RANKED! 10 OF THE BEST EAGLES SONGS – SELECTED BY A CASUAL FAN

We set out to become a band for our time. But sometimes if you do a good enough job, you become a band for all time.
Glenn Frey

Without Linda Ronstadt, we would not have experienced the Eagles. Ronstadt recruited the founding members of the group to form her band, at times touring and also recording on her third solo album, the self-titled “Linda Ronstadt” release. With Linda’s approval, the band struck out on their own to form the Eagles and record under David Geffen’s new Asylum record label. Their debut album spawned two top-twenty hits (“Take It Easy” and “Witchy Woman”).

Known well for both their extensive catalog of music (“Their Greatest Hits – 1971 to 1975” is today still among the best-selling albums of all time) as well as their tumultuous relationship as a band (reunion album “Hell Freezes Over” was referencing Don Henley’s insistence that the band would reunite when “hell freezes over”.)

With over 200 million records sold worldwide (100 million in the US alone), the Eagles are among the best-selling musical artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, won 6 Grammy awards, and numerous other industry awards along the way.

So, it was extremely hard to choose only ten songs from the music of the Eagles. Do I choose “The Long Run” or “I Can’t Tell You Why”? Do I choose more recent tracks like “Get Over It” or stick to the 70’s classics? In the end, I chose the songs I enjoy most on a road trip or doing yardwork (or atmospheric background music for a garage sale). With that being said, here are “Our Ten” favorite songs from the Eagles.

NOTE: CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A VIDEO PERFORMANCE OF EACH SONG

10. LIFE IN THE FAST LANE (1977)

Kicking off our list is a song whose title Glenn Frey said was inspired by a drug dealer during a ride on the LA Freeway, coupled with a memorable guitar riff played in rehearsal by Joe Walsh. With lyrics then added by Frey and Don Henley, the band took this third single from 1976’s “Hotel California” to #11 on Billboard’s Hot 100. In 2016, Rolling Stone listed this single as the Eagles’ eighth greatest song. 7/10

Peak Position in the: US – #11

9. NEW KID IN TOWN (1976)

Although at the time of recording the album “Hotel California”, the Eagles were one of, if not the most popular bands on the planet, “New Kid in Town” was written about metaphorically being replaced by someone better. Ironically, tensions within the band itself would be the catalyst of the beginning of the end of their chart dominance. This first single from “Hotel California” hit number one in the U.S., winning the Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. 7/10

Peak Position in the: US – #1 UK – #20

8. TAKE IT EASY (1972)

This debut single from the Eagles has become one of their signature songs, kicked off their eponymous debut album, and later was selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Co-written with Jackson Browne (Glenn Frey lived in the same apartment complex at the time), Frey finished the song that Browne was having trouble working out. Jackson Browne recorded and released the song on his 1973 release “For Everyman”. 7/10

Peak Position in the: US – #12

7. TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT (1975)

Lifted from “One of These Nights”, this third single clicked with audiences and Randy Meisner’s lead vocals became popular with concert goers. Meisner’s hesitancy to perform it live due to those crucial high notes would lead to his departure from the band. In the documentary “History of the Eagles”, Meisner said this of this classic tune: “The line ‘take it to the limit’ was to keep trying before you reach a point in your life where you feel you’ve done everything and seen everything, sort of feeling, you know, part of getting old. And just to take it to the limit one more time, like every day just keep, you know, punching away at it … That was the line, and from there the song took a different course.”^[7/10

Peak Position in the: US – #4 UK #12

6. LYIN’ EYES (1975)

This Grammy winner (Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus) was also a contender for Record of the Year, ultimately losing the latter award to Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” at the 1976 awards ceremony. The idea for the song came from a trip to LA Bar/Restaurant Dan Tana’s, where Frey and Henley witnessed a number of beautiful women cheating on their husbands with other men. Frey commenting “she can’t even hide her lyin’ eyes” when he saw a young woman cozying up to a heavyset older man. Another classic was born. 7/10

Peak Position in the US – #2 UK – #23

5. THE LONG RUN (1979)

The irony was thick on this second single from the group’s 1979 album of the same name. With disco becoming prominent and punk rock rising in popularity, the sound of the Eagles seemed old and tired at the time. Lyrics like “who is gonna make it, we’ll find out in the long run” suggested writers Henley & Frey were timeless, although the recording sessions was strained, and this was the album that broke the group up more or less until the live “Hell Freezes Over” album came into being in 1994 (with four new tracks). 8/10

Peak Position in the: US – #8 UK – #66

4. BEST OF MY LOVE (1974)

Inspired by Don Henley’s breakup with then girlfriend Suzannah Martin, this soft ballad became the Eagles first of five number one singles. Recorded in London, this third release from “On The Border” was covered by Brooks & Dunn on the Eagles tribute album “Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles” in 1993. 8/10

Peak Position in the: US – #1

3. DESPERADO (1973)

This soft rock ballad was the first of many writing collaborations between Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Backed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Henley was a bit intimidated but worked his vocals to the finish product in only 4 or 5 takes. Rolling Stone readers ranked this as their second favorite Eagles song overall, but it ironically wasn’t the “hit” non-single it is today until Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover in 1973. 8/10

Peak Position in the: US (unreleased)

2. HEARTACHE TONIGHT (1979)

This final chart-topping single from “The Long Run” was co-written with Bob Seger, who said of the hit:

“Heartache” Tonight started with me and Glenn at his house. I was playing bass and he was playing guitar. He had this little thing: “Somebody’s gonna hurt somebody.” He wanted to write a shuffle. So we’re playing that groove, and Glenn’s singing the verses, and suddenly, out of the blue, the chorus came into my head. “There’s gonna be a heartache tonight, heartache tonight, I know.” I started singing that and Glenn goes: “Yeah!”. I took what he was singing about and jumped right into the chorus. Then Glenn called [Joe] Walsh. Now it’s like one o’clock in the morning. Walsh gets up and comes down and starts playing guitar on it and comes up with the bridge. Then J.D. Souther came in right after Walsh that same night. He’d help Glenn with lyrics. The next day Henley chimes in and goes: “Oh yeah,” and he starts writing a lot of the lyrics. So that’s how that song happened.” (Wikipedia)

“Heartache Tonight” won a Grammy in 1979 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. 9/10

Peak Position in the: US: #1 UK – #40

1. HOTEL CALIFORNIA (1977)

With the working title “Mexican Reggae”, this critically acclaimed title track from the Eagles 1976 blockbuster won Record of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards and also topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 1 week in May. The song’s two-and-a-half-minute guitar solo courtesy of Joe Walsh & Don Felder was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine in 1998 and was ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine‘s Top 100 Guitar Solos (Wikipedia).

What’s the message of the song?

“Lyrically, the song deals with traditional or classical themes of conflict: darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age, the spiritual versus the secular. I guess you could say it’s a song about loss of innocence.”
Don Henley

9.5/10

Peak Position in the: US – #1 UK – #8

Because this is a “casual” listener list, it consists of mostly hits by the artist. There are so many classic songs by the Eagles that it truly is hard to narrow them down to ten (similar to my experience with Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac and ABBA). What are some of the other songs we “should” have included? What album tracks should have been singles? Here’s our secondary list: