Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXX--Eagles: Take It Easy

 Only four days late this week--getting there!

To the best of my recollection, my introduction to this week's featured tune was probably classic rock radio.  I certainly hadn't begun my musical journey when it was originally released, though if you'd asked me before I did my half-assed research for this week, I would have thought it was released a few years later than it actually was.  Funny how time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future....

I wrote about the Eagles in Vol. CCXXIX, and since then only a couple of new notes.  First, sadly, original member Randy Meisner passed away in 2023, leaving only Don Henley and Bernie Leadon as surviving original members.  Second, in September of 2023 the band announced it was beginning its final tour, entitled the Long Goodbye Tour.  It's still ongoing, so at least they got the "long" part of it correct....

"Take It Easy" was the very first single ever released by the Eagles, from their very first album, the ever so inventively entitled 1972 release Eagles.  The song would peak at #12 (with a bullet!)  on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would climb to #22 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  As has happened a time or two before here on Friday Night Jukebox, I can play this week's tune on my guitar, all by my lonesome.  And, if I do say so myself, it doesn't sound half bad (which can also mean that it doesn't sound half good, either....).

The songwriting for "Take It Easy" was begun by Jackson Browne and later finished by Glenn Frey (the Wikipedia entry cited above has a nice overview of how the song--and some of its parts, especially Winslow, Arizona--came to be).  It's been said that the two had differing views on life (Browne serious, Frey fun) and that the juxtaposition of the two makes the song what it is.  What it is, is a story of a man trying not to let the craziness of life bring him down and just learn how to, uh, take it easy.  The rather well-done lyrics are both a snapshot of life in the early seventies and a nod to the redemption that love can bring to us.  Frey's vocals are a clarion call, Leadon's guitar work is a rumble down the highway, and the band's signature harmonies were most certainly begun here.  A tremendous debut by a tremendous band--and even fifty-three years down the road, as relevant and life affirming as ever.

Lyric Sheet:  "Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona/And such a fine sight to see/It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford/Slowin' down to take a look at me..."

Enjoy:  

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXIX--Eagles: Hotel California

I had a hard time coming up with an intro for this week's tune--at first, I thought about noting that I'm 229 songs into Friday Night Jukebox and this is the first Eagles song I've featured even though I've been a fan of theirs since a year or two after I fell in love with rock and roll (and could probably find at least a dozen songs from them that would make a nice post).  I also thought about how some songs--and I was reminded of Bob Seger's "Night Moves," probably because the two songs were released within a year or so of each other--musically, instrumentally, vocally, and lyrically come as close to perfection as one could hope for in a pop song.  And I thought about mentioning that this week's tune would probably make my all-time top ten.

So I just went with all three.

As with a number of other bands featured here on FNJ, it's a bit hard to fit the Eagles storied career into a synopsis of a paragraph.  They formed in 1971 when Glenn Frey and Don Henley met and were kinda/sorta part of Linda Ronstadt's backing band, and were eventually joined by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner (Leadon and Meisner would eventually depart, Don Felder would join the band as a fifth member and Joe Walsh replaced Leadon) .  The band had a hit album right off the bat, followed it with somewhat of a dud, and then went stratospheric, with their next album cracking the top twenty, and their final four studio LPs reaching #1.  The band had a hell of a heyday from 71-80, but success and familiarity eventually bred contempt and they went through an ugly breakup.  Against all odds (Henley at one time had said the band would get back together when hell froze over), the band reunited in 1994 for arguably the most successful reunion ever and has been together ever since.  The Eagles have sold over 100 million records (all the more impressive when you realize they've only released seven albums in their history), have the number one and the number three best selling albums of all-time, had seven #1 albums and five #1 singles on the Billboard charts, have won six Grammy Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.  Sadly, original member Glenn Frey passed away in 2016 due to a number of health issues, but the band continues apace and is still touring.

Fun Fact:  In 1999, the Eagles were honored by the Recording Industry Association of America for having the best selling album (Their Greatest Hits, 1971-1975) of the century.  Really kind of makes those weekly best selling music lists pale in comparison....

"Hotel California" was released in 1977 on the oh-so-aptly titled LP, Hotel California.  The single would reach #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and win a Grammy Award for Record of the Year (Single).  The album would eventually become the third best selling album of all-time.

To be perfectly honest, I could write a recap paragraph of "Hotel California" based just on the over two minute guitar solo that closes the song (at six and a half minutes, "Hotel California" is a bit longer than your average number one single).  The guitar play between Don Felder (who wrote the music) and Joe Walsh is, in my humble opinion, the greatest guitar solo in the history of rock and roll, and fulfills what Jimi Hendrix once claimed about rock and roll:  that it was about the filling the holes in the elbows and the knees.  Throw in the foreboding lyrics (idea from Glenn Frey, actual words by Don Henley), Henley's knowing vocals, its theme of a journey from innocence to experience (Henley's take on the song), and its melody that has been described as "Mexican Reggae" and you have a glorious journey into the heart of American decadence.  In the end, it is a masterpiece of American rock and roll, and a stunning representation of the boundaries of pop music being pushed to their absolute edges.

Lyric Sheet:  "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..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee