I wonder if you’ve ever realised that the biggest selling album of all time – Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” does not include the biggest song the Eagles ever recorded (yes, that one – it came out only in 1977). That tells you just how good the Eagles were right from the start – even their early work is so good, it is still setting records forty-five years later. This compilation album – which recently surpassed Michael Jackson’s Thriller as the largest selling album of all time – is truly outstanding, and I’ve owned a copy, in one format or another, for over thirty years now. I bet you’ve also owned it or at least have heard of it or from it. In case you’ve ever wondered about the album cover, that image is the a painted cast of an eagle skull 🦅 ( a real eagle’s skull not one of the Eagles’ skulls 😁)

“Lyin’ Eyes” is one of the standout songs on this album. The story of how it was written is a wonderful example of what brilliant songwriters Frey/Henley were – One night, the band were out drinking at Dan Tana’s, their favourite bar in LA. They see this gorgeous woman walking in with an fat, older, rich guy and Frey remarks, off the cuff, “Look at her, she can’t even hide those lyin’ eyes”. The band members look at each other – the light bulb goes off immediately and they start grabbing napkins to write lyrics to a song to go with that thought. Henley and Frey hurry back to their shared house and in two days – just two days – they have the lyrics and the music ready to record. Bernie Leadon brings out his trusty mandolin, Don Henley flexes his vocal chords…..and a legendary, Grammy winning song is born. Back in Delhi in the late 70s, it was on the radio a lot – and I really mean, a lot – and right from my first listen, it’s been in my top 5 Eagles’ songs. For me, the most wonderful thing about Eagles has always been their fantastic storytelling – even more so than the incredible music and their fantastic singing. And their lyrics aren’t just pretty phrases. They can make you stop, stand back and think. Really, really think. On that basis then, this tale of woman cynically choosing a loveless marriage, just draws me in. My favourite line from “Lyin’ Eyes” is one that stands on it’s own, outside the song’s vivid story of infidelity.  “I guess every form of refuge has its price”. That’s seriously deep man …..and so true🤔

The real star of that album, though, is the gorgeous ballad “Best Of My Love” – it is one of my favourite Eagles songs. One afternoon, Frey was trying to replicate a tuning on his guitar that his then girlfriend Joni Mitchell (yes indeed, that Joni Mitchell!) had recently showed him and accidentally hit upon the tune that became “Best of My Love”. Frey, Henley and J. D. Souther, an old friend of Frey’s and an amazing songwriter, wrote the lyrics. I’m sure there’s some breakup in the background somewhere there for one or more of them – you can’t come up with these lyrics just like that. It’s a melancholic love song, cataloguing that period just before a relationship finally severs – when you’re still in love with each other but you know you’ve come as far as you’re going to go. Regret and Love, drip in equal part from every line in the song. The song shot straight up to #1 and became the Eagles’ first ever #1 hit. I don’t know why but this song has always reminded me of the 1974 movie “Avishkar” – that story of Amar & Mansi’s (Rajesh Khanna & Sharmila Tagore) night of love, fury, anger, regret and reconciliation as their relationship is falling apart right in front of their eyes. I’m sure we’ve all gone through periods in our relationships when nothing’s working and it just hurts all the time. And that’s probably why this song was a #1 hit.  

Every night
I’m lying in bed
Holdin’ you close in my dreams
Thinkin’ about all the things that we said
And comin’ apart at the seams
We try to talk it over
But the words come out too rough
I know you were tryin’
To give me the best of your love

After the 1973 “Desperado” album didn’t do very well, the band wanted to move away from their “country” sound to to a harder “rock” sound. They changed producers. And, added a new band member, Don Felder – he of the hard rocking double-neck Gibson guitar. The first song Felder played on was “Already Gone” and it became the lead single from the “On The Border” album , signposting their changing harder, less-country sound.

 “One Of These Nights” was yet another step on the journey to becoming a “Hard Rock” band. Right from the opening guitar riff (which I bet most of us can recognise even in the middle of deep sleep) that song rocks. Henley’s voice, those trademark Eagles harmonies, Randy Meisner’s kicking bassline and Don Felder’s guitar solos give the song a very different feel to previous Eagles songs, literally catapulting Don Henley’s vocals to a new high – he’s always struggled to hit those notes when singing live 😁. It became the Eagles’ second #1, and is the road marker where the band took a hard right turn on the road to Hard Rock superstardom. As always, the song has some brilliant Henley/Frey lyrics – my favourite lines are the prefect description of the perfect woman –

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

“Take It To The Limit” rounded out the Eagles’ transition from country rock to hard rock. It wasn’t a song that I recall hearing on the radio, and, I came to know it only after I bought the “Their Greatest Hits” album and listened to it over and over again. One of only three Eagles songs ever that don’t have Don Henley or Glenn Frey on lead vocals, Randy Meisner wrote the song (with Henley and Frey as co-writers) and sang lead on it. Wonderful lyrics as always, trademark Eagles harmonies and brilliant guitar work! It’s a song about someone who is unable to settle down and is always searching for love and the meaning of life. Meisner hit some incredible high notes while recording. The song became a huge hit, getting to #4 on the charts. Unfortunately, it also led to Randy Meisner leaving the band. Shy as he was, Meisner didn’t like to sing the song live with the spotlight, literally, on him. However, Frey and Henley insisted he do so, as audiences absolutely loved it and always looked forward to hearing the song. After a while Meisner just refused – got into a fight with Frey and left the band. What a sad irony – the one song you sign lead on, becomes the reason you leave one of the most successful bands of all time, that you founded. As always, the song has some wonderful lyrics and my favourite lines from the song are these (and having been away from Nidhi for eleven months recently, I’ve been thinking about these lines a lot lately!)

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?

See you soon on Part III !

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