Felder's Role in Writing Hotel California

[WalshFan88]

I don't have a problem with the idea that Henley wrote most of the lyrics but I think it's unfair to dismiss Glenn's role in the composition of the song so completely.

I'm not dismissing anything. I do think Glenn came up with the concept, and I remember him saying such in interviews. And he probably did come up with the chorus. I think he did contribute to the song - as I said I think they all contributed to the song, but the bulk of it is Henley/ Felder to me. But I'm not dismissing anything at all. But it's not a Glenn song and doesn't sound like one either, lyrically/musically. Just like Take it Easy isn't a Henley song.

[Scarlet Sun]

When did he say that?

I used to have this vinyl LP of an interview he and Don did around the time of the release of The Long Run.

[sodascouts]

If Glenn himself says it, then I believe it. There's no need to try and grasp more credit for him than he himself claims.

Alternatively, there's no need to try to deny him that credit by characterizing it as a "Henley/Felder song."

Honestly, I don't really care all that much about whether he wrote the chorus, or part of the chorus, or whatever. It's an Eagles song. Anyone who tries to make it about a certain Eagle(s) is missing the point. This song isn't about who played what, who wrote what. It's about the synthesis that came together when this band brought the song to fruition... and all the Eagles were a part of that.

[WalshFan88]

I think they all contributed as I said, and it is an Eagles song and sounds like one, it's just that it comes across as Henley's signature song. It's "his" song, just like Take It Easy is Glenn's song. I really am not saying it was his work and his work alone but it is the one where the writing really comes across as that guy's song, and that is Henley's style. I can't imagine Glenn singing Hotel California and I can't imagine Henley singing Take It Easy. Take It Easy is Glenn's "Hotel California". It sounds like Glenn's writing.

[Scarlet Sun]

Take It Easy is Glenn's "Hotel California". It sounds like Glenn's writing.

Even though he only wrote one line of it!

[sodascouts]

Yeah, I'm not sure that was the best example of Glenn's songwriting skill, lol. However, I think "Take It Easy" is comparable to "Hotel California" in terms of what songs the Eagles are best known for.

[WalshFan88]

That's not what I've heard. Only the first verse was Jackson Browne's and he couldn't do anything with it so he gave it to Glenn to finish, and Glenn wrote the rest of it. Sure sounds like Glenn to me.... I can recognize his writing.

[Scarlet Sun]

According to Glenn's own words from the In The Studio radio show which featured the debut album, all he wrote was the lyric "it's a girl my lord in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me." Jackson was so happy he gave Glenn 1/2 writing credit

[WalshFan88]

Jackson Browne wrote this for his first album, but he didn't know how to finish the song. He gave it to his friend Glenn Frey, who needed songs for his new band - the Eagles. Frey finished the song and the Eagles used it as the first song on their first album. So what was almost a Jackson Browne song became the first single from the new group the Eagles.


Frey's changes to the song included adding the second verse (and the line "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona," and stretching out the "E" in "Easy." He considers the song one of the most important Eagles tracks. In an interview with Bob Costas, he said the song represented "America's first image of our band with the vistas of the Southwest and the beginnings of what became Country-Rock."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3067

But I guess when you think about it, most of Frey's signature songs were co-written with at least one other person. So Take It Easy may be as good of an example as any of them. New Kid In Town was of course with JD Souther, Heartache Tonight with Bob Seger, etc etc etc. And songs like Peaceful Easy Feeling and Already Gone were all Jack Tempchin's writing.

Agree to disagree I guess.

[sodascouts]

Yes, SS is right. Glenn has said that he wrote just that line many times. This is a quote from him that can be found in their Very Best booklet:

"Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and I all lived at 1020 Laguna in Echo Park. J.D. and I shared a $60-a-month, one-room apartment -- a couch and kind of a bed with a curtain in front of it. Right underneath us in an even smaller studio apartment was Jackson. He had his piano and guitars down there. [...] That's when I first heard 'Take It Easy.'" I told him that I really liked it. "What was that, man? What a cool tune that is." He started playing it for me and said, "Yeah, but I don't know -- I'm stuck." So he played the second unfinished verse and I said, "It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me." That was my contribution to "Take It Easy," really, just finishing the second verse. Jackson was so thrilled. He said, "Okay! We cowrote this." But it's certainly more of him. Sometimes, you know, it's the package without the ribbon. He already had the lines about Winslow, Arizona. He'd had car trouble and broken down there on one of his trips to Sedona. He spent a long day in Winslow.... I don't know that we could have ever had a better opening song on our first album. Just those open chords felt like an announcement, 'And now ... the Eagles.'" (Very Best Liner Notes 2003)

Sure sounds like Glenn to me.... I can recognize his writing.

Just like you can always recognize Henley's writing, eh?