Eagles Song Survivor: On the Border

[longtimeeaglesfan]

Best of My Love

[Desperada]

Already Gone to win

[YoungEaglesFan]

Already gone

[sodascouts]

I adore both songs... this is hard for me...

But the guys wrote Best of My Love. That pushes it to the top for me.

BEST OF MY LOVE FOR THE WIN!!

[Delilah]

This is difficult- the ballad or the rocker? I love both songs pretty much the same.

Already Gone - energetic, upbeat break-up song (not many of those), interesting stuff going on guitar-wise, great bassline, soaring vocals, memorable lyrics

BOML - to add to the other comments already made, this song may be one of the most covered by other artists in the Eagles catalog. Hence, it probably has greater impact and influence than AG.

My vote goes to The Best of My Love for the win!

[shunlvswx]

I don't know how I missed last round. Oops.

I'm voting for Best of My Love for the win.

[TW]

Best of My Love for the win!

[WalshFan88]

I love Already Gone...it never bothered me it wasn't written by the Eagles.

The guitar work is amazing, the upbeat rock energy beats the pants off of any smooth country tune any day IMO and I think Glenn's vocals on AG are absolutely second to none. I feel that this is their best song prior to Hotel California in '76.

Join me and choose Already Gone for the win!

[NYC Fan]

I vote for Already Gone for the win.

Love this song, and all the live versions I’ve heard and seen. It makes me smile and think of Glenn and his infectious energy every time I hear it.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Already Gone for the win!



Here's the thing. I was always a listener of live versions of Eagles since day one (my first being Hotel California from 1977 Capital Center). It is only recently that I listened to studio versions. So I am quite biased towards live versions as a result! I cannot listen to studio versions without feeling that they are a bit empty. I especially listen to a lot of audience recorded bootlegs, and I love the rawness and lack of quality! It does not have a polish that studio recordings have. And there are a lot of differences actually, that live recordings have compared to studio versions than you'd think. And I like even the most subtle differences tbh. And lastly I feel that some live versions have a harder edge than studio recordings. Now I will enumerate differences in some On the Border song, to prove the differences:

1. Already Gone- Live versions have ending solo, whereas studio fades
2. You Never Cry Like a Lover- No live version with Bernie, Felder uses Les paul and plays lead differently
3. Midnight Flyer- When Joe played it, the slide was a bit different
4. James Dean- It was a duel guitar with Joe Walsh during the solo

Those differences are really appealing to me; they have that kind of appeal a studio recording will never. Hope I am clear with this. I also understand why you'd be weirded out by this. I am just like that, and my friends are like that. Listen to live versions everyday, not studio.

I appreciate your response, cosec and I totally get that some folks may find live performances more appealing. But, I guess I'm more of a big picture person. The subtle variations between an Eagles studio recording and live performance just aren't enough to change my overall opinion about how much I like or dislike the song. But that's just me. Different strokes, for sure.