All language subtitles for History Of The Eagles (2013) Part 1-1

There are stars

in the southern sky

Southward as you go

There is moonlight

and moss in the trees

Down the Seven
Bridges Road

- Pretty close.
- Not too bad.

It's gonna be about
2 minutes, so come on.

- Do what you got to do.
- We got to go.

I need a wrist band.

It's something that you
can't do forever, you know?

This is not a lifetime career
that we can do, you know? So...

It's not?!

All right, let's go.

Thank you and good evening. We're
the Eagles from Los Angeles.

1, 2, 3, 4.

Well, I'm running
down the road

trying to loosen
my load

I got seven women
on my mind...

People are always
saying things to me like,

You're just like
a normal person.

And I always say,
Of course!.

All right!

We might be a little more
world-wise

than some of those kids,
that's all.

We just maybe have less
innocence than they do, but

I eat, I sleep, I fall in love,
I fall out of love, I work.

I do pretty much
the same thing.

You got your demons
and you got desires

But I got
a few of my own

Oooh someone
to be kind to

in between
the dark and the light

Oooh coming right
behind you

Swear I'm gonna find you
one of these nights!

We saw a poster of us when
On the Border was made.

Everybody looked like little kids,
like, arly 20s and stuff.

And everybody didn't have
their wrinkles and baggy eyes.

Sort of like a president
when he first takes office.

And then, like 4 or 5
years later,

he just walks out,
and his hair is grey,

and his eyes are drooping,
and he's just really real burned.

Spent the last year
Rocky Mountain way

Couldn't get much higher!

The first thing that happens
is you get some kind of label,

then you've got to live up to it, and
then you just get caught in that,

and I forget
what the second thing is!

You know
I've always been a dreamer

Spend my life
running round

And it's so hard
to change

It's hard.
It's like living two lives.

I have a family, 3 kids.

And it's just hard to live in
between that line

of being out on the road and
being away for a month.

Keep on turning out
and burning out

And turning out
the same

So put me
on a highway

And show me a sign

And take it to
the limit

One more time.

Maybe we wouldn't want
to do this any more,

or maybe we can't do this
any more,

or maybe nobody will give
a shit if we do this any more.

Take it to the limit

One more time.

Thank you.

No, I insist. You first.

Hi, there.

Lock it up.

A hearty bunch out there.
He's not even here. Now lock it up.

Hey, driver, lock 'em up
for us tonight, ok?

- Out of sight. / - You just
don't know what those kids will do.

Doggone.

How about a beer?
Is that what I heard?

- You got it, brother.
- Don't hurt yourself, young America.

- Would you like one?
- Yeah, I would like one.

I'm gonna drink tonight.

I think they feel like
they're up there,

like they're on the stage.

Cos we look like them.
We dress like them.

Part of it is that,
and part of it's the records.

I think they just relate
to the songs.

I think it's 50/50,
I guess.

The thing is now
is to try to see how long

we can stay up here at
the top of the mountain.

It's very narrow and windy
up here.

We can probably continue doing what we're
doing as long as the songs keep coming.

That's the only thing
that frightens us,

is to not be able
to do that any more.

If we go to the well and nothing comes up,
we would be in trouble. So far, so good.

I think we can maintain
this for a few more years.

I don't see why not.

Other people have. The Rolling
Stones and the Who and the Led...

and Led Zeppelin. I almost said
THE Led Zeppelin! ...have done it.

Chicago's done it.

Groups last longer than
they used to, you know?

Shit don't float.

90- of the time, being in
the Eagles was a fucking blast.

I was living the dream.

He was
a hard-headed man

He was brutally
handsome...

We never in our wildest dreams figured on
being this successful and lasting this long.

She held him up...

We were a bunch of guys out
there touring the country.

We had a little private plane.
We had parties after the shows.

We had a good time. We were
starting to make some money.

They took all the right pills
They threw outrageous parties...

We had 3 guitar players finally,
so we could rock a bit.

So, it was a good time, a good
time for me, a good time for Don.

Life in the fast lane

Surely make you lose
your mind...

Everybody
was really happy...

then.

Life in the fast lane

Everything,
all the time

Life in the fast lane...

It was going really fast,
and probably too fast.

There was turmoil
within the band.

We put a lot of pressure
on ourselves.

As Glenn used to say,
We made it, and it ate us.

It's hard to be in a group.
It's a bit like being in a marriage,

if you quadruple it or
quintuple it, in our case.

They asked Don when the Eagles broke
up, What was that like for you?

And he said
it was a horrible relief.

And I think that clocks it
pretty well.

You're a real pro, Don,
all the way.

Yeah, you are, too.
The way you handle people.

Except the people you pay,
nobody gives a shit about it.

Fuck you. I've been paying you
for 7 years, you fuckhead.

So much stuff
just happened.

There's a philosopher who says,
As you live your life,

it appears to be

anarchy and chaos
and random events,

non-related events
smashing into each other

and causing
this situation.

And then... then this happens,
and it's overwhelming,

and it just looks like,
What in the world is going on?

And later, when
you look back at it,

it looks like
a finely-crafted novel.

But at the time,
it don't!

And a lot of the Eagles' story
is like that.

I'm gonna fuckin' kill you.
I can't wait. I can't wait.

We might as well start
at the beginning.

I grew up in Detroit, Michigan.
My dad worked in a factory.

My mother baked pies
at General Motors.

I started taking piano lessons
when I was 5 years old.

That alone could get you beat up
after school in suburban Detroit.

And then she said...

Just because you've
become a young man now

There's still some things
that you don't understand...

Detroit was Motown, and so
they played all the Motown hits.

Keep your freedom for
as long as you can now

My momma told me,
you'd better shop around....

And that was the kind of stuff
that we would listen to.

I stopped playing piano when
I was 12. It was too much.

I wanted to do
other things,

and I think the girl thing
was starting to happen, as well.

Then the Beatles
came along,

and my aunt took me down to see
the Beatles at the Olympia.

It was crazy.

I remember having a girl that was
standing on her seat in front of me

fall backwards into my arms,
delirious, going, Paul, Paul!.

And I thought,
Oh, my God!.

I have a very vivid memory
of seeing the Beatles

with my parents
on our old Admiral TV set.

It was like
a bolt of lightning.

It had a huge impact on me.
It was revolutionary.

And it was an impact
that would last a lifetime,

and I know that had
a huge impact on Glenn, too,

even though we didn't know
each other at the time.

Linden, Texas, is my hometown. It's a
small town in North-eastern Texas.

When I was growing up, the
population was about 2,500, 2,600.

I can settle down...

It's primarily
an agricultural area.

Some people
worked at the steel mill.

It's just a typical
small Texas town.

There's an old courthouse dating
back to before the Civil War

and one stoplight.

It's kind of like The Last
Picture Show, you know?

It was a great place
musically,

because it was kind of
a cultural crossroads.

It's really located where the old
South begins to meet the West.

Linden, Texas, was the birthplace
of Scott Joplin and T-Bone Walker.

Yes, time is hard,
baby...

Both my parents loved music, so we
had a lot of records in the house.

I was exposed to music of all
kinds from an early age.

Country and Western music, Western
swing music, gospel music, Blues...

Johnny Cash, Hank Williams,
and Patsy Cline.

More, more, more

Gonna live it up
and tear it down

Get in the groove
and paint the town

Got a lot of rhythm
in my soul...

There was a 50,000-watt
radio station in New Orleans,

and I heard things on that station
that I didn't hear anywhere else.

So, I had a lot of radio
coming in.

And when I would go to work
with my dad,

he would listen to a station in
Shreveport, Louisiana. KWKH.

Say, hey, good lookin!

What you got cookin?

How's about cooking
something up for me?

And that station broadcast a radio
show called the Louisiana Hayride,

where Elvis Presley made
his first radio broadcast in 1954.

Well, that's alright,
Mama

That's alright with you

That's alright, Mama

Just any way
you do

That's alright

That's alright...

The very first rock 'n' roll record
I bought was by Elvis Presley.

Anyway you do...

My playing the drums was
sort of an organic process.

I began by beating on my
school books with my fingers

and with pencils.

I would beat out
little cadences,

and I used to drive my classmates
crazy doing that, until, I think,

one day,
somebody said to me -

I think it was my friend
Richard Bowden - he said,

Why don't you just start
playing the drums?

I managed to cobble together
a drum kit from old drums

that I found stashed in the back
of the band hall at high school.

And then one day, my mom said,
Come on, get in the car.

And she drove me to a town
about an hour and a half away

called Sulphur Springs, Texas,
to McKay Music Company.

Much to my surprise,

she bought me a set of
red-sparkle Slingerland drums

that I still have today.

So, I have to give my parents
a lot of credit.

They bought me
that drum kit

even though they couldn't
really afford it.

The first band I was in was a band
with my high-school buddy

Richard Bowden and another
high-school friend, Jerry Surratt,

and we played Dixieland jazz music.
Nobody sang. We just played music.

I went to a high-school party,
and there were 4 kids

who were freshmen in high
school who were playing.

I was a junior, and I had a
couple beers that night and said,

Hey, do you know Satisfaction?
Cos I can sing it.

So, I became the lead singer
of the Subterraneans.

And I try and I try

And I try...

I played in the Subterraneans
for a while,

and then I played in another
band called the Mushrooms.

The most important thing
that happened to me

when I was in Detroit
was I met Bob Seger.

Yeah

I'm gonna tell my tale,
come on!

He took me under
his wing.

He invited me to recording sessions
that he was having,

so I could see
how records were made.

I was his mentor.

He was just so young, and
I liked him right away

because he was so funny.

He had a great sense of humour,
and, like me,

I could see he was really ambitious.
He really wanted to be on the radio.

He cut a song called
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.

He let me play acoustic guitar
on the basic track

and sing
background vocals.

Ramblin' man

A gamblin' man...

You can really hear Glenn blurt
out on the first chorus.

He comes out really loud.
Tremendous gusto.

Of course, that was a national hit
for us, so that was really cool.

Bob was the first guy that wrote
his own songs and recorded them

that I had ever met.

He said,
if you want to make it,

you're gonna have to write
your own songs.

And I said,
What if they're bad?.

And he said,
They're gonna be bad.

He says, You just keep
writing and keep writing,

and eventually,
you'll write a good song.

We were gonna have
a band together.

He was gonna get rid of
his other guys,

and I was gonna be
his bass player.

It didn't work out.

My mom found me smoking
pot with a friend of mine

in somebody's basement, and
she called up Seger's manager,

Punch Andrews, and said,
Just a minute, not so fast.

In the years leading up
to the Great Depression,

my dad had to quit school
after the eighth grade.

He had to go home and work in
the fields with his brother and sister

to help support
the family.

His fondest wish,
in fact, his life's goal,

was that I would go
to college.

Every Saturday night,
he would bring home 7 quarters,

and we'd put them in a piggy bank,
and when those quarters

amounted to 100, he would
take me to the bank

and we would buy a savings bond,
a United States savings bond,

and put that away
for my college education.

So, between what my dad had saved
and between what I was making

doing gigs all over Texas
and Arkansas and Louisiana

on weekends, I paid for
3 and a half years of college.

They have a world-famous music
department in which I did not excel.

I took one music course.

I think it was beginning
theory, and I flunked.

I made an F.

But I didn't really care because
I was an English major.

After the Mushrooms,
I got invited to join this band

called the Four of Us.

Started getting into some
of the California bands -

the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield,
the Beach Boys.

Always wanted to go
to California.

And I got out there,
my mind was blown.

The vegetation -
I'd never seen palm trees.

It was just like
a dream come true.

So you want to be
a rock'n'roll star?

Then listen now
to what I say

Just get
an electric guitar...

The first celebrity
I saw was David Crosby.

And when your hair's combed
right and your pants fit tight

It's gonna be
all right...

And he had on that
flat-brimmed hat that he wore

on the second Byrds album, and
he had a little leather cape on,

and I just looked and I thought,
My God, there's David Crosby.

Zoom,
and we went right by.

And in a week or two
if you make the charts

The girls'll tear
you apart...

And the first person I met
was John David Souther.

We wanted to get high
and play music.

There were two of us
with guitars.

We were listening to a lot of
that sort of interface between

rock 'n' roll and country
and western music that was

happening in Southern California
at the time with the Byrds

and Dillard & Clark and
the Burrito Brothers and Poco.

When I last saw you

I couldn't find
a reason why

I felt kind of blue...

There was a lot of great music
of that sort going around then.

Longbranch
Pennywhistle here.

I suppose you wonder what that
name meant, and John David and I -

It was a well-kept
spring back funky women.

The songs weren't
very good.

I don't think Glenn and I were
very far along as songwriters then.

Run, boy, run

You gotta move...

We were a funny little group,
but we got gigs.

We managed to play in
some of the folk clubs around LA:

the Golden Bear and
the Ash Grove.

Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah

What condition
my condition was in...

We had a chance meeting with
Kenny Rogers in Dallas, Texas, one day.

He was coming through town
with the First Edition.

They were very hot
at the time.

I tripped on a cloud and
fell-a 8 miles high...

I remember this
like it was yesterday.

This little kid came up and said,
Mr Rogers, he said,

I'm Don Henley, and I'm with
a group called Felicity,

and we're doing a show tonight, and
we'd love to have you come see us.

And I said, I'm really sorry,
but I don't do that.

I don't just go to clubs
and watch groups.

He said,
I really think you'd like us.

And I thought,
That's pretty cool, so I did.

From the minute that
I met you, baby

You were hanging
your chains on me

And I loved you so

I nearly
lost my mind...

Kenny is a Texas boy, and he was
looking for groups to produce.

So, I brought them to LA,

and they literally lived
at my house for about 4 months.

We changed their name
to Shiloh.

It was so much fun to take
them into the studio.

Well, thank you Mr Big
Time Music Business Man

for taking time
to listen to my song...

With Shiloh, we made one album,
and it had a single called

Simple Little Down Home Rock
and Roll Love Song for Rosie.

Not exactly a short title!

Just a simple
little down home

rock and roll love song
for Rosie...

We didn't know much about
the business at that point.

We were pretty naive.

Going down to the swamp
river country some day...

We kicked around in
the LA clubs for a while,

played the Whisky, played some of
the clubs down in the South Bay area,

and nothing
really happened for us.

JD and I were looking for
any place to play.

We had heard about
this guy Jackson Browne.

He'd been playing
the same clubs we had,

but we never
had seen him perform.

- This is California. Mr Jackson Browne.
- Ah, thank you, thank you.

'Then there were a bunch of gigs that
they had and some gigs that I had'

that they would show up
at my gigs

and me at their gigs, and
we became really good friends.

And we'd start talking about, Where
do you live, and what's going on?.

And Jackson said, You should
come down to Echo Park.

Rent's real cheap.

Glenn got the apartment
next to my apartment,

and this apartment cost like 125
or something a month.

And I needed to economize,
so I moved into the basement

underneath Glenn's place, which
I could get into for 35 a month.

It only had one door. It was really
just kind of an illegal place,

just a cubby-hole, and
that's where Jackson lived,

with JD and I above.
That was it.

