Why Does Everyone Hate Take the Devil

[TheWalrus1964]

I've always noticed that people have wither never heard of this song, or that they don't care for it. It has a low rating on Itunes and other music providers. I know it's all opinion, but it's one of my favorite Eagles songs.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

First of all, welcome!

As far as Take the Devil, I'm pretty sure everyone doesn't hate the song, but it's true that it's probably not generally recognized as one of the band's stronger songs. Speaking for myself, I don't hate any Eagles song. However, I have to admit although it's pleasant enough, Take the Devil is one of my least favorites. I'm just not that crazy about the melody, and, TBH, I think these are Randy's weakest vocals of any of his Eagles songs. However, this is just my very subjective opinion.

[AlreadyGone95]

Welcome from me as well.

Personally, I do like Take the Devil. I like guitar sound and Randy's vocals.(Using the ranking list, I gave it a 3.5, between good and great.) It's one of my favorite songs off of the Eagles album. However, it wouldn't make my favorites list. The Eagles have so many great and memorable songs that,unfortunately, the lesser known songs tend to be forgotten about.

[TheWalrus1964]

First of all, welcome!

As far as Take the Devil, I'm pretty sure everyone doesn't hate the song, but it's true that it's probably not generally recognized as one of the band's stronger songs. Speaking for myself, I don't hate any Eagles song. However, I have to admit although it's pleasant enough, Take the Devil is one of my least favorites. I'm just not that crazy about the melody, and, TBH, I think these are Randy's weakest vocals of any of his Eagles songs. However, this is just my very subjective opinion.

Thanks for the welcome I figured that it just wasn't one of their more popular songs I was just curious if their was deeper meaning behind why it seems to be rated so low online.

[UndertheWire]

My guess is the song isn't lowly rated online because people hate it but because they don't know it. If you look at the numbers for record sales, it's clear there must be a lot of people who know the songs on "Their Greatest Hits - 1972-1975" but who don't know the deeper cuts from the first four albums. We're talking of 29 million against less than 1 million. And there's other people who's knowledge of the band's music doesn't go much beyond the song "Hotel California".

It's one of my favourites from the first album. I love the guitar and the range of Randy's voice on this. What about that bit from 2:23 to 2:35?

Isn't it interesting that Randy's early contributions were some of rockier songs like this and Tryin'? He really was as much of a rocker as Glenn, if not more so.

[Funk 50]

I think it may have something to do with the way people listen to music now. On first listen, the skip button is primed.

Take The Devil, imho, starts off, pretty dour and and remains there throughout the song. I imagine it gets skipped within the first 10 seconds rather a lot. There's no great hook, it's certainly not a joyous listening experience and if it does contain greatness, I've yet to discover it.
I don't think Take The Devil is a significant enough song to be widely hated though.

[chaim]

It's one of my favorite Eagles songs. Absolutely fantastic IMO. Both the melodies/chords and the atmosphere. Not so long ago I told the following "story" in another thread...

My wife doesn't hate the Eagles at all, but she's not a huge fan either. Recently, when I was listening to the first album, she went "what is this??" when Take The Devil approached the chorus. And at the end she complimented the guitar solo, which she very rarely does. And the "what is this??" was said with a "this is awesome" tone.

What I'll say now refers to people who are more like passive Eagles fans. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it's also a case of what people are "fed" and "taught". When they hear certain songs all the time, they learn that those are the great Eagles songs, and they learn that the other Eagles songs are not as great. Sometimes it may be hard to "outlearn" that.

[UndertheWire]

I like the atmosphere. The intro makes me think of Witchy Woman, my favourite on the album. I also like Randy singing low and slightly growly.

[chaim]

I like the atmosphere. The intro makes me think of Witchy Woman, my favourite on the album. I also like Randy singing low and slightly growly.

I love the bit where Randy sings a sustained note and goes for a higher and higher note as the chords change. Right before Glenn's final solo.

[UndertheWire]

I love the bit where Randy sings a sustained note and goes for a higher and higher note as the chords change. Right before Glenn's final solo.
Yes, that's the part from 2:23 to 2:35 that I mentioned. It's impressive.

[scottside]

"Take The Devil" is one of my favorites from the first album. I latched onto it the first time I heard it. In my opinion, it's lack of popularity is most likely from lack of exposure. I never heard it on the radio even back in 1972 when FM radio would play a lot of album tracks.

[NOLA]

A hearty welcome, Walrus1964! :)

I personally love TTD for a couple of reasons similar to those that have been mentioned before. First, the song is a deep track from the Eagles' catalog. If I had to list my top ten fave songs, only one of the A-sides (LITFL) would be on it. The B, C, D, E-sides are the songs that I truly prefer, because they're not played repetitively on popular radio or by the band in concert. Second, Randy's voice is steady and strong without nary a falsetto until the very end. I think his vocal on TTD is deeper than on any other song. He's known too much for his very high tenor, and TTD showcases a wider range. The only gripe I have is how Randy overemphasizes the word "patiently." For some reason, that minute part just grates on me, but I still love the song nonetheless.

[chaim]

Yes, that's the part from 2:23 to 2:35 that I mentioned. It's impressive.

Ooops, I must have read your post in a hurry. I totally missed the "2:23 to 2:35" bit!

[chaim]

A hearty welcome, Walrus1964! :)

I personally love TTD for a couple of reasons similar to those that have been mentioned before. First, the song is a deep track from the Eagles' catalog. If I had to list my top ten fave songs, only one of the A-sides (LITFL) would be on it. The B, C, D, E-sides are the songs that I truly prefer, because they're not played repetitively on popular radio or by the band in concert. Second, Randy's voice is steady and strong without nary a falsetto until the very end. I think his vocal on TTD is deeper than on any other song. He's known too much for his very high tenor, and TTD showcases a wider range. The only gripe I have is how Randy overemphasizes the word "patiently." For some reason, that minute part just grates on me, but I still love the song nonetheless.

A fantastic point.

[NightMistBlue]

I like the atmosphere. The intro makes me think of Witchy Woman, my favourite on the album. I also like Randy singing low and slightly growly.

I dig it too. It's kind of a sister song to "Witchy Woman." The dark, ominous ambience is very cool.

[Brooke]

Walrus, first of all, welcome to the Border! Great place to be if you love the Eagles!

As far as TTD, I really like the song and agree with everyone that said that it's probably just because it's a deeper track and people just don't know it.

[Fleurette767]

I think mainly Randy's melodic singing makes this a good song, IMO. I also think lyrically, maybe not a lot of people can relate? But like someone else mentioned, the singing and atmosphere just evoke that desolate album cover shot too. I would NOT say this song is filler or anything.

[Freypower]

A hearty welcome, Walrus1964! :)

I personally love TTD for a couple of reasons similar to those that have been mentioned before. First, the song is a deep track from the Eagles' catalog. If I had to list my top ten fave songs, only one of the A-sides (LITFL) would be on it. The B, C, D, E-sides are the songs that I truly prefer, because they're not played repetitively on popular radio or by the band in concert. Second, Randy's voice is steady and strong without nary a falsetto until the very end. I think his vocal on TTD is deeper than on any other song. He's known too much for his very high tenor, and TTD showcases a wider range. The only gripe I have is how Randy overemphasizes the word "patiently." For some reason, that minute part just grates on me, but I still love the song nonetheless.

Me too; and the pronunciation. He sings it 'paSHONtly' when given the vowel sound he should have tried to sing 'paSHENTly'. However I do like the song. It's far superior to Randy's other track on this album, Tryin', and I also prefer it to both his On The Border tracks. I like the guitar work which has a really ominous feel about it. And the 'God, will you lead me where I roam' part really drives the song on.

[DJ]

Personally Take The Devil is one of my top songs sung by Randy. I too love the vocal range. :thumbsup:

[Jonny Come Lately]

First off I have to say thank you to Walrus1964 for creating this thread! 8) I make no secret of my love of Take The Devil. It is in my top 25 Eagles songs and would at the very least be in my top three Randy vocals. The vocals, music and lyrics all come together and to me, it is up there with the 'big three' hits from the debut album, and probably the most underrated of all their songs. I was thinking about the Eagles debut album recently and how it can split into two halves of five songs each, the 'country rock' half and the 'rock' half, and of the latter half (to me this consists of WW, Chug, Nightingale, TTD and Tryin'), I think this joins WW as the best song in this group.

I agree with most of the praise that other fans of this song have suggested so far. I can see why not everyone thinks that that the lyrics of this song are especially relatable, but I find it to be very powerful - I think it is something to do with the sense of being alone in the wilderness trying to avoid temptation. I love Randy's lead vocal and I am glad that people have pointed out the great section from 2:23 to 2:35. The guitar work also sounds great (I have no technical expertise so can only comment on how I feel about guitar parts and whether they work on a particular song), I like the first solo quite a bit but the second is even better - the 'dum dum da dum dum dum' part is absolutely fantastic, really powerful stuff to my mind.

I also agree that the song is probably unknown rather than hated by casual Eagles fans - anyone who has listened only to the Greatest Hits or any of the compilation albums will never have heard this song, it has not been played live as far as I'm aware either - in short, you have to know the debut album to hear it, and anyone who just wants to hear the debut album's three hits could be forgiven for not knowing of its existence.

One criticism that can be made of the song is that it lacks a 'hook', although I must admit this doesn't personally concern me. I feel that hooks are at most the icing on the cake of a song, not something that actually makes one great - I can think of songs which have memorable hooks which I feel are otherwise special (I would say that TTD is pretty much the direct opposite of this). You could say the same about Bitter Creek, which I also love - I think these two songs share several characteristics, both being rather dark and brooding, not especially relatable and neither is sung by Don or Glenn - these things probably prevented either song from ever being hit, but I love both and rate them very highly.

[chaim]

Take The Devil and Bitter Creek are definitely similar in terms of atmosphere. I would definitely include them on the "Eagles for Eagles haters" collection we discussed at some point around here.

[NightMistBlue]

The "boys" have always been effective at creating an ominous vibe.

[Funk 50]

I don't hate Take The Devil but if that was the best the Eagles had to offer, they would never have risen above the likes of Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose band etc.

I wonder what Glynn Johns thought, the first time he heard Tequila Sunrise and Desperado. His jaw must've hit the floor. There's very little evidence of Glenn and Don's exceptional song writing talent on the first Eagles album.

[NightMistBlue]

Glyn had the chance to tell us in his book, but sadly he didn't take that opportunity. Fairly dull stuff from such a brilliant man.

I really admire the tough, smokin' guitar sound on WW, Take the Devil, Outlaw Man, etc.