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Thread: Felder Interviews and promotions

  1. #221
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    Quote Originally Posted by Heartattack View Post
    Glenn Frey did not write one note of the music for Hotel California. Don Felder was on the Jeff Probst show and he asked him about it. Don's fiance Kathrin Nichoson was in the audience and she said that she has a copy of the original recording that Don F. made when he composed all of the guitar tracks in his home and it was nearly complete and identical to the finished record.
    Welcome.

    The key word there is 'nearly'. I do not know which parts of Hotel California were written by Glenn Frey, but as I was not there, I think it is unwise to make such an unequivocal statement. In any case, there are other parts of the music beside the guitar tracks; the melody line & the chorus line.

    NB: In an interview on Page Two of this thread, Felder says he originally wrote the music in a key that was too high for Henley, so that had to be changed. To me this is about Felder's absolute refusal to give Frey credit for anything at all. This is the relevant part: Felder originally wrote the music in a key that was too high for Henley -- "When he sang it the first time in the studio, he sounded like The Bee Gees," Felder recalled. So he went back home and worked out a darker-sounding version in B-minor, a key most guitarists prefer to avoid.

    Glenn Frey himself stated in HOTE that he & Don Henley continued writing the song based on Felder's opening guitar progression. I think the truth must be somewhere between the two extremes.
    Last edited by Freypower; 09-24-2013 at 11:38 PM.

  2. #222
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    In his book, Don Felder gives Glen Frey credit for conceptulizing "Hotel California" and that came between the writing of the music (Felder) and the lyrics (Henley). So regardless of whether Frey wrote a note, he did make a contribution to the song and that is why he has a songwriting credit.

  3. #223
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    If all he did was come up with the concept that would not entitle him to a songwriting credit, so he had to have written at least some of the lyrics (more likely)and OR some of the music (less likely but who is to say he did not)? The very next line in that interview I quoted above states that 'Henley & co-founder Glenn Frey wrote the lyrics' although this is by the author, not Felder.

    The irony of all this is that most people associate Frey with the writing of Eagles music, because of the Lone Arranger tag, and especially because he doesn't sing this song they can't seem to acknowledge the fact that he could have written some of these lyrics.

    I just wish Felder's fans could accept Felder's role in the writing of this song without automatically denigrating Frey's role in it. But they take their cue from Felder himself.
    Last edited by Freypower; 09-25-2013 at 01:22 AM.

  4. #224
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    In an interview after the Probst show, and on this board somewhere, Felder clarified the songwriting further, and he also clarified what he actually gave Don and Glenn, and it wasn't a fully written song without lyrics. He also clarified how the dueling guitar solos between he and Joe came to be. It was an interesting read. I'm already late for work or I'd hunt it up. It gave a lot of perspective on how they created the music we all love.
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  5. #225
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    I think this is it:

    http://wcbe.org/post/conversation-musician-don-felder

    or this:

    http://www.vintagerock.com/index.php...views&Itemid=4

    ...where Hotel California is 'going to be the single'. Yes, it was a single. Eventually.

  6. #226
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I think this is it:

    http://wcbe.org/post/conversation-musician-don-felder

    or this:

    http://www.vintagerock.com/index.php...views&Itemid=4

    ...where Hotel California is 'going to be the single'. Yes, it was a single. Eventually.
    Thanks for the links. By Don F's own admission, the cassette did not contain the melody and therefore by implication, Henley/Frey provided the vocal melody. Good to have that established.

    I'm not convinced that Don F deliberately misleads or tries to put Glenn down just that he's incredibly tactless. For example, I was listening to an interview with Don F and Glenn from 1979 (together and seemingly friendly) and Don said that before he joined, the band didn't have anyone who could play R&R guitar. I bet Glenn loved hearing that!

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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    For some bizarre reason - that I will never know - people don't usually seem to think of the vocal melody as part of the "music" in popular music when it was added later. Don F has said many times that he wrote "all the music" to HC. If he didn't write the melodies, he certainly did not write "all the music". The vocal melody in HC doesn't have that many notes either in the verse or the chorus, but it's still a melody, and melody is music.
    The vocal melodies in Stairway To Heaven were, according to Jimmy Page, written by Plant over Page's chord progressions. Is there someone on this planet who thinks that the vocal melodies are not part of the "music" in Stairway To Heaven? No, didn't think so...

  8. #228
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    Indeed, when most people think about the tune of a song, the vocal melody is typically what they think of. If you ask someone "Hum a song" the vast majority will hum the vocal melody of whatever song they pick.

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  9. #229
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions


    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

  10. #230
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    Default Re: Felder Interviews and promotions

    Thanks for posting, Soda!

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