Song backstories

[YoungEaglesFan]

Out of the entire Eagles catalogue, what Eagles song do you love the backstory the most? (Including how it was made, the message behind it etc..) mine would probably have to be My man with bernies amazing tribute to gram parsons. That second verse is simply beautiful. What about you guys?

[Freypower]

I think the backstory & the message of a song are two entirely different things. I have a couple of favourite backstories:

Lyin' Eyes: Written after a night