang lead, making this one of only three US Top 40 Eagles songs not sung by Don Henley or Glenn Frey, the others being I Can’t Tell You Why and In the City.

Meisner, who is from rural Nebraska, was the most subdued member of the band, describing himself to Rolling Stone as “Shy and nervous about putting myself on the line.” He was a founding member of the Eagles, but left in 1977 as tensions rose and the lifestyle became too much for him. Leaving the band may well have been a good mental health decision. Don Felder, who joined the band in 1974, said:

“Really the only thing you can do when you’re in the Eagles is eat, breathe, and sleep Eagles. I mean, you’re either on the road, writing in the studio, or doing press – it’s just all consuming.”

The high note at the end of this song was not easy for Randy Meisner to hit. He could pull it off in the studio, but not always in concert, since he would get nervous. At one point, he asked to take the song out of the set, which became a source of contention and a factor in him leaving the band.

In the 2013 History of the Eagles documentary, Glenn Frey and Don Henley recall a show where Take It To The Limit was planned as the encore, but Meisner refused to do it. Frey says that he got in a fight with Meisner backstage, and that Henley made sure security at the venue stayed out of it so they could settle it. Meisner left the band soon after and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who was in the band Poco.

The song reached #4 in the U.S., #16 in Canada, and #12 in the UK

Take It to the Limit
Eagles


All alone at the end of the evening
And the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking ’bout a woman who might have loved me
I never knew
You know I’ve always been a dreamer
Spent my life runnin’ ’round


And it’s so hard to change
Can’t seem to settle down
But the dreams I’ve seen lately keep on turning out
And burning out and turning out the same
So put me on a highway and show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
And when you’re looking for your freedom
Nobody seems to care
And you can’t find the door
Can’t find it anywhere
When there’s nothing to believe in still you’re coming back
You’re running back, you’re coming back for more
So put me on a highway and show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Take it to the limit, take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time


Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Glenn Frey / Don Henley / Randy Meisner
Take It to the Limit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Lyin’ Eyes ♫ (Redux)

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I try not to play songs by the same artists too close together, but it was just last night that I played “Tequila Sunrise” by the Eagles, and here I am back with another Eagles’ song tonight!  Why?  Well, in a comment today, friend Cheryl said that Lyin’ Eyes was her all-time favourite, and … well, you know I aim to please, right?  Besides that, after reading her comment, the song got stuck in my head and has been bouncing around up there ever since.  I did play this on once before, two days after Christmas in 2018.

Lyin’ Eyes is a song written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey and recorded in 1975 by the American rock band the Eagles, with Frey singing lead vocals.

According to the Eagles on their DVD Hell Freezes Over, when they were a struggling band in Los Angeles, they saw a lot of beautiful women around Hollywood who were married to wealthy, successful men, and wondered if they were unhappy. One night they were drinking in a bar (their favorite watering hole: Dan Tana’s) when they spotted this stunning young woman; two steps behind her was a much older, fat, rich guy. As they were half laughing at them, Glenn Frey commented, “Look at her, she can’t even hide those lyin eyes!”

Realizing they had a song title, the band members began grabbing for cocktail napkins to write down lyrics to go with that great observation.

In the History of the Eagles documentary, Don Henley offered a slightly different interpretation: “It was about all these girls that would come down to Dan Tana’s looking beautiful. They’d be there from 8 O’clock until midnight having drinks with all of us rockers, then they’d go home because they were kept women.”

A bit of interesting trivia:

In 2008, an Irish prosecutor quoted the words to this song (“You can’t hide those lyin’ eyes…”) in her closing statement at a trial involving the email lyingeyes98@yahoo.ie. The Dublin jury convicted Sharon Collins of conspiring to have her older partner and his two sons killed. Using the lyingeyes98 email, she contacted a hit man at hire_hitman@yahoo.com to do the deed, apparently unaware that emails can be traced.

