♫ Jackson Browne Week Grand Finale ♫

Posted on February 11, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Social commentary

Well, folks, we have come to the end of yet another fun week, this one featuring Jackson Browne. I’ve really enjoyed this week … listening to songs I’ve never heard before, re-hearing old faves, and coming to know a bit about an artist who is not only a terrific musician but a man with a social conscience as well. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! So, as I usually do at the end of an artist week, I’m compiling all the ones I didn’t get around to playing that were either requested or suggested … no lyrics and just a small bit of trivia about each.

Here Come Those Tears Again

This song was the lead single from Jackson Browne’s fourth album, The Pretender and while he was working on the album, Browne’s wife, Phyllis Major, died by suicide. His wife’s mother, Nancy Farnsworth, is listed as Browne’s co-writer. Understandably, Browne doesn’t like talking about Major’s death and hasn’t spoken about this credit, so it’s not clear if Farnsworth made a contribution to the song. Browne may have put her name on the track so she could earn royalties, or it’s possible Major somehow inspired it so he credited her next-of-kin. Farnsworth doesn’t have any other songwriting credits and there are no co-writers on any of the other tracks on the album.

The guitar solo is by John Hall of the band Orleans – he and Browne have taken up political causes together, and in 2006, Hall was elected to Congress. This song charted at #23 in the U.S.

Take It Easy

This is one that makes you automatically think of The Eagles, as theirs was a huge hit, but what some may not know is that Jackson Browne was the one who began writing this song in 1971 but somehow just couldn’t quite finish it, so he gave up on it. The story goes that at the time, Browne lived in a basement apartment directly beneath Glenn Frey of The Eagles and one day he mentioned to Browne that he had heard him playing the song earlier and wanted to know what it was. According to Frey …

“I told him that I really liked it. ‘What was that, man? What a cool tune that is.’ He started playing it for me and said, ‘Yeah, but I don’t know – I’m stuck.’ So, he played the second unfinished verse and I said, ‘It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me.’ That was my contribution to [the song], really, just finishing the second verse.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. The Eagles had a hit with it in 1972, and Jackson Browne recorded a version for his 1973 album For Everyman. Quite honestly, I cannot say which I like best … I like ’em both!

For A Dancer

Jackson Browne tells the origins of this sad song …

“I wrote this for a friend of mine who died in a fire. He was in the sauna in a house that burned down, so he had no idea anything was going on. It was very sad. He was a really interesting guy. Besides being a great dancer, he was an ice skater – he had a job in the Ice Follies. And he was a great tailor – he would make his friends clothes. He was a Renaissance man. When I wrote him the song – it’s a song I’ve sung many times, other times when people have died – but I was making a metaphor out of the dance. Just the idea that your life is a dance. And there’s a line in it, ‘In the end, there is one dance you do alone.’ That’s one of the songs I’ve sung all through the years, and for me, it’s like going to that place, and dealing with the fact that life will end. It’s a sad song, but at the same time, it feels good to sort through that reality and touch base with it, and then go on.”

Somebody’s Baby

This was Browne’s last top ten hit (so far, anyway) and his highest charting song to date, charting at #7 in the U.S. and #16 in Canada. This was part of a memorable scene in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where it was used to express the feelings of a frustrated teenager. The movie was a huge hit and helped drive the chart success of the song. Browne called the song an “unabashed pop song” and did not include it on his album, Lawyers In Love in 1983 because he didn’t think it was an “important” song – just a meaningless pop tune.” Later, his therapist set him straight, telling him: “You’ve got it all wrong. This is about something important. Everybody wants to belong to somebody. Everybody wants to feel loved and this is the most fundamental thing.”