There was a stereo, a piano, a bed,
a guitar, you know, a teapot.

We slept late in those days, except
around 9 o'clock in the morning,

I'd hear Jackson Browne's
teapot going off,

this whistle
in the distance.

And then I'd hear him
playing piano.

I didn't really know
how to write songs.

I knew I wanted to write songs,
but I didn't know exactly:

you just wait around for
inspiration, what was the deal?

I learned
through Jackson's ceiling

and my floor exactly how to write
songs 'cos Jackson would get up,

and he'd play the first verse
and first chorus,

and he'd play it 20 times until
he had it just the way he wanted.

And then
there'd be silence.

And then I'd hear
the teapot go off again.

Then it'd be quiet for
10 or 20 minutes.

Then I'd hear him
start to play again,

and there was
the second verse.

So, then he'd work on the second
verse, and he'd play it 20 times.

And then he'd go back
to the top of the song,

and he'd play the first verse,
the first chorus and the second verse

another 20 times until he was
really comfortable with it and

change a word here or there,
and I'm up there going,

So, that's how you do it.

Elbow grease, time,
thought, persistence.

Doctor, my eyes
have seen the years

And the slow
parade of fears

Without crying...

I wanted to kill him
sometimes.

Jackson would play the same phrase
from Doctor, My Eyes for 6 weeks.

The same thing with The Pretender.
I just wanted to murder him.

Doctor, my eyes...

And it was during that period
of time that I met Glenn Frey

because we were on the same
label, called Amos Records.

Some of the things
that struck me

when I first met Glenn
were things we had in common.

Both of our dads made a living
in the automotive industry.

Glenn and I loved old cars,
especially cars from the '50s.

He had a '55 Chevy
that he named Gladys.

And we drove around
Los Angeles in Gladys.

Check out the new talent.

There's no better place in town
to catch those new singers

and songwriters than down
at the Monday night Hoot Night,

Doug Weston's world-famous
Troubadour, happening tonight.

The Troubadour club was the
centre of the musical universe.

It was a very seminal place.
It was the place to see and be seen.

Every Monday night
they had an open stage.

It was called Hoot Night.

The Troubadour was the place
to go if you were young

and happening and trying to get
involved in the music scene.

It was happening there.

California

Oh, California

I'm coming home

Oh, make me feel good
rock'n'roll band

I'm your biggest fan

California,
I'm coming home.

I saw a lot of great acts
at the Troubadour.

So far away

Doesn't anybody stay
in one place any more?

It would be so fine
to see your face...

I witnessed Elton John's American
debut performance in 1970.

And it's good old country
comfort in my bones

Just the sweetest sound
my ears have ever known...

Everybody who was anybody at
the time played at the Troubadour.

Of course, Linda,

she still has one of my favourite
voices in the business, ever.

Feeling better
now we're through

Feeling better cos
I'm over you...

The Troubadour is really responsible
for the entire music scene.

Everything I got, really,
was virtually through either

performing there onstage
or in the bar, you know?

I'm telling you now, baby

and I'm going
my way...

I was just started
managing Linda then,

and Linda was going to be a star.
hat voice as big as a house.

There wasn't anybody
in the room

that cared about
anything but that voice.

I'm gonna say
it again...

One night, we're down
at the Troubadour,

and John Boylan comes to me -
he's managing Linda Ronstadt -

and he says,
I'm taking Linda on the road.

We need guys who can sing. You want
to play rhythm guitar and sing?.

I offered him 250 a week,
and he took it.

I went back to him,
I said,

Can you give me some of
that money right now?.

I think he gave me
50 bucks.

And then I found Don from
this band called Shiloh.

I heard him playing
at the Troubadour.

I'm coming down...

I was looking for a job.
Glenn introduced me to John Boylan.

I auditioned at this
little house in Laurel Canyon.

I had listened to her album
hundreds of times,

so I knew the songs
backwards and forwards,

and I guess I passed the audition,
because I got the job.

I got a feeling
called the blues Oh, Lord

Since my baby
said good-bye

And I don't know
what I'll do

All I do is sit and cry
Oh, Lord

I've grown so used
to him somehow

But I'm nobody's
sugar momma now

And I'm lonesome

Got the lovesick blues.

I learned a lot
from Linda.

It was a very formative
experience for me.

And she could hang
with the guys.

She could drink tequila with
the rest of us and hold her own.

Saving nickels,
saving dimes...

It was really very ad hoc.

We had a station wagon,
put the gear in the back.

We'd all get in it and drive
to the college and play there.

As a cost-cutting measure,
band members had to share

rooms in those days, so
Glenn and I were roommates.

- What did you guys eat?
- I had a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Linda Ronstadt.

It's funny. I seem to get people at a
critical stage in their development

and they build
their chops.

There's nothing that gets your chops up
better than playing every single night.

If the same thing
happened to everybody

That just happened
to me...

Linda and John Boylan really
like the way Henley and I play,

really like the way we sing
with her, and they start to get

a vision of putting together
a super group to back up Linda -

the best of the new
country-rock musicians,

and we were going
to be part of it.

I remember talking with Don,
and Don said,

You know, I'd rather, like,
just be in a band with you.

And I said,

Yes, me too. I'd rather
just be in a band with you.

So, we went to Linda and said,

We really appreciate everything
you've done for us, and it means

a lot, and we love playing with you,
but we'd like to have our own band.

If you won't be
with me someday...

I think a lot of people

could get miffed by that,
say, Wait a second.

I brought you out here,
you know.

I gave you a paying job
when you couldn't afford

your own drinks at the Troubadour
bar, and now you want to quit?.

Smile...

Linda was extremely gracious about
the whole thing, as was John Boylan.

They weren't resentful or
bitter at all. They were great.

They were supportive,
as a matter of fact.

There you go and baby

Here am I

Well you left me here

So I could sit
and cry...

They started talking about
putting a band together,

and we told them they
should get Bernie Leadon.

I was in several bands
in LA early on, I met Linda.

Then I worked with
Dillard & Clark -

Doug Dillard, banjo player, and
Gene Clark from the Byrds.

And so, now I'm in an
offshoot of the Byrds world,

and then that turned into an
invitation from the Burrito Brothers

from Chris Hillman to come join them
for their second album on A&M.

Since we got the older
guys to show us how

I don't see why
we can't stop right now...

And I was still in the Burritos,
but they had lost Gram Parsons,

and it had changed, and I wasn't
that interested any more.

Bernie was a very
accomplished banjo player,

and he could also play guitar in
what we called the Bindi lick style.

It was pioneered by a fellow
named Clarence White.

And then Glenn told me about
this guy named Randy Meisner who

had been in a band
called Poco.

Randy could sing really high,
and he also played bass.

It's a good morning and
I'm feeling fine...

So, Glenn just kind of
asked me one day

if I'd be interested in
starting a group with him.

And he had Henley and Bernie.
That was the first Eagles.

So, the plan was that Glenn and
I would try to recruit Bernie

and Randy, and then we would
all go to David Geffen and see

if he would give us
a recording contract.

In the '70s, Asylum Records
was considered the LA sound -

Joni Mitchell, Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young,

Jackson Browne.

David Geffen, who started Asylum,
is our patron, you know.

A Medici,
Medici of rock'n'roll.

It's a very artist-oriented
company, and

whatever they want to do,
we support them.

If we believe in them,
we'll stick with them,

whether they make it
or not.

Jackson was our conduit
to David Geffen.

He was the first guy
to get signed

by Geffen's new
Asylum Records label.

So, we all walk in Geffen's office,
and we basically said,

Here we are.

Bernie Leadon just
boldly says to Geffen,

Well, do you want us
or not?.

They were dying
to sign with me.

I think they were very ambitious,
particularly Glenn.

Glenn wanted to have
a hit band.

I loved the way
Don sang.

We all had hopes for it.

All of a sudden, we were
signed to Geffen's new label.

They sent us back
to the drawing board.

They said, You guys need to go
and rehearse some more.

They said, You need
to write some songs.

You're not really ready
to record yet.

So, they packed us off
to Aspen, Colorado.

It could have been worse.

There were people who were way
higher than any of us had ever been.

It was a Wild West wide-open
town at that point.

We played at a club up
there called The Gallery,

which was located right at
the foot of Aspen Mountain.

Tryin'

Got to keep on tryin'

Tryin'...

We didn't have a big catalogue
of our own tunes at that point.

We were just
getting started.

We needed to learn how to play
together as a band, and we did.

The moon is a weeper

The sun is your clown

And his way of lovin'

Is holdin' you down...

And then it was like, OK,
we need to make a record.

Who are we going to get
to produce it?.

We wanted to shoot
as high as we could.

Glenn Frey came up with
Glyn Johns as an idea.

Glyn Johns was a name that kept
popping up on records we loved.

The first time
I heard them was in Aspen.

I was not at all impressed,
really.

I thought they were
confused.

Glenn Frey wanted to be
in a rock'n'roll band,

and Bernie Leadon, on the other
side, was one of the greatest

acoustic players, country
players, if you like.

And there was
a bit of a confusion.

I didn't see what all the fuss
was about at all.

So I passed.

We're like, God dang, what?.
It's not what we expected.

He had worked with Led
Zeppelin, the Who, the Stones,

so he was coming from that,
and he said flat-out,

You're not that, man.

It isn't always easy to spot
what's hot about an artist

if you go and see them play.
You can see them on a bad night.

It's not necessarily
the fairest way of doing it.

So, I thought, The best thing
to do would be for me to see them

in a rehearsal situation
where we could converse

and they could play new stuff
and I could stop and start.

And they played the stuff
that they played in Aspen,

and it all sounded
pretty much the same.

I was thinking, I don't get it.
I still don't get it.

So, we decided
to take a break for lunch

and as we were leaving,

somebody said, Why don't
we play Glyn that ballad?

My daddy
was a handsome devil

He had a chain
5 miles long...

And it just completely
blew me off my feet.

There it was.
That was the sound.

From every link
a heart did dangle

For every maid...

Extraordinary blend of voices,
wonderful harmony sound.

Just stunning.

And that was it.
I was in with both feet.

Now I have loved you
like a baby...

Except that Glyn Johns

didn't want to come to
the United States and work.

He wanted to work in London
in the recording studios

that he was familiar with, and so
they shipped us off to England.

I don't think that any of us
except Bernie had ever been out

of the country, so it was a little
bit like going to the moon for us.

I'm hanging on to
my peace of mind

I just don't know

I'm hanging on
to those good times...

And I'm stoked.
I'm thinking,

I'm going to go to Beatle
country with Glyn Johns.

I'm going to record in
the same studio

where Led Zeppelin
did Rock And Roll.

Oh, my God, I can't wait.

We were recorded at
the famous Olympic studios,

where a lot of legendary
records had been made.

Glyn Johns, he had a certain
style of recording,

which was very organic.

He would simply place a few mikes
around the room, and off you go.

Rather than, for example,
placing a microphone on each

and every drum, he would just put
three microphones on the drum kit.

He was accustomed to
recording people

like John Bonham
with Led Zeppelin.

And I said to Glyn, I want
the bass drum to be louder.

And he said, If you want it
louder, hit it harder.

And I hit it as hard
as I could,

but I couldn't hit it
as hard as John Bonham.

He had a bunch of rules
that really didn't suit me

and some of
the other guys, too.

No getting high in the studio,
no drinking in the studio.

I agreed wholeheartedly
with Glyn Johns

regarding drugs
and alcohol in the studio -

that we'd get more work done and
that it would be better work.

When I got the opportunity
to produce and therefore

be in the chair, I decided that I
would no longer put up with that.

Somebody said to me
the other night that

I was the designated driver
in the '60s and early '70s.

Glyn had worked with the Rolling
Stones at a time when they went

to the studio and did nothing except
wait for Keith to go down

in the basement and play his guitar
until he came up with some riff.

So, Glyn was impatient.

The Stones
had burned him out on the

get high in the studio and wait for
something to happen kind of thing.

Let's go. We're rolling.

1, 2, 3.

I like the way
your sparkling earrings lay

against your skin
so brown

And I wanna sleep
with you

in the desert tonight...

There were three hit singles
on the first album.

Peaceful Easy Feeling
was written by Jack Tempchin,

who is our friend
and frequent collaborator.

Cos I got a peaceful
easy feeling...

Peaceful Easy Feeling captures
the time, captures this attitude.

You can feel the wind
blowing across the desert.

What a feeling

The second hit was Witchy Woman,
which I wrote with Bernie.

Witchy Woman
started as a guitar figure.

Then we were jamming it one day,
and everybody was digging it.

And then Henley came back
the next day with the lyrics.

Raven hair
and ruby lips

sparks fly from her
finger tips

Echoed voices
in the night

She's a restless spirit
on an endless flight

Woo hoo,
witchy woman

See how high
she flies

Woo hoo,
witchy woman

She got the moon
in her eye...

During the time that the Eagles
were on the road for the first album,

we had just come through
the '60s - civil rights movement,

'68 - all the assassinations,
all the rioting.

The Vietnam War still winding up.
Nixon, Watergate.

I really think that part of
the reason that the Eagles

succeeded the way they did
was because the country

and people and young people
needed to feel like things were OK.

So, here comes this song
Take It Easy.

Well I'm a runnin'
down the road

Trying to loosen
my load

I've got seven women
on my mind

Four that
want to own me

Two that want to
stone me

One says
she's a friend of mine

Take it easy

Take it easy

Don't let the sound of
your own wheels drive you crazy

Lighten up
while you still can

Don't even try
to understand

Just find a place
to play your hand

Take it easy...

Jackson had this song called
Take It Easy.

He couldn't finish the song.
He was stuck in the second verse.

He had, I'm standing on a
corner in Winslow, Arizona.

And so, I filled in,
Such a fine sight to see

It's a girl, my Lord,
in a flatbed Ford

slowing down
to take a look at me.

Well, I'm a standin' on a
corner in Winslow, Arizona

Such a fine sight
to see

It's a girl my Lord
in a flat-bed Ford

Slowin' down
to take a look at me...

Girl, Lord, Ford,
all the redemption.

Girls and cars and redemption
all in this one line.

He's very mercurical. You know
mercurial? Mercurial.

And he's mercurical, too.

We may lose
and we may win

But we will never
be here again

So open up
I'm climbin' in

So take it easy...

All right!

Someone once asked
Stephen Stills about the Eagles,

and his response was,
They just wanted to be us.

But when it came time
to do our album covers,

they suggested that we use
Gary Burden and Henry Diltz.

They had done the first
Crosby, Stills, Nash cover

and some stuff for Joni.

The one
I really remember was

The Mamas & The Papas all
sitting in the bathtub.

That was one of
their album covers.

So, these were the cool guys to
have work on your album.

Gary Burden is about 40 years
old, full beard, long, greyish,

wavy hair,
crystal-blue eyes.

Henry was a sort of magical,
non-invasive photographer guy.

For the Eagles,

it was the peyote spirits which
the American Indians, of course,

ate peyote and had a very,
very spiritual experience,

and they would maybe
meet their animal totem

or they would get
their quest for life.

