Not sure if I'd remember it from his book alone, but he's told the story in countless interviews since - always implying that HC was the first (and only) single from the album even though NKIT was very successful before it. It's been one of those "enough already" things for me.
I guess I need to go back and re-read that part b/c I don’t remember that being implied at all.
Again, this hasn’t been the impression I’ve gotten from his interviews (at least the ones I’ve read) but maybe that’s b/c as an Eagles fan, I’m already familiar with which songs were released from HC and when. I would think anyone who would bother to read Don Felder interviews is also an Eagles fan or at least a fan of the HC album. He may have a big ego but I don’t believe it’s so big it leads him to believe he has a lot of standalone fans apart from the Eagles fandom.
I’m a little confused about Felder’s motivation in trying to fool the world into thinking that 40 years ago, HC was released as a single before NKIT. What would he have to gain by that? Especially when such facts are easily verifiable via the internet. It’s such an inconsequential piece of history, too. Who would care enough to be impressed that HC the single was released before NKIT if that were true?
You also indicate that Felder could be implying that HC was the only single released. Again, anyone who would care enough to read a Don Felder interview is highly likely to already be familiar with NKIT and LITFL as hit songs. Few interviewers are going to sit down and chat with him about NKIT and LITFL (it would be nice to hear about his contributions to them though). They want to know about Hotel California.
I know Felder doesn’t have a lot of fans on this board and as such, is a frequent target of criticism, some of it justified and some of it understandable even if I don’t agree with it, but this one to me just doesn’t hold water.
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Right or wrong, what’s done is done
It’s only moments that you borrow...
From what I recall I believe (though I could be wrong) Felder says that Henley said something like “that’s gonna be our first single” at some point. It might have been during the listening party for the album. If I’m right, I still don’t think there’s any bad intentions involved as many of the members have made errors in recalling how things played out
Thanks YEF, looking through the book, this is what it says on p. 173:
When the track was finally finished and laid down, and given its new name—“Hotel California”—Don said quietly, “I think this should be the single.”
“Are you crazy?” I cried, as Glenn, Joe, and Randy looked up in mutual astonishment. “This thing’s over six minutes long!...”
Felder continues to argue why radio won’t play it as is, then admits he’d “never been more wrong.” So Henley’s statement “this should be the single” could be alluding to leaving the song in its present state, rather than editing it down.
Of course it’s possible too that Henley meant that, in his opinion, HC should be the first single; then later for whatever reason the band released NKIT first. I still don’t read it as Felder trying to imply that HC was indeed the first single.
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Right or wrong, what’s done is done
It’s only moments that you borrow...
Analyzing why Felder would do that isn't something I'm going to do. I'm not saying it's a planned thing to try and fool people, but he always talks like HC was the first single. That quote from the book is why I mentioned the "only single" too. "This should be THE single." So it was released and he leaves it at that. We can read it in all kinds of ways. If Henley thought it should be the first single, but wasn't in the end, then Felder should have mentioned it. My main point is the "first" single, so that "only" addition in brackets could be deleted. This was the first and last time I will mention that. Anyway, if Felder had replaced "the" with "a", I'd have no problem with it. But he has said the same thing in interviews, so at least it wasn't a typo.
He also says in the book that because of the success of the single HC was the opening track at concerts. NWIT was a number one before it, so why wasn't it the opening song? I believe it was the combination of being successful, being the title track and a "tone setter".
I have to add that I don't know about the Eagles singles too much so after reading Felder's book I thought that HC was the first single. Later in this forum I learned that NKIT was a number one hit before it. This same thing was mentioned here several times by another member years ago - often when Felder had just told the same story in an interview.
Last edited by chaim; 06-01-2019 at 02:24 AM.
-Austin-
Resident Guitar Slinger
Fan of the Eagles from 1972-2016 #NOGLENNNOEAGLES
RIP Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key..."
-Austin-
Resident Guitar Slinger
Fan of the Eagles from 1972-2016 #NOGLENNNOEAGLES
RIP Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key..."
Hmmm, I could kindly remove the "first single" part from my comment since it was just a side note and had nothing to do with the actual point, but it's been quoted already.
I stand by my interpretation of Felder's words, but it has already been mentioned several times years ago, so I'm not going to fight this one for several pages.