For Everyman

This understated ode to inclusion was written as a response to David Crosby: for a few months in 1972, he even lived with him on his schooner, The Mayan. Crosby had recently written the haunting Wooden Ships, a fantasia about him and his seeker pals sailing away from war, suffering and destruction to a paradisaic foreign land. But Browne felt Crosby only had it half-right: what about everybody else? In his response song, Browne doesn’t patronize or claim to have all the answer: “I’m not trying to tell you that I’ve seen the plan/ Turn and walk away if you think I am.” Because it’s empathetic rather than self-preserving, Browne’s song restores the chunk that was missing from Wooden Ships; perhaps recognizing this, Crosby stepped up and sang backing vocals on For Everyman.

And that, my friends, wraps up Jackson Browne Week! I really hope you all found something to love here and that you enjoyed the week! I know I certainly did! Thanks for all your help with suggestions, etc., and if you want still more Jackson Browne, be sure to visit Clive’s post where you’ll find some that I missed!

♫ Bob Seger Week Grand Finale ♫

Posted on January 14, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Well, friends, this is the final day of Bob Seger Week … I’ve had fun with it, and I hope you have too! As usually happens when I do a weeklong focus on a single artist or band, I have several left over that I wanted to play, so I’m compiling them all into this final post … for the sake of brevity, I won’t be posting lyrics, and only a short snippet of background info on each song.

Like A Rock

Bob Seger always seemed more like a regular guy than a Rock Star, and this moving song about pride and consistency struck a chord with working class Americans who could relate to him. Seger grew up in Michigan, paid his dues with constant touring, and stayed true to his roots.

Seger was 40 years old when this song was released, and there was a wisdom to his words that appealed to his audience. In a 1986 interview with Creem magazine, he said: “It’s a matter of growing up. From the time I was 20 until I was 30, I didn’t sell a whole lot of records, but I was doing a lot of rock ‘n’ roll. That’s the way I felt at the time. Maybe during the period when I was 30 to 40, I was getting more mature, writing about older themes. I’m sure ‘Like A Rock’ doesn’t mean much to someone who’s 20, but I gotta write what I know about.”

Little Drummer Boy

As I keep telling my family, Christmas is OVER! But … Clive suggested this one anyway, and I must admit it is a great version of the song, and by next December I will have forgotten, so I’m including it in this roundup anyway! 🎄

Bob Seger’s version of The Little Drummer Boy gained widespread popularity when it was included on the 1987 album A Very Special Christmas. The album featured various artists performing holiday classics, and Seger’s heartfelt rendition struck a chord with listeners.

Throughout the song, Seger’s soulful delivery and the haunting melody convey a deep sense of longing and humility. The drummer boy, a humble character from a humble background, represents the importance of pouring one’s heart and soul into whatever gifts we have to offer. This message resonates with listeners across generations, reminding us that even the smallest acts of kindness and love can have a profound impact.

Roll Me Away

According to Seger the song was inspired by a motorcycle trip he took to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Says Seger …

“I wanted to do that for a long time. It was fascinating being out. The first night it was 42 degrees in northern Minnesota; the second it was 106 in South Dakota and all I had on was my shorts, and my feet were up on the handlebars to keep them from boiling on the engine. It was just silence and feeling nature.”

Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh described it as an “anthemic” song and considers it Seger’s best single. Marsh interprets the song as being about “leaving a shattered home for a life that has to be better, though it never quite is.” Marsh elaborates that the narrator of the song has lost his love and so goes off on a cold and lonely journey while he “lets his frustrations and confusion congeal into one sad cry that dissolves his fate into what has happened to the whole crazy mess of a world in which he lives. He sings that he plans to straighten things out for as long as he is searching but at the end he admits that only next time will they be able to get it right.”

Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger’s all-time best song, noting some influence from Bruce Springsteen.

Shame on the Moon

This is one of the few that Bob Seger did not write himself. It was written by Rodney Crowell, who recorded it on his 1981 self-titled album. Some Eagles are part of this story. Don Henley is the one who turned Seger on to Crowell. When Seger bought Crowell’s album, he loved Shame On The Moon and played it for his band. His producer, Jimmy Iovine, wasn’t sold, but when Seger recorded harmony vocals with his good friend Glenn Frey, he knew they had something special. Seger co-wrote the Eagles song Heartache Tonight with Frey a few years earlier.