My deal was always to take
the bands out of their comfort zone.

Take them away from their
girlfriends, from telephones,

from anything, and have them
under my control so that

I could get things to happen
without any interference.

And so,
we would take trips.

Now, how this plan
came about exactly,

today you have to scratch your head,
but this was the plan.

OK, we'll all go
to the Troubadour,

and we'll stay there
till closing time.

And then
we'll drive to Joshua Tree.

This morning
I don't know...

We had a bag of peyote buttons,
a bunch of trail mix,

some tequila, and some water,
and some blankets.

And the 7 of us set out
for Joshua Tree.

We got there probably about 4.30
in the morning, parked in this

special place that I don't know
how we found it in the dark.

We all took one peyote button,
put it in our mouths,

and started hiking up to the place
that we were supposed to go.

So, right around the time that
we're getting to the campsite

and we're starting
to build the fire

and starting to cook some peyote
tea, and the first buttons -

everybody's chewing
the first button

and the drug starts coming on
just as the sun is rising.

Earlybird by the Eagles

I think everybody got higher
than they ever imagined

anybody could be,
and it was a good thing.

We were after getting
into life deeper

and better and more
and surrendering.

I had to go to the bathroom,
so I left the campsite,

and I hear the guys yelling from
the campfire, Eagle! Eagle!.

I look up, and it's soaring
right above me. Huge wingspan.

I'm scuffling to get my
pants back up, and I'm slipping.

I fall down, and the bird
just kind of goes,

Eagles, huh?
Yeah, I don't think so.

The images of
the first album cover

really set the tone for
visually what Eagles are.

Gary designed the album cover
so that it would open up into a

whole poster, and at the bottom
were the Eagles around the campfire.

And then, up at the top,
it would go on up into the sky

and the eagle up
in the sky.

But David Geffen thought
that would be confusing,

and without consulting us or
consulting Gary or the Eagles

or anybody, he told them,
Just glue it shut.

And so when they glued it shut,
you would get this:

this album, front and back,
and you'd open it up,

and it would be upside-down, which
didn't make any sense to anybody.

The fact was that the success of
the first album scared the hell out of us.

Why me instead of some guy
down the street?

Why me and some friends of mine
who are just as good of musicians

as I am, but it happened to me
and it didn't happen to them?

I don't know.

Success can sometimes be
just as disconcerting

and frightening as failure,
especially

when you have questions about your
own worthiness and your abilities.

It came time to do
another album.

Don and I decided we'd try to
write some songs together.

I had been sitting over
on Aqua Vista.

I was living on the couch,

and I'm just laying there playing
the guitar, and I started going...

Ding-digga-ding digga...

I'm thinking,

Yeah, that's pretty cool, kind
of Roy Orbison, kind of Mexican.

Yeah, I like that.

So, I showed him
that guitar riff.

I said, Maybe we should
write something to this.

It's another
tequila sunrise

Staring slowly
across the sky

I said goodbye

He was just a
hired hand

Workin' on a
dreamy plan to try...

Songs like "Desperado"
and Tequila Sunrise,

that's when Glenn and I
began collaborating, and

that's when we really became
a songwriting team.

Every night
when the sun goes down

Just another
lonely boy in town

And she's out
runnin' round.

Earlier that year,

someone had given Jackson
Browne the book of gunfighters.

It had all the big outlaw groups, Frank
and Jesse, the Doolin-Dalton gang.

We were all just fascinated
with those guys,

and we thought it
would make a great analogy.

For example, we live
outside the laws of normality.

Also, you usually, because of
records or bank robberies,

you usually heard about these
guys before you ever saw them.

They had posters that were
wanted posters up for people.

There just seemed to be
some parallels.

It wasn't really like
we were outlaws,

but I think they did have
their nobler characteristics.

A life on the road is
the life of an outlaw, man.

We started talking
about it.

Then we said, Maybe we should do
an album all about the rebels.

We got to doing
this outlaw album,

and we had 8 songs finished,
and we needed 2 more.

An idea Randy came up with
was how the guy became an outlaw

and how he became
a guitar player.

He was a poor boy
raised in a small family

He kinda had a craving For
something no one else could see

They said that he was crazy
The kind that no lady should meet

He ran off to the city
Then wandered around in the street.

I kind of started it, and
that's what usually happened.

I'd get a verse or two,
and then I'm done,

and they would help fill in
the blanks.

Oh, yeah. He wants
to see the lights a-flashing

And listen to
the thunder ring.

Nobody expected there to be a concept
album with western cowboys music.

Don Henley was from Texas.
He was a cowboy.

Glenn was from Detroit.
He wanted to be a cowboy.

Because I knew all these guys
had a little cowboy inside of them,

I took them to Western Costume and
just said, Pick out your persona.

Their premise was that, if
they had lived 100 years ago,

in like 1872, they probably
would have been gunslingers.

Everybody's going to be firing in
the direction of this building right here.

Jackson, J.D., Boyd, you all
got to be in the picture more.

- We're going to be in there.
- You ready? 1, 2, 3!

And we fired so many blanks that
it was a cloud of smoke hanging

over this western town,

and the fire department came cos'
they thought it was a fire.

Keep firing!

We were just a bunch of kids.
We were just playing around.

The picture that's on
the back of the album,

there's a lot of
reality in it.

All of the agents and managers
and road managers, all the guys

who didn't play are standing up,
alive with badges and guns,

and the four Eagles at the time and
Jackson and I are all dead, bound

up the way they used to do when
they'd catch outlaws in those days.

They'd stand them up
for display.

People never tired of looking
at the corpse of a bad boy.

We all felt, when we were doing it
and as it was delivered, that it

was another really remarkable
record on the part of the band.

It was pretty
extraordinary.

The band and I were
enormously thrilled with it.

They literally carried me
out of the control room.

They chaired me out of
the control room.

Desperado

Is there gonna be
anything left...

Desperado comes out,
and it bombs.

Jerry Greenberg was the
Vice President of Atlantic Records.

They were excited to get
the second Eagles album.

We played him Desperado,
and he said,

Hmm, that's nice,
that's good, that's nice.

And turned around and said, "God,
they made a fuckin' cowboy record".

Desperado

Oh, you ain't gettin'
no younger.

I was extremely flattered
that Linda recorded "Desperado".

It was really her
that popularized the song.

Her version was very
poignant and beautiful.

And freedom,
oh, freedom

That's just
some people talkin'

Your prisoner is walking
through this world all alone.

There have been
a lot of articles and things

that identify me
with the L.A. sound.

It's sort of me and Jackson
Browne and the Eagles.

All of us are
reaching out for

other musical influences
all the time.

The so-called southern California
sound was developing.

It was fresh, it was different,
it was unique.

It was a melting pot,
people moving

here from all over the United
States to pursue their dream.

Actors, musicians, wannabe managers,
agents, wannabe, you know, like me.

I picked up the phone cold
and called David Geffen,

who was just starting
Asylum Records.

Long story short, I took a job
as a manager with Asylum.

I was intrigued.

I wanted to know about
the Eagles and meet the Eagles

cos' I was a fan.

Emergency?

I get a phone call.
Glenn Frey's on the phone.

We need money for Christmas.
Can you book dates?.

I book some dates.

So, I get on a plane and
go out to meet them.

First of all,
the show was fantastic.

Crowd was nothing like I'd seen
a year, year and a half earlier.

- Good evening. Welcome to the
Portland version of... / - Spread Eagle.

Spread Eagle. Tonight, the
promoter gave us chopsticks.

I don't think we ever
checked in a hotel.

We went from there
to a party at a sorority house.