And now, I will hush and let you enjoy the song …

Lyin’ Eyes
Eagles

City girls just seem to find out early
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man
And she won’t have to worry
She’ll dress up all in lace and go in style

Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice

So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend who’s feelin’ down
But he knows where she’s goin’ as she’s leavin’
She is headed for the cheatin’ side of town

You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes

On the other side of town a boy is waiting
With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal
She drives on through the night anticipating
‘Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel

She rushes to his arms, they fall together
She whispers that it’s only for awhile
She swears that soon she’ll be comin’ back forever
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile

You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t now way to hide your lyin’ eyes

She gets up and pours herself a strong one
And stares out at the stars up in the sky
Another night, it’s gonna be a long one
She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry

She wonders how it ever got this crazy
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
She’s so far gone she feels just like a fool

My oh my, you sure know how to arrange things
You set it up so well, so carefully
Ain’t it funny how your new life didn’t change things?
You’re still the same old girl you used to be

You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
Honey, you can’t hide your lyin’ eyes

Songwriters: Glenn Frey / Don Henley
Lyin’ Eyes lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Tequila Sunrise ♫

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As sometimes happens, my inspiration has dried up tonight.  I was ready to give up, snuggle down in the rabbit hole and leave you sans music.  And then, I popped over to fellow-blogger Michael Seidel’s site just to see if perhaps he had any extra inspiration lying around.  Turns out, he did!  He had a flock of Eagles singing this song!  Thanks, Michael!!!  I owe you one {I actually owe him a few!}

Glenn Frey and Don Henley, both of the Eagles, wrote this song together, and Frey sang lead. Along with “Desperado,” it was one of two songs they came up with the first week that they started writing together. The songs formed the basis for a Western theme, with Frey and Henley comparing the life of a cowboy to that of a musician.

According to Frey, he was lying on a couch playing the guitar, and came up with a guitar riff he described as “kinda Roy Orbison, kinda Mexican”. He showed Henley the guitar riff and said: “Maybe we should write something to this.”

The title refers to a cocktail named Tequila Sunrise that was then popular.  According to Henley …

“I believe that was a Glenn title. I think he was ambivalent about it because he thought that it was a bit too obvious or too much of a cliché because of the drink that was so popular then. I said, ‘No-Look at it from a different point of view. You’ve been drinking straight tequila all night and the sun is coming up!’ It turned out to be a really great song.”

The line, “Take another shot of courage,” refers to how if you drink tequila, it will give you courage to talk to women (although not coherently). The Eagles, who knew their way around a tavern, used to refer to tequila as “instant courage” at a time then they needed some to approach the ladies.

The song only made it to #64 in the U.S. and #68 in Canada, but I still like it.

Tequila Sunrise
Eagles

It’s another tequila sunrise
Starin’ slowly ‘cross the sky
Said goodbye
He was just a hired hand
Workin’ on the dreams he planned to try
The days go by

Ev’ry night when the sun goes down
Just another lonely boy in town
And she’s out runnin’ ’round

She wasn’t just another woman
And I couldn’t keep from comin’ on
It’s been so long
Oh and it’s a hollow feelin’
When it comes down to dealin’ friends
It never ends

Take another shot of courage
Wonder why the right words never come
You just get numb
It’s another tequila sunrise
This old world still looks the same
Another frame

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Glenn Frey / Don Henley
Tequila Sunrise lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Desperado ♫ (Redux)

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A few nights ago, I played One of These Nights by the Eagles, and I noted then that Desperado is my all-time favourite Eagles song.  A few readers agreed with me, so tonight, as it is late and I am tired, I am taking a shortcut and reduxing this song. 

You know how some songs get stuck in your head and just refuse to leave?  This one does that to me periodically.  This, and Girl From Ipanema.  And these days, of course, Fool on the Hill.

Don Henley began writing parts of this in the late ’60s, but it wasn’t arranged into a song until his songwriting teammate Glenn Frey came along. It was the first of many songs Henley and Frey wrote together.

Henley explained in the liner notes for The Very Best of the Eagles: “Glenn came over to write one day, and I showed him this unfinished tune that I had been holding for so many years. I said, ‘When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles –  Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It’s really a Southern gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.’ Glenn leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure. And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership – that’s when we became a team.”

Desperado is a classic rock staple, but it was never released as a single.  The song has also been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Kenny Rogers, the Carpenters, Bonnie Raitt, and Ringo Starr, but I prefer the Eagles version.