In Your Time

I can find absolutely no background information or trivia about this one at all, so just sit back and enjoy the music.

And as they say in the movies …

♫ Against The Wind ♫

Posted on January 4, 2024 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I was looking for some ‘new’ old music to post tonight, something I haven’t already played here before, but nothing I listened to quite filled the bill. It got late … 3:15 a.m. right now … and I got tired, but this one kept coming back into my head for some reason, so … why not? It’s a good tune, I like it, and I haven’t played it for more than two years!

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 charted at #5 in the U.S., #6 in Canada, and never quite found its way onto the UK charts.

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.

♫ The Last Resort ♫

Posted on December 14, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, History, music, music history

Yesterday, I did the Eagles’ Hotel California, and Clive commented that this song would be a good follow-up to that one. I had heard this before, but wasn’t very familiar with it and frankly might not have noticed the song musically, but for its message.

The Last Resort was written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey about the damage humans have done and continue to do to Planet Earth.

In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Henley said:

“‘The Last Resort’, on Hotel California, is still one of my favorite songs. That’s because I care more about the environment than about writing songs about drugs or love affairs or excesses of any kind. The gist of the song was that when we find something good, we destroy it by our presence — by the very fact that man is the only animal on earth that is capable of destroying his environment. The environment is the reason I got into politics: to try to do something about what I saw as the complete destruction of most of the resources that we have left. We have mortgaged our future for gain and greed.”

On an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Hotel California), Frey stated:

“I have to give all the credit for ‘The Last Resort’ to (Don) Henley. It was the first time that Don, on his own, took it upon himself to write an epic story. We were very much at that time, concerned about the environment and doing anti-nuclear benefit (concerts). It seemed the perfect way to wrap up all of the different topics we had explored on the Hotel California album. Don found himself as a lyricist with that song, kind of outdid himself…We’re constantly screwing up paradise and that was the point of the song and that at some point there is going to be no more new frontiers. I mean we’re putting junk, er, garbage into space now. There’s enough crap floating around the planet that we can’t even use so it just seems to be our way. It’s unfortunate but that is sort of what happens.”

Frey referred to the song as “Henley’s Opus.”

It was originally released on the Eagles’ album Hotel California on December 8, 1976. It was subsequently released as the B-side of Life in the Fast Lane single on May 3, 1977. As best I can tell, it did not chart anywhere, possibly due to its somewhat nihilistic theme or perhaps because as a single, it was only released as a B-side.

The Last Resort

Eagles

She came from Providence
One in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
Heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
Like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea

She heard about a place
People were smilin’
They spoke about the red man’s way
And how they loved the land

And they came from everywhere
To the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
Or a place to hide

Down in the crowded bars
Out for a good time
Can’t wait to tell you all
What it’s like up there

And they called it paradise
I don’t know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
While the town got high

Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
Through the canyons of the coast
To the Malibu

Where the pretty people play
Hungry for power
To light their neon way
Give them things to do

Some rich men came and raped the land
Nobody caught ’em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes
And Jesus people bought ’em

And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun
Sinking in the sea

You can leave it all behind
Sail to Lahaina
Just like the missionaries did
So many years ago

They even brought a neon sign
“Jesus is coming”
Brought the white man’s burden down
Brought the white man’s reign

Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
‘Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here

We satisfy our endless needs
And justify our bloody deeds
In the name of destiny
And in the name of God

And you can see them there
On Sunday morning
Stand up and sing about
What it’s like up there

They call it paradise
I don’t know why
You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Glenn Lewis Frey / Donald Hugh Henley

The Last Resort lyrics © Cass County Music, Red Cloud Music

♫ Hotel California ♫

Posted on December 13, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Social commentary

I last played this back in 2019, before many of you had discovered Filosofa’s Word. I didn’t post much trivia, and what I did post wasn’t accurate, so I’m re-doing the background for the song just a bit. So far this week, I’m 0 for 2, so I’m hoping this one will go over better than the last two days!

This song is the title track from the Eagles’ Hotel California album, released as a single in February 1977. Written by Don Felder, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, this is perhaps the “best known recording” by the Eagles (at least so says Wikipedia!) The song was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978.

According to SongFacts, the 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.

On November 25, 2007 Henley appeared on the TV news show 60 Minutes, where he was told, “everyone wants to know what this song means.” Henley replied: “I know, it’s so boring. It’s a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream, and about excess in America which was something we knew about.”

He offered yet another interpretation in the 2013 History of the Eagles documentary: “It’s a song about a journey from innocence to experience.”

When the Eagles won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year, they didn’t show up to accept it because Don Henley didn’t believe in contests.

There’s much more background over at SongFacts, if you’re interested! This song charted well around the globe, reaching #1 in both Canada and the U.S., and #8 in the UK.

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

♫ Lyin’ Eyes ♫ (Redux)

Posted on October 5, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

The Eagles always seem to go over big, and last time I played this one was around September 2020, so it should be somewhat fresh!

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.

This one hit #2 in the U.S., #4 in Canada, and #23 in the UK. 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

♫ Desperado ♫ (Redux)

Posted on September 18, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Okay, I just played this one earlier this year … March, I believe … and typically I try not to redux one that I’ve played within the last two years. But I’m making an exception, for this seems to be the favourite of most of us, myself included, and I thought it was the perfect way to wrap up Eagles Week! I hope you guys have enjoyed the week-long run of Eagles tunes as much as I have! Be thinking about what group or artist you’d like to have for our next week-long series! I’m always open to suggestion, though I make no promises. Anyway … here’s Desperado to end the 8-day Eagles Week!

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

♫ The Last Resort ♫

Posted on September 17, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, History, music, Social commentary

Welcome back to Eagles Week! Most weeks are only seven days long, but Eagles Week, as it turns out, is a bit longer, so it doesn’t end here, today, for there are still one or two more I want to play! And here on Filosofa’s Word, anything goes, even an eight-day week! Thanks for today’s song go to our friend Clive, without whom I never would have even known about this song!

Today’s Eagles’ song is one that didn’t make the charts and isn’t well-known, but in a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Don Henley said …

“‘The Last Resort’, on Hotel California, is still one of my favorite songs… That’s because I care more about the environment than about writing songs about drugs or love affairs or excesses of any kind. The gist of the song was that when we find something good, we destroy it by our presence — by the very fact that man is the only animal on earth that is capable of destroying his environment. The environment is the reason I got into politics: to try to do something about what I saw as the complete destruction of most of the resources that we have left. We have mortgaged our future for gain and greed.”

And Glenn Frey, who co-wrote the song with Henley, said …

“I have to give all the credit for ‘The Last Resort’ to (Don) Henley. It was the first time that Don, on his own, took it upon himself to write an epic story. We were very much at that time, concerned about the environment and doing anti-nuclear benefit (concerts). It seemed the perfect way to wrap up all of the different topics we had explored on the Hotel California album. Don found himself as a lyricist with that song, kind of outdid himself…We’re constantly screwing up paradise and that was the point of the song and that at some point there is going to be no more new frontiers. I mean we’re putting junk, er, garbage into space now. There’s enough crap floating around the planet that we can’t even use so it just seems to be our way. It’s unfortunate but that is sort of what happens.”

Although the song did not make the charts, in 2016 the editors of Rolling Stone rated The Last Resort as the Eagles #27 greatest song. Ultimate Classic Rock critic Sterling Whitaker rated it as the Eagles most underrated song, calling it “an epic track that presented the entire world as a resort being destroyed by the greedy, self-serving and short-sighted machinations of the human race” with “an alluring pop arrangement.”

Take a listen, see what you think. Have you heard this one before?