One thing led to another, and
I'd never seen anything like this.

They wouldn't give us
any booze in the bar.

We tried to get some booze,
but they fucked up,

so we may burn the fucking
place down. We're not sure.

I don't think
we went to sleep.

It was Eagle mania.

And then they went off to England to
record On the Border with Glyn Johns.

They were quite open
to being produced.

Understandably,
that changed.

They began to be more opinionated
and less insecure, perhaps.

We wanted to play rock 'n' roll
or at least a more rock 'n -roll

version of country music,
and Glyn Johns

was of the opinion that
we weren't really capable of that.

I think he had been
bombarded by loud,

aggressive rock 'n' roll for
many, many years.

At that point in his life, he wanted
mellow people and mellow music,

and we weren't exactly at
the same stage in life.

Frey sort of took
over more.

He had this desire
to be something that

I didn't really feel that
they were capable of doing.

He and Glenn Frey were like oil
and water. They clashed frequently.

In the studio, Glyn Johns was
pretty much a schoolmarm.

He'd push, push, push, you know?
And then he'd say, That's it.

That's good enough. We're moving on.
You're not a rock 'n-roll band.

The Who is a rock 'n-roll band,
and you're not that.

After each of those records,
the band freaked out and said,

We've made
a huge mistake.

Glyn Johns missed it.

We actually
had conversations.

Desperado hadn't done as well
as the first album.

None of them were thrilled with
the way the record sounded.

We wanted more input into how
our albums were being made.

We wanted more input into
the recording process itself.

Don and I thought that
the vocals were too wet.

There was too much echo
on them.

And he definitely told us,
Excuse me, that's my echo.

It's my signature. It's my
bloody echo. It stays there.

You don't tell me
what to do.

We needed
to make a change.

I joined the Navy at
the height of the Cold War.

One of the main things they were
doing was looking for Russian

submarines, and you do that
by using sonar.

When I got out, I had a lot of
electronics education, obviously.

And I got a job in a recording
studio here in New York.

The first session I ever saw,
like day 1, day 2,

was a Carole King demo.

She sat down and played piano,
and it was like, Boy, this is fun.

These people are having fun here.

I worked my way up through
the ranks, and then, of course,

after engineering for
4 or 5 years, I was like,

I can produce better than some
of these guys I'm working for.

At the time, I was managing
Joe Walsh, so I played them

Walsh music that I thought was an
example of how it could be edgier.

Joe and I had just finished
an album called

The Smoker You Drink,
The Player You Get.

And they heard that and said,
That's what we want to sound like.

So, Irving arranged for us to have
a meeting with Bill Szymczyk.

We really only had 2 questions
that we wanted to ask him.

Do you mind if we have some input
about how much echo is on the vocals?

And we wanted somebody who
would put a microphone on each

and every drum so we could have
more control over the mix.

He said yes to every question, and
so we knew he was the guy for us.

I said, OK,
under one condition.

I have to call Glyn and
make sure it's OK with him.

So, I called him,
and I said,

Glyn, the Eagles
want me to produce them.

Better you than me,
mate.

That's pretty much
how I felt.

It had come to

a fairly unpleasant
end.

So much for Beatle country
with Glyn Johns.

Let's have a warm round of applause
on a hot afternoon for the Eagles!

James Dean, James Dean

So hungry and so lean

James Dean, James Dean

You said it all so clean.

Along about
the third album,

I was having some difficulty
in communicating, I felt, in the

band, and I was starting to think
maybe I should go at some point.

They still had this unfulfilled
desire to be a mainstream

rock band and not just
a vocal band,

but I think they wanted
to go in a tougher direction.

Bernie Leadon was a country-based
guitar player, but every time

I wanted to do a rock 'n-roll song,
he was the lead guitar player.

Cos I'm already gone.

Every time we wanted to do
something country that Bernie sang,

I was supposed to be
the lead guitar player,

and I wasn't a country
musician by any stretch.

It always felt like we needed
a third guitar player.

We had met this friend of Bernie's,
this guy named Don Felder.

We were playing in Boston, and
he came back to visit Bernie,

and we were jamming upstairs
in the dressing room,

and this guy
was all over the neck.

What he brought
was great chops.

We called him Fingers,
Fingers Felder,

because he was
an incredible player.

We did that session.
I think it was like 3 hours.

And then I packed up
and went home,

not thinking anything more about it
than it was just another session.

And the next day,
Glenn called me and asked me

if I would like to
join the band.

I said, Absolutely.

I'm in heaven.

- Let's go another one.
- All right, do it right!

The banter that would go on
in between takes was hysterical,

and so I took to running a two-track
to pick up these silly things.

We were young men with raging
hormones and something to prove.

In the context of the times
and the profession,

the way we behaved wasn't
really all that remarkable.

The creative impulse comes from
the dark side of the personality,

so we worked it good,
you know.

We did a lot of stupid things,
said a lot of stupid things.

It was the '70s.
There were drugs everywhere.

Cactus sunrise was in my face
Everyone was dying

Everyone was lying
and trying

Well, rub your belly
in the linseed oil...

There you go.

The heartbreak of psoriasis
has once again descended upon

the adolescent experience,
and we'll see you later.

See you at the show
later on tonight.

The question was who could
handle it? Who could function?

Who could show up?

One of these nights

One of these
crazy long nights

We're gonna find out,
pretty mama

What turns on
your lights

The full moon
is calling

The fever is high

And the wicked wind
whispers and more

You got your demons

And you got desires
But I got a few of my own

Ooooh, someone
to be kind to

In between
the dark and the light

Ooooh, comin' right
behind you

Swear I'm gonna find you
One of these nights

One of these days

There were always girls.

There were a lot of opportunities
out on the road to entertain

ourselves with
one thing or another.

So, we started to perfect
after-show partying,

and we invented a place
called the Third Encore.

We did 2 encores in our show, so
the third encore was the party.

Everybody in the band and everybody
in the crew was given a bunch

of buttons, and all we said was,
No weirdos, no strange people, OK?

If you're going to give a button to
somebody, make it count.

Totally sick. There's some real warped shit
coming on now, ladies and gentlemen.

A member of Andy Warthog's pop-bowel
movement has just tried to crash our party.

Welcome to

Pittsburgh Spread Eagle.

We want to just ask these girls why they
think they have to leave now that it's 2:00.

One thing,
he smells like beer.

We'd fill the bathtubs up
with Budweiser,

and we'd have a party
after every show.

- Your name, please.
- Tammy Farley.

- Here we have Karen. Karen is
20 years old. / - Is that correct?

- Yeah. / - What's your name, dear?
- Fuck it, man. / - Pardon? Fuck it.

Her name's
Fuck it, man.

I want to talk about
sex and drugs.

Who wants to go first?

I'm not lost for words
on either subject.

Sex and drugs kind of came as
a big package in the '60s.

It seemed like everybody,
the sexual revolution

and the drug thing probably
started out together.

Didn't they?

Don and I both tried to have
relationships while we were members

of the Eagles, but it was always
like the Eagles trumped everything.

When the Eagles became successful,
we challenged all the rules.

Like when David Geffen
left Asylum Records

and sold everything to Warner Bros
and started his new empire.

Let's be frank. When we signed
that contract, we were idiots.

We knew nothing
about the business.

We had poor legal representation,
nobody looking out for us.

Remember, bands don't really get
record royalties usually ever.

So, they get money from touring,
but they get publishing money.

So, in the very beginning,
one thing that Geffen did

that I thought was great. He had us
form a band publishing company.

All the band's publishing
went in that.

The problem was
Geffen had the other half.

Half the Eagles' publishing,
half of my publishing,

half of all the artists that he signed
went to Warner Bros, but

he got them
to return mine.

Jackson turned me on
to the Eagles.

He had turned me on to
a lot of artists,

and I felt I owed him
something.

And that, not surprisingly, was not
acceptable rationale to the Eagles!

There's a certain amount of ire,
like, real, you know, like,

What the fuck?

We didn't get
our publishing back!.

So, it was the publishing issue and
the fact that the business managers

and the lawyers were all
shared common guys,

and did they have a conflict when an
issue came up and which side to take?

It just makes you feel
like meat.

It started out as such a personal,
nurturing endeavour

with Mr Geffen saying,
I'm going to protect you guys.

That's why I'm calling
my new label 'Asylum'.

It's going to be a sanctuary
for real artists.

He once said to
Irving Azoff,

You know, Irving,
this would be a great business

if there weren't artists.

Irving was the one guy who
really believed in us,

that I thought could do
something to help us.

I basically hired a lawyer
and went in

after I said, "The Eagles would
like their publishing back,

to which the obvious
response was, No.

He sort of drew a line in
the sand and declared war,

so I felt, for my survival,
as their manager,

I needed to prove to them that
I wasn't afraid of Geffen

and would stand up and.

The lawsuit was filed
as a last resort.

I don't think David liked reading
his name in the lawsuit.

I thought it was incredibly
ungrateful

and they misrepresented
the facts, but so be it.

Ultimately,
we settled out of court,

and I don't believe
it took very long.

He just wanted to
get rid of us.

This is our new
record contract.

Just paper!

So, then we headed off,
for parts unknown

with Irving Azoff
at the helm.

This card game
is called Eagle Poker.

It's a bastardization
of Red Dog.

I invented it in Detroit,
Michigan, in 1947,

one year before
I was born.

We were big gamblers.
We played poker all the time.

They should have never
given me money.

So, we decided we'd go to
the Bahamas to gamble.

Everybody but Don
was holding.

I had like 4 joints
in a baggie,

stuffed down my sock
in my cowboy boot.

Durkin, the pilot,
has a joint.

Irving had about 30 Valiums
in a sugar pack.

There was a couple
of customs officials there

that asked us to collect all
our luggage and come over,

and they wanted to search us
'cause we looked terrible.

We had really long hair
and patches on our jeans

and a beard and
not slept.

Now, I'm freaking out.

Bernie's freaking out.
Irving's freaking out.

Henley's pissed off.

Don't touch me.

The guy proceeds to put us all
in a room together,

and they start
searching us one by one.

My greatest fear is that I'm going
to be locked in a jail cell

with Bernie Leadon.

So, at this point,
Irving steps in and takes

one of the Bahamian
customs guys over to the side

and has a chat with him.

I'm not sure, to this day,
what Irving said to him.

The next thing I knew,
they let us pass with no problem.

It was sort of miraculous,
really, it was,

because I thought for sure we
were going to be in the slammer.

It was dumb luck that
this guy bought my line

and didn't search them.

That was the day
I decided, Irving Azoff

was the greatest manager
in rock 'n' roll

and I would never do anything
without him by my side.

I had the only seat in a
major championship fight

to be sitting there when
a lyric was thrown out

and then hear a track.

My on my, you sure know
how to arrange things...

I've watched the creative
process with lots of people,

but I've never seen it the way
it fell in place with them.

I remember watching
Lyin' Eyes written.

Glenn just had a way of
coming up with a phrase.

He had written some kind of a tune,
and they were sitting in Tana's

one night and looking at some young
girl with an older guy at the bar,

and Glenn said,
Look at those lyin' eyes.

And just like that,
wow, there's the song.

You can't hide
your lyin' eyes

And your smile
is a thin disguise

I thought by now
you'd realise,

There ain't no way
to hide your lyin' eyes...

It was just about all these girls
who would come down to Dan Tana's

looking beautiful, and they'd be
there from 8:00pm to midnight

and have dinner and drinks
with all of us rockers,

and then they'd go home
because they were kept women.

On the other side of town,
a boy is waiting

With fiery eyes and
dreams no one could steal

She drives on through
the night anticipating,

Cause he makes her feel
the way she used to feel...

When we were doing the
One of These Nights album,

we'd gone through
3 albums,

and the only people who'd sung on
any hit records were Don and myself.

And Randy always felt like
he was a lead singer, too.

And I actually felt that way, too.
I liked his voice.

So, he brought in the beginnings
of 'Take It To the Limit',

and it became the Eagles'
first number-1 single.

Take it to the limit,
come on,

and take it to the limit,

One more time,

Take it to the limit...

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.

A part of getting old,
and just to take it to the limit

one more time, like every day,
just keep punching away at it.

And that's all that I really...
That was the line,

and from there, the song took a
different, you know, course.

Take it to the limit,

I think everybody in the Eagles
did the level best we could.

You have to remember
how young we were,

the fact that nobody had
anything when we started,

and you got all this stuff
coming at you.

Meanwhile, you're touring
all the time. It's a lot.

To Bernie, success on any scale
was synonymous with selling out.

He wanted us to remain sort
of an underground band.

We had our problems with Bernie,
and Bernie had his problems with us.

Some of it was based on him being
able to have a voice in the Eagles

and record the songs he wanted
to, the way he wanted to.

We were getting
more and more rocked out,

and I think Bernie was less
and less happy about that,

to the point that, one time,
we had worked on a track all night.

It was a
rocked-out track,

and we're all sitting behind
the board the next day,

listening to the various takes
of it, trying to decide

which take we liked the best.
Bernie hadn't said a word.

So, I asked him over the board,
I said, Bernie, what do you think?.

There's a long pause, and
he gets up, and he stretches,

and he says,
I think I'm going surfing.

And he left.

I was caught in the middle
a lot of times.

And sometimes I would
agree with Bernie, but

most of the time,
I would agree with Glenn.

Glenn and I always wanted
the band to be a hybrid,

to encompass bluegrass and
country and rock 'n' roll.

There was a part of Bernie
that really resisted that.

After a while,
it became a real problem,

particularly between
Bernie and Glenn.

Finally, we were at
the Orange Bowl in Miami.

We were backstage, and we were
talking about what our next move

was going to be, what
our plans were supposed to be,

and I was animated and adamant
about what we needed to do next

here, there, and everywhere,
and Bernie comes over

and pours a beer on my head and
says, You need to chill out, man.

I have no idea.
It was a spontaneous thing.

I take that incident now
quite seriously.

That was a very
disrespectful thing to do.

Obviously, it was intended
to be humiliating to him,

I would say, and is something
I'm really not proud of.

It did illustrate
a breaking point.

During that time,
we got a couple shows

opening for the Rolling Stones, and
Irving was managing Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh was a bona fide
rock 'n' roll guitar player.

So, for a couple of those shows,
just for our encores,

we'd put Joe Walsh
in a road box,

and we'd come back to do an encore,
and we'd roll the road box out,

and just like the model
jumping out of a cake,

we'd open the guitar case,
and there would be Joe Walsh

with his Les Paul, and he'd climb
out of the box and plug in,

and the Eagles... We would
play 'Rocky Mountain Way'.

I loved the way he played.

I'd loved the James Gang when
I was growing up in Detroit.

Now I started thinking,
Joe Walsh for Bernie Leadon.

Spent the last year
Rocky Mountain Way

Couldn't get
much higher...

OK, maybe the vocals
won't be quite as good,

but, boy, are we going
to kick some ass!

Time to open fire

And we don't need
the ladies cryin'

'Cause the story's sad...

I think one of the things
that I brought into the band

that was good
for the band was

to bring it up a notch
when we played live.

