Who wrote the guitar riff for LITFL?

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Obviously, I'm losing my mind, because in the documentary and in several interviews, including the Songwriters Session I went to in NYC where Glenn spoke, it has been said that Joe wrote the opening riff. Did Felder write any of the other riffs that appear in this song, that we know of? A DJ on SiriusXM, Classic Rewind, said yesterday that he did. I posted on Facebook that it was Joe, not Felder. Two people contradicted me. One said it was in the documentary that it was Felder and suggested I watch it (good grief!). Another said I was totally wrong, that Felder did a guest DJ session on SiriusXM 7 (70's on 7) where he said he wrote it. Did I really miss something, perhaps because I didn't want to hear it, or are these two people very confused?

[Freypower]

Joe wrote it. Felder does not have a songwriting credit on it, though it would not surprise me at all if he claimed he wrote it. At no point in HOTE is it claimed that Felder had anything to do with it.

[shunlvswx]

Hmm. Interesting. That's new. The documentary, Glenn (in several interview. Even the Australia 60 minutes interview) and Joe talked about how LITFL came about. We know that Joe wrote the opening riff. Heck Don F wasn't even part of that segment when they talked about LITFL.

Maybe he wrote the other solos in the song. He could had wrote the guitar solo before they go into the 3rd verse. That famous riff is play throughout the song when Don sings the chorus. Maybe they need to go back and watch the documentary. Maybe they are getting Victim of Love mixed up with that riff.

Like FP said. He's not listed as one of the songwriters. You're not losing it, Va. They are.

[Midnight Visitor]

Joe wrote it. Felder does not have a songwriting credit on it, though it would not surprise me at all if he claimed he wrote it. At no point in HOTE is it claimed that Felder had anything to do with it.

When I read the initial post I was going to post a reply so similar to Freypower's here.... I'll just leave an EXACTLY instead. I wouldn't put it past Felder. No songwriting credit. Sounds like Joe's sound, etc......

[Witchy Woman]

IIRC, Joe said the riff was something he had used as a warm up for his fingers, kind of like a rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time kind of thing. Don and Glenn heard it and it all went from there. Felder had nothing to do with it.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Yes, that's what Glenn said at the Songwriter's thing as well. I'm glad to hear I'm not crazy. Totally, anyway.

[GlennLover]

I've heard Glenn tell the story of hearing Joe play that riff & saying immediately, "that's 'Life In The Fast Lane'" many times. Of course he also tells about getting the title from a drug dealer he was driving with to a poker game.

[SilverMoon]

Joe Walsh came up with the opening riff for LITFL, and he and Don Felder did the guitar work for the song. Here’s a 2012 interview with Joe by Guitar World in which he talks about LITFL:

http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-joe-walsh-discusses-his-career-gear-and-new-album-analog-man?page=0,4

A landmark album, and arguably the Eagles’ greatest ever, Hotel California offered an eloquent depiction of the decadence and ennui of L.A. culture in the late Seventies. Walsh’s hard-edged rock sensibility was integral to the album’s aesthetic and appeal. Among his songwriting contributions was the signature guitar riff for the hit “Life in the Fast Lane.”

“That was actually a coordination drill that I’d come up with on guitar to warm up to play live,” he says. “I was just playing it one time and Don Henley goes, ‘What the hell is that!’ Well, it was just an idea floating around. With the Eagles, we would all bring in bits and pieces of music, throw them in a big pile and sort through them.

“Don and Glenn got a hold of that ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ riff. Glenn kinda arranged it, and we did a demo of it. Then Don had the idea of ‘life in the fast lane.’ He put the words together, and we recorded it for real. And then Don Felder and I figured out the guitar work. Once we knew it was an Eagles song, they turned me loose a little bit.”

[Freypower]

It's fair enough to say that Felder would have been involved in working out what was going to be played, but that is not the same as who actually wrote it. He didn't get a songwriting credit so it has to be assumed that the guitar work was written by Joe (and Glenn, perhaps) & then Felder helped put it together.

[chaim]

Joe wrote the main riff. But I think Don F wrote the ZZ Topish riff that starts when the drum beat starts - at 0:18 mark in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbxP_PAL30

I don't have Don's book with me at the moment, but I think he makes it clear in the book that Joe wrote the main riff, but Don wrote that "additional riff". I think Don has always played that second riff alone anyway. I don't think Joe has ever played it.

[UndertheWire]

I've notice that people often mix up songs when writing about the documentary, so could this just be confusion with how VOL was written?

This seems as good a place as any to put my own question. In the 1979 Rolling Stone interview with the band, Don Felder describes himself as the "musical catayst" in the band. Any ideas what he meant?


catalyst noun 1 chem any substance that catalyse (http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?xref=21C06280&query=catalyse&title=21st)s a chemical reaction. 2 something or someone that speeds up the pace of something, or causes change.

catalyse or (US) catalyze verb (catalysed, catalysing) chem said of a catalyst (http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?xref=21C06282&query=catalyst&title=21st): to alter the rate of (a chemical reaction), usually by increasing it, without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

I'm just trying to understand how he fitted into the creative process. I know that the instrumental tracks were usually laid down first often before there were any lyrics. We get a glimpse of that in the "Get Over It" part of the documentary but Bill Szymczyk has also mentioned it.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Thanks for the info, all. I went back and read the relevant parts in Felder's book (page 175) and he does say the opening riff was Joe's and that there was one they used of his, he doesn't clarify where in the song it is. He does say the song became undoubtedly Joe's.

[sodascouts]

I've notice that people often mix up songs when writing about the documentary, so could this just be confusion with how VOL was written?

This seems as good a place as any to put my own question. In the 1979 Rolling Stone interview with the band, Don Felder describes himself as the "musical catayst" in the band. Any ideas what he meant?



I'm just trying to understand how he fitted into the creative process. I know that the instrumental tracks were usually laid down first often before there were any lyrics. We get a glimpse of that in the "Get Over It" part of the documentary but Bill Szymczyk has also mentioned it.

I'm not sure, but I'd speculate that he felt that he got the juices flowing for the other band members with his instrumentation. For instance, he would on occasion give Don and Glenn a chord progression and they would build a song upon it. Additionally, he might see himself as showing them ways to make what they'd written better by adding certain guitar licks. I'm just guessing, though.

[WalshFan88]

The riff was most certainly Mr. Walsh...it sounds like a Walsh riff too. Joe had a more edgy by the seat of his pants approach, Felder always was a bit more structured and at times, technical.

The solo Felder plays in LITFL I bet is probably his own. Felder simply plays Joe's riff at the higher octave at the same time for the intro and anytime you hear the opening riff throughout the tune.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I have to agree that Joe was definitely responsible for writing the guitar riff in LITFL (perhaps with help from Glenn) and Felder's involvement was in working out his guitar parts. This seemed to be the way they often worked together by many of their accounts. They have said many times that a similar approach was used on Hotel California where Felder wrote the guitar chord progressions and Joe helped work out his guitar parts. Just as Joe didn't receive writing credit on Hotel California, Felder didn't receive credit on Life in the Fast Lane. I guess it's a fine line for bands to decide who is credited, but, at least, it seems the Eagles were consistent in their criteria for songwriting credits.