did bernie have any influence on HC?

[alreadygone]

obviously this was the first album without him but when one considers he left only three months before recording started - I would think that by the time of his departure, they had written many of the songs for the album.

[WalshFan88]

Maybe on some of the other songs but definitely not on the title track, lol. That's Don Felder and Joe Walsh to their core, no country to be found here. Just pure rock n' roll with a splash of a classical feel on the intro.

[chaim]

This is a great question and one I've never seen raised or discussed. I don't think you'll get a definitive answer, but I hope someone knows...

It's very common that a member who leaves is involved with the pre-production on the next album. Procol Harum, YES, Suede...However, Bernie was so "out of it" even on One Of These Nights ("I think I'll go surfing") that I don't think he was involved with anything concerning the HC album.

[UndertheWire]

Didn't Joe Walsh join for a tour for "One of These Nights"? I also had the impression that Bernie left several months before it was announced. He may not have spent a lot of time with the other band members.

Of the three tracks he wrote or co-wrote for OotN, two seemed to be very much solo efforts and the other seems to be a song he'd written with his brother and then Don and Glenn wrote new lyrics and gave it a new title so even then it sounds like there may not have been too much interaction. It seems like the "On the Border" was the last one where Bernie was a full participant.

However, I do think his influence continued because the other band members will have learned from him and adopted some of his ideas.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

As we've said, no one knows for sure, but I tend to agree with UTW. I don't believe Bernie had any direct influence on any of the songs on the Hotel California album. However, his influence from being in the band for four years probably rubbed off on the others. I also agree that it was very apparent on One of These Nights that Bernie was 'out of synch' with the rest of the band musically.

[alreadygone]

i do think that New Kid in Town and Try and Love Again sort of have a Leadon influence on it.

[The Byrd]

I don't think he directly had anything to do with any songs or anything from Hotel California but it's difficult to deny that the band themselves were influenced by Bernie being in the band for such a long time.