Tag Archives: Glenn Frey

♫ 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

♫ Take It Easy ♫

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

A day or two ago, I played a song from 1972 … I had sort of played that game of “close your eyes, spin the wheel, and wherever your finger is pointing when the wheel stops …” and came up with First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack.  Most of you liked it just fine, but our friend Clive wasn’t all that thrilled with it.  So, I asked him what HE was listening to in 1972, and he mentioned the Eagles first album, so I took yet another stroll down memory lane and … oh yeah, there were some good ones on that album!  Tonight’s song is the first on the album and maybe the best, though I like several of the others as well.  Turns out, this is one of the few songs I don’t seem to have played on my music posts yet, so …

Here’s what SongFacts has to say about this one …

Jackson Browne started writing “Take It Easy” for his first album, but he didn’t know how to finish it. At the time, he was living in an apartment in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, and his upstairs neighbor was Glenn Frey, who needed songs for his new band – the Eagles.

Frey heard Browne working on the song (he says that he learned a lot about songwriting by listening to his downstairs neighbor work), and told Jackson he thought it was great. Browne said he was having trouble completing the track, and played what he had of it. When he got to the second verse, Frey came up with a key lyric: “It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.”

Browne turned the song over to Frey, who finished writing it and recorded it with the Eagles, who used it as the first song on their first album, and also their first single. Frey says Browne did most of the work on the song and was very generous in sharing the writing credit. He described the unfinished version of the song as a “package without the ribbon.”

Glenn Frey’s changes to this song included stretching out the “E” in “Easy.” He considered the song one of the most important Eagles tracks, and a great introduction to the group on their first album. In an interview with Bob Costas, he said the song represented “America’s first image of our band with the vistas of the Southwest and the beginnings of what became country-rock.”
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Thanks to the line, “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,” music lovers have made this Southwest town a popular stop on their road trips. Winslow is on Route 40 in northern Arizona, making it a great place to stop if you’re traveling from California to New Mexico.

While it might not be the actual corner where Jackson Browne was standing, the city designated the corner of West 2nd Street and North Kinsley Avenue in downtown Winslow as “Standin’ On The Corner Park.” Officially opened in 1999, the park has become a popular tourist destination and hosts a festival every year. A mural with the name of the town, and with a statue of a guy standing on the corner have filled many Flickr feeds. When the mural was damaged by fire in 2004, the Eagles donated a signed guitar that was raffled off to help repair it.

According to Glenn Frey, the message of this song is, “You shouldn’t get too big too fast.”
Jackson Browne released his own version of “Take It Easy” on his second album, For Everyman, in 1973. He and the Eagles each issued their debut albums in 1972; Browne was the first to have a hit, charting with “Doctor My Eyes” a few months before the Eagles landed with “Take It Easy.”
.

Take It Easy

Eagles

Well I’m a-runnin’ down the road try’n to loosen my load
I’ve got seven women on my mind
Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
One says she’s a friend of mine

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy

Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again
So open up I’m climbin’ in, so take it easy

Well, I’m a runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load
Got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin’ for a lover who won’t blow my cover, she’s so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me

Oh, we got it easy
We oughta take it easy

♫ 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.

♫ Peaceful Easy Feeling ♫

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Last night of Eagles Week!  I hope you’ve all enjoyed it … I know I have.  Tonight’s song has a bit of an interesting origin …

A San Diego singer-songwriter named Jack Tempchin wrote this song sometime around 1969. One night after a club gig in nearby El Centro, he waited around trying to hook up with a waitress, but she left and never came back. With no ride home, he crashed on the floor of the club, but couldn’t sleep. To kill the time, he grabbed his guitar and started composing this song, writing lyrics on the back of one of his flyers.

He finished the song in stages, and made his way to Los Angeles, where he hung out at the Troubadour along with Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and various other up-and-comers in the West Coast music scene. He was staying with Browne one day when Frey came over and heard Tempchin playing the song. Tempchin made a cassette recording for Frey, who came back the next day with a demo he had worked up with his band that had been backing Linda Ronstadt – the band that would soon become the Eagles.

Peaceful Easy Feeling was included on the Eagles debut album and released as the third single. Tempchin went on to write Already Gone for the Eagles and helped Frey write his solo hit You Belong To The City.  The flyer Tempchin used to start writing the lyrics is now in the Grammy Museum.

This song, like all of those on the Eagles first two albums, was recorded in London, which was a way to minimize distractions for the band.  According to Don Henley …

“They packed us off to England and stuck us in this little apartment, picked us up, took us to the studio, and then we’d go back to this little apartment and drink ourselves to sleep. Then we’d get up the next day and do it all again.”

Jack Tempchin finished writing this song while waiting for his order (a Polish dog) at the Der Wienerschnitzel restaurant in San Diego. On December 1, 2012, the mayor of San Diego declared it “Peaceful Easy Feeling Day” in the city to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the song’s release. The ceremony was held at the restaurant, which marked the table where Tempchin wrote it with a plaque. Tempchin was also given a golden wiener, of which he is quite proud: “Lots of people have Grammys, but they don’t have a solid gold wiener.”

Peaceful Easy Feeling
Eagles

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
Against your skin so brown
And I want to sleep with you in the desert night
With a billion stars all around

‘Cause I got a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
On the ground

And I found out a long time ago
What a woman can do to your soul
Aw but she can’t take you any way
You don’t already know how to go

And I got a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
On the ground

I get this feelin’ I may know you
As a lover and a friend
This voice keeps whisperin’ in my other ear
Tells me I may never see you again

‘Cause I get a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
I’m already standin’
Yes, I’m already standin’
On the ground

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Jack Tempchin
Peaceful Easy Feeling lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, 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