I remember one night in the summer of 1997 talking with Henley over drinks at the Formosa in West Hollywood. I was writing my biography of the Eagles, and I asked Henley what he thought the essential difference was between him and Frey.
"If I had my way, we'd be out every night of the week playing somewhere," Henley said. "Glenn just wants to ride around the Mediterranean all day on his boat." Yeah, I thought to myself, maybe Frey was on to something. Maybe he knew when to walk away. Maybe he understood that adolescence can only take you so far, and it was time to check out of the Hotel California.
And maybe he understood it was that sense of "now" that pushed him to create the great Eagles music he did with Henley, and singing about living it up at the Hotel California, had become "then."