Just keep kicking it in the butt
a little bit, you know?

All right, D.C.,
come on, give it up!

I went to a show,
maybe 8 months later,

and the band are interacting
with each other

exactly like we did with me
on stage, except instead of me,

Walsh was up there, and
it just was really, really odd

to be watching it
and not be part of it.

So, I actually left that show.
I was just like,

This is too weird.

So, we got Joe Walsh in the band.
That's another adventure,

because Joe was an
interesting bunch of guys.

Hey, I tell you what.
If you got firecrackers,

just wait until you get home,
lock yourself in the closet,

and light everything
you got, OK?

Thank you, Joe.

He brought a lot of levity to just
about everything that happened,

which was needed
at that time.

- Heads or tails?
- Heads.

I could use
a little head myself.

In those days, you didn't know
what he was going to do next.

It was fun most of the time,
although not all the time.

It was fun, depending on
how much you'd had to drink,

to see a television go sailing
off the 14th-floor balcony

and into the pool,
as long as nobody got hurt.

Joe Walsh was the American
King of room trash.

He had studied
under some of the best.

One of the most terrifying
things that ever happened to me

was that Keith Moon
decided he liked me.

All those Keith Moon
stories are true.

This guy was full-blown nuts,
and you never knew

what was coming next.

Keith was my mentor at chaos,
getting arrested,

practical jokes,
pranks, room damage.

I live in hotels,
tear out the walls,

I have accountants pay
for it all,

They say I'm crazy,
but I have a good time...

One year, we gave him a chainsaw
for his birthday as a joke.

Life's been good
to me so far,

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

By this time, we were eating
in nice restaurants

and buying expensive wine
and staying in great hotel rooms.

There were a lot of hotels that
we weren't allowed to go back to.

We were in Chicago, and we were
staying at the Astor Towers.

In Chicago,
here's what happened.

There was a knock on the door,
and in walked John Belushi.

John wanted to show me
the finer restaurants of Chicago.

So, we went
to the restaurant,

and they wouldn't let us in
because we had jeans, and he got

the maitre d' up to
like a 300 bribe

and still they
would not let us in.

And John said, I know what to do.
I know what to do.

And the next thing I knew,
we were standing in the alley,

and he spray-painted my jeans
black and made me do his,

and we went back,
and we got in.

We were sitting in these
Queen Anne-period chairs that had

needlepoint, and when we
stood up, that was all black,

and the butts of our pants
were jeans again,

so, we had to kind of back
out of there and leave fast.

But that was
the beginning of it.

And so that night,
with much glee,

Joe set about to set the
world record for room trash.

John and I did 28,000
of room damage.

Glenn and Don didn't really ever
approve of the room trashing,

but they understood it.

They wanted respect
as rock 'n' rollers,

and Joe brought
that respect.

I was insecure always
and afraid,

so I hid behind all of
my hang-ups with humour.

I was totally in awe of
Don and Glenn.

I was intimidated by Don and
Glennv because they sang so good,

and they were writing stuff I could
never come close to writing.

After we've just had a bunch of hit
records on One Of These Nights,

we were under the microscope.
Everybody was going to look at

the next record we made
and pass judgment.

Don and I were going,
Man, this better be good.

- Look at that. / - It's going
to be quite a nice guitar.

- Felder, you see this?
- Who tuned this?

Well, it has no nut.

With Joe in the band with me,
I wanted to write something,

musically, that would fit
two guitar players, that we

could play off
of each other.

So, I was sitting on a sofa
in Malibu at this rental house

that I had on the beach.
I was playing this acoustic guitar

and this introduction
came out, that progression.

I kept playing it
3 or 4 times.

I had an old
reel-to-reel tape recorder,

so I went back and recorded that
introduction to that song and

laid down that progression, made
a mix of it, and put it on a cassette

with the other 14 or 15
pieces of music that I had

assembled, and I gave a copy of
the cassette to Don, one to Glenn.

Don Felder used to send Henley and I
instrumental tapes, song ideas.

95% of them were cluttered
with guitar licks,

and we would listen to these things
and go, "Where do you sing?".

As Don and I were listening through
one of the Felder cassettes and this

song came up, we both sort of said,
Hmm. Now, this is interesting.

The music sounded to me like
some sort of a cross between

Spanish music and reggae music, and
that one really jumped out at me.

So, we set out to write a song
to that progression.

I'm pretty sure it was Henley's
idea to have a song called

Hotel California.

I think Henley's and Glenn's lyric
writing really came to a head.

They became real honest-to-God
songwriters then.

During the recording of it,
I thought that we

were on to something. I knew
we were on to something.

We were in a really
creative phase,

and it just so happened that
Bill Szymczyk pushed record.

Thank God!

On a dark desert
highway

Cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas

Rising up
through the air

Up ahead in
the distance

I saw a
shimmering light

My head grew heavy
and my sight grew dim

I had to stop
for the night

There she stood
in the doorway

I heard
the mission bell

And I was thinkin'
to myself

This could be heaven
or this could be hell

Then she lit up
a candle

And she showed me
the way

There were voices
down the corridor

I thought
I heard them say

Welcome to
the Hotel California

Such a lovely place

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room
at the Hotel...

We've been asked a million times,
What does that song mean?.

Don and I were big fans
of hidden, deeper meaning.

You write songs and
you send them out to the world.

...So I called up
the Captain

Please bring me
my wine

He said,

We haven't had
that spirit here since 1969...

And maybe somewhere in that song
is some stuff that's just yours,

that they're never
going to figure out.

...Far away

Wake you up
in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say...

There has been
a great deal of ridiculous

speculation about that song
over the years.

It's really taken on a life
or a mythology of its own.

It's sort of like the "Paul is dead" thing,
or Who was the walrus?.

...Bring your alibis...

It's been denounced
by Evangelicals.

We've been accused of all
kinds of wacky things,

like being members
of the Church of Satan.

People see images on the
album cover that aren't there.

Just lunatic stuff.

...And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast

They stabbed it
with their steely knives

But they just
can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember

I was running
for the door

I had to find the passage back
to the place I was before...

My simple explanation is it's a song
about a journey from innocence

to experience.
That's all.

...You can check out
any time you like

But you
can never leave...

Whereas Felder was technically very,
very good, Walsh brought spontaneity

to it, and the two of them playing
off each other was just brilliant.

Out of great respect for each other,
there was always a little

competition
between Felder and I.

We always tried to kind of
one-up each other, you know?

And that's really healthy.

It always made the song better
when we were kind of,

Oh, yeah?
Listen to this.

We got to the end, where now
is the harmony guitars that are

playing together, and Joe said,
We should do something that's like...

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

The ending of

Hotel California,
that's one of my

high points of my entire
recording career.

To have a 7-minute single be
number 1, that was unheard of.

The record company said, You got
to do an edit. You got to do an edit.

And we all said, "No. Take it
or leave it. And they took it.

We had no idea that that song
would affect as many

people on the planet
as it did.

Thank you.

The rest of the album kind of
developed around that song.

The album, you could loosely say,
is a thematic album, a concept album.

Not unlike Desperado,
Hotel California

was our reaction to what
was happening to us.

On just about every album we made,
there was some kind of a

commentary on the music business
and on American culture in general.

The hotel itself could be taken
as a metaphor not

only for the myth-making
of Southern California,

but for the myth-making that is
the American dream because it's a

fine line between the American dream
and the American nightmare.

When you're out there on your
own Where your memories...

All the songs we write for this
album can fit inside this concept.

...You were lost until you found
out what it all comes down to...

Once the rest of the guys in the band
understood what the song

Hotel California was about,
it became kind of a theme,