A Musical Farewell To The Eagles!
Following the tragedy of Glenn Frey’s death, Don Henley has announced that The Eagles are no more.
I saw the band in 2013 as they performed their great “History Of The Eagles” tour, but with Frey’s untimely death, the band is no more. During a recent interview in London, Don Henley said goodbye to the Eagles.
Henley called the band’s mid-February Grammy appearance “the final farewell.”
“I don’t think you’ll see us performing again,” he added. “I think that was probably it. I think it was an appropriate farewell.”
The Grammy’s Farewell To Glenn Frey!
The Eagles performed their first big hit, “Take It Easy”, on the 2016 Grammy Awards show in honor of Frey, with the song’s writer, Jackson Browne, taking the lead. Original Eagle Bernie Leadon performed as well.
Surprisingly, there isn’t an official Grammy release of this performance, all I could find is one recorded off the screen by a fan:
The Eagles Farewell – “Long Road Out Of Eden!”
Henley’s announcement means that “Long Road Out of Eden” will be the seventh and final studio album by The Eagles, released in 2007..
“Long Road Out of Eden” was the first new studio album from the Eagles since 1979’s “The Long Run”.
The only other Eagles songs released between that time were the four original tracks on 1994’s live “Hell Freezes Over” album…the title of course a play on what Frey said would happen before the band ever performed together again!
As you can see from the track listing, the first four songs were new, then the rest were live performances…the band also released two other songs – “Hole in the World” in 2003 and “One Day At A Time” in 2005.
In 2007, Eagles fans were excited to have a double album of new material, which produced two singles on the Hot Country Songs charts as well as five straight hits on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. Let’s look at the highlights of “Long Road Out Of Eden!”
“No More Walks in the Wood” is the first song, a beautiful ode to nature, with perfect Eagles harmonies…then, it’s right into the album’s first hit single, the raucous “How Long”:
“How Long,” was written by the band’s good friend J.D. Souther – who had previously worked with the Eagles co-writing some of their biggest hits including “Best of My Love,” “Victim of Love,” “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid in Town”. The band performed the song as part of their live sets in the early to mid-1970s, but did not put it on an Eagles album because J.D. Souther wanted it on his first solo album!
Busy Being Fabulous:
The ballad “What Do I Do with My Heart” is next, then Joe Walsh shows up with “Guilty of the Crime”, followed by “I Don’t Want to Hear Any More”…
The Gorgeous “Waiting In The Weeds!”
The next song is one of Don Henley’s best. No music video was made for this song, so a fan did a beautiful job of taking Eagles imagery and putting it to this gorgeous song…which the band wisely let play out over seven minutes….
“No More Cloudy Days” and “Fast Company” are next, then a beautiful and political call to action followed – “Do Something”!
Don Henley told Billboard magazine in 2007 that “‘Do Something’ is an interesting song because it starts out like a love song, a boy/girl song, but then it takes on larger implications. And that line (“How did we get on this road we are traveling?”) could pertain to a relationship between a man and a woman or it could be a statement about the country as a whole.”
Glenn Frey ends side one with his song “You Are Not Alone”…
Side two begins with the band’s scathing indictment of our country’s role in the Middle East with the album’s title track: “Long Road Out of Eden”…
Here are some of the lyrics to this ten minute song:
Back home i was so certain
The path was very clear
But now i have to wonder: “what are we doing here?”
I’m not counting on tomorrow
And i can’t tell wrong from right
But i’d give anything to be there in your arms tonight
Weaving down the american highway
Through the litter and the wreckage and the cultural junk
Bloated with entitlement, loaded on propaganda
And now we’re driving dazed and drunk
Been down the road to damascus,
The road to mandalay
Met the ghost of caesar on the appian way
He said, “it’s hard to stop this bingeing, once you get a taste.”
“but the road to empire is a bloody stupid waste.”
Behold the bitten apple – the power of the tools
But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools
And it’s a long road out of eden….
What immediately followed is “I Dreamed There Was No War”, written by Glenn Frey, and the instrumental won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance:
“Somebody” and “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” were next, followed by one of my favorite Joe Walsh songs, “Last Good Time in Town”…
“I Love to Watch a Woman Dance”, “Business as Usual” and “Center of the Universe” follow before the album ends with the prescient “It’s Your World Now” …
At the time of the album’s release, there was a bit of controversy since the band made an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart to sell it…but the double album was only $10, which was an amazing value for fans!
The album debuted at #1 in the U.S. and won the band two Grammy awards for “How Long” and the instrumental “I Dreamed There Was No War”. The album became the band’s sixth #1 album and was the highest selling album of the year!
February 1974 — The members of The Eagles stand against a wall. The Eagles were the most popular band of the seventies and their reunion tour in the nineties was also very successful. — Image by © Henry Diltz/CORBIS
It was a “long road” indeed for the band, who began in the 70’s and were still going strong…here is a look at how the band got started:
The Birth Of The Eagles! Linda Ronstadt’s Back-Up Band Had A “Peaceful Easy Feeling!”
The band created so much great music – this was one of my favorites:
“On The Border” introduced Don Felder to fans, and had the band’s first #1 song, “Best Of My Love.” See more here:
For lucky fans, the “History Of The Eagles” concert tour was the last chance to see them together live:
You can see my review of the concert here – including clips from the show:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/09/21/history-of-the-eagles-amazing-concert-old-friends-return/
Let me know what your favorite song was on “Long Road Out Of Eden!”