I love the lyrics to this … yes, there is a certain sadness to them … but … they are poignant and remind me of …

Desperado
Eagles

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now
Oh, you’re a hard one
But I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow

Don’t you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet

Now, it seems to me some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get

Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home

And freedom, oh freedom, well that’s just some people talkin’
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the night time from the day
You’re losin’ all your highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you (let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you
Before it’s too late

Songwriters: Glenn Lewis Frey / Don Hugh Henley
Desperado lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ One Of These Nights ♫

Posted on by under music

I haven’t played anything by the Eagles here recently.  I was planning to play my favourite, Desperado, but since I’ve already played that once, and since the Eagles have so many good ones to choose from, I decided to go with this one.

Released in 1975, this song was written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, and was inspired by the soul music Frey was listening to when he started writing it on the piano. Artists like B.B. King and Al Green were a big influence on many songs on the album.

According to Frey …

“It’s like, puttin’ things off … Everybody I’m sure has said, ‘One of these nights I’m gonna…’ Gonna drive back to that restaurant an’ take that waitress in my arms, whatever. Find that girl, make that money, buy that house. Move to that country. Any of that stuff. Everyone’s got his ultimate dream, savin’ it for ‘someday.’ And ‘someday’ is up to you.”

Frey used this as an example of how he and Don Henley ‘clicked’ when writing a song together …

“I’d go over to the piano and say, ‘Hey, what do you think of this?’  I’d play something, and he’d go, ‘Yeah, I like that, I like that.’ Maybe just get up and start singing. That’s the way we wrote ‘One of These Nights.’ I just went over to the piano and I started playing this little minor descending progression, and he comes over and goes, ‘One of these nights.’ I go, yeah, yeah.”

The song was a conscious attempt by the band to write something different from a country-rock and ballad-type song. Don Henley said …

“We like to be a nice little country-rock band from Los Angeles … about half the time. We wanted to get away from the ballad syndrome with One of These Nights. With Don Felder in the band now, we can really rock.”

And here’s another bit of trivia for you … do you know how the Eagles got their name?  Accounts of the origin of the name vary; Don Felder credited Leadon with originating the name when he recalled reading about the Hopis’ reverence for the eagle, while J.D. Souther suggested that the idea came when Frey shouted out, “Eagles!” when they saw eagles flying above. Steve Martin, a friend of the band from their early days at The Troubadour, recounts in his autobiography that he suggested that they should be referred to as “The Eagles”, but Frey insists that the group’s name is simply “Eagles”.

One of These Nights
Eagles

One of these nights, one of these crazy old nights
We’re gonna find out, pretty mama, what turns on your lights
The full moon is calling, the fever is high
And the wicked wind whispers and moans
You got your demons, you got your desires
Well, I got a few of my own

Oh, someone to be kind to in between the dark and the light
Oh, coming right behind you, swear I’m gonna find you, one of these nights

One of these dreams, one of these lost and lonely dreams, now
We’re gonna find one, mm, one that really screams
I’ve been searching for the daughter of the devil himself
I’ve been searching for an angel in white
I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little of both
And I can feel her but she’s nowhere in sight

Oh, loneliness will blind you in between the wrong and the right
Oh, coming right behind you, swear I’m gonna find you, one of these nights

One of these nights oh, in between the dark and the light
Coming right behind you, swear I’m gonna find you
Get you, baby, one of these nights
One of these nights (oh-oh-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh)
One of these nights (I can feel it, I can feel it)
One of these nights (coming right behind you, swear I’m gonna find you now)
One of these nights (and gets so dark, it’s so dark and cold)
One of these nights (one of these crazy crazy crazy nights)
One of these nights (swear I’m gonna find you coming right behind you)
One of these nights (oh)
One of these nights (and I want to say ah)
One of these nights (one of these, one of these)
One of these nights (coming right behind you, swear I’m gonna find you)
One of these nights (One of these nights, one of these crazy nights)

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Glenn Frey / Don Henley
One of These Nights lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Lucille ♫

Posted on by under music, Social commentary

As we continue on our week-long tribute to the late Kenny Rogers, here’s some trivia I bet you didn’t know:

  • KENNY ROGERS AND DON HENLEY USED TO BE ROOMMATES.
    In 1970, Rogers discovered Don Henley’s pre-Eagles band, Shiloh, and produced their self-titled debut record. “It’s not like he was in the mud somewhere and I walked up,” Rogers explained of how he “discovered” the band. “But I found his group and took them to L.A. and they lived with me for six months.”
  • KENNY ROGERS WAS A PRO-LEVEL TENNIS PLAYER.
    “I played tennis for 10 years, eight hours a day every day and developed a national ranking while I was on the road playing with Wimbledon champs,” Rogers told Rolling Stone.
  • KENNY ROGERS DABBLED IN INTERIOR DESIGN.
    In 2003, Rogers formed Kenji Design Studio, an Atlanta-based interior design firm, with business partner Jim Weinberg. The company went on to score some major contracts, like its bid to design all of the graphics, common spaces, model units, and employee uniforms at the Trump Towers Atlanta.  For his part, Rogers admitted that his design skills were really self-taught: “I’ve done 20 houses of my own, so I come to this from a totally emotional standpoint,” Rogers told the Chicago Tribune in 2007.

I picked up my list tonight of the Kenny Rogers songs you guys had mentioned or requested, and next on the list was Lucille.  I thought … nah, I just played Ruby last night and I really didn’t know that I wanted to play another about a woman who was, shall we say less than what a woman should be.  But, the more I thought about it, the more I thought … “Yeah, the two kind of go hand-in-hand”, and Lucille wouldn’t leave my head, so … here we are.

This song, released in 1977, was written by Hal Bynum and Roger Bowling.  The song was inspired by real-life events, as Bynum’s own marriage was in trouble when he started writing this tune. He was struggling with the temptation of another woman’s amorous advances and as his wife was preparing herself for a trip away, Bynum said, “You picked a fine time to leave me.” 

Lucille was Kenny Rogers’ first major hit as a solo artist after leaving his band The First Edition the previous year. An international success, it was the first of 21 Country #1s for the singer.  Wow … 21 #1 hits???  That’s remarkable!  I didn’t know!

Kenny Rogers’ mother was named Lucille; when she heard the song, she called her son to admonish him because she thought it was about her. Kenny explained that he didn’t write the song, and no reasonable person would think that Mrs. Rogers would leave four hungry children to cheat on her husband. Lucille Rogers actually had eight children.

Lucille
Kenny Rogers

In a bar in Toledo across from the depot
On a barstool, she took off her ring
I thought I’d get closer so I walked on over
I sat down and asked her name
When the drinks finally hit her she said “I’m no quitter
But I finally quit livin’ on dreams
I’m hungry for laughter and here ever after
I’m after whatever the other life brings”
In the mirror, I saw him and I closely watched him
I thought how he looked out of place
He came to the woman who sat there beside me
He had a strange look on his face
The big hands were calloused, he looked like a mountain
For a minute I thought I was dead
But he started shaking, his big heart was breaking
He turned to the woman and said

“You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille
With four hungry children and a crop in the field
I’ve had some bad times, lived through some sad times
But this time your hurting won’t heal
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille”

After he left us, I ordered more whiskey
I thought how she’d made him look small
From the lights of the barroom
To a rented hotel room
We walked without talking at all
She was a beauty but when she came to me
She must have thought I’d lost my mind
I couldn’t hold her ’cause the words that he told her
Kept coming back time after time

“You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille
With four hungry children and a crop in the field
I’ve had some bad times, lived through some sad times
But this time your hurting won’t heal
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille

You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille
With four hungry children and a crop in the field
I’ve had some bad times, lived through some sad times
But this time your hurting won’t heal
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille”

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Richard Penniman / Albert Collins
Lucille lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Songtrust Ave

♫ Hotel California ♫

Posted on by under music, Social commentary

Recorded by The Eagles in 1973, this was the first single from the band’s second album Desperado.

Written by Don Felder, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, this song is about materialism and excess. California is used as the setting, but it could relate to anywhere in America. Don Henley in the London Daily Mail November 9, 2007 said: “Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing. It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce.”

Hotel California
Eagles

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night.

There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
‘This could be heaven or this could be Hell’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face.
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year) you can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
‘Please bring me my wine’
He said, ‘we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty-nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say”

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face.
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise), bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said, ‘we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
‘Relax’ said the night man,
‘We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!’

Songwriters: Glenn Lewis Frey / Don Felder / Donald Hugh Henley
Hotel California lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group