He left the group a couple of years later, after getting into a backstage fight with Frey. Meisner’s stage fright was something that caused friction within the band. Though one of the best Eagles songs, he would sometimes ask for it to be removed from the setlist for live shows, saying he did not “want to be in the spotlight”. The song was a favourite of Dolly Parton, who performed a version on her 1976 television show, Dolly!, saying, “Here’s a song that I wish I had written.”īassist Meisner, who sang lead on the massive 1975 hit Take It To The Limit, was from rural Nebraska and said it was unusual for him to sing lead vocals as he was “shy and nervous about putting myself on the line”. It literally took a long time to get that word-perfect – maybe to an extreme.” The work paid off, as Lyin’ Eyes remains one of the best songs by the Eagles– a six-minute story song that became their first crossover hit, reaching No.8 on the country charts, helped by Meisner’s acoustic guitar playing and the mandolin of Felder. “It would either be a little early, or a little late, or the ‘t’ would be too sharp.
“Glenn, I think, took three days in the studio on the word ‘city’ at the beginning of Lyin’ Eyes,” the guitarist Felder recalled. They came up with the title as they were drinking in Dan Tana’s, when Frey commented about one such woman, “Look at her, she can’t even hide those lyin’ eyes!” The production of the song revealed Frey’s obsessive perfectionism. Lyin’ Eyes was written by Henley and Frey after they had been out one night in Los Angeles and began talking about the beautiful women who were cheating on their overweight, wealthy husbands. Our version was very much like the original.” WNOE is where I first heard Charles Brown’s original 1960 version of Please Come Home for Christmas. “It broadcast this wonderful, eclectic mix of music.
“I used to listen to the legendary New Orleans radio station WNOE,” Henley said in 2003. The track was their first to feature Schmidt on bass guitar, after he replaced founding member Meisner. However, they usually made a success of those they took on, including Tom Waits’ gorgeous Ol’ 55, and Love Will Keep Us Alive – written by Jim Capaldi and Paul Carrack – which was a staple of the group’s 1994 Hell Freezes Over reunion tour.Įagles also had a festive UK hit with their version of Please Come Home for Christmas, which spent five weeks in the UK charts in late 1978. The song, which was produced by Bill Szymczyk, was a UK hit and the opening track on an Asylum album that held the No.1 slot for eight weeks in the US, going platinum seven times.ġ9: Please Come Home For Christmas (1978)įrey, Henley, Felder and Schmidt were all talented songwriters who contributed to the Eagles’ best songs, so it was unusual for the group to record cover versions.
Henley said the lyrics were also a defiant riposte to claims that the band were “passé” by the late 70s. The pair co-wrote the title track to their 1979 album, The Long Run, and the steady soulful groove, aided by Felder’s slide guitar and Hammond’s organ playing, reflected the pair’s love of soul music and the Stax sound.
“The bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved,” Henley wrote after Frey’s death. Over five decades, Eagles sold more than 150 million records worldwide, winning six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, and their Greatest Hits compilation was the biggest-selling album of all time.īest Eagles Songs: 20 Tracks That Define California Country-Rock 20: The Long Run (1979) In January 2016, a year after Frey’s death, Eagles re-formed, with founder member and drummer Henley joined by Walsh, Schmit, Vince Gill and Deacon Frey. Various new additions to the band came over some turbulent years, including guitarists Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit. Frey said they chose the name Eagles, because it was “the creature that flew closest to the sun”. The original band, formed in 1971, comprised of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Eagles, one of the most successful bands of all time, will be forever associated with a Southern California country-rock sound that captivated the world and turned the best Eagles songs, such as Desperado and California Hotel, into global hits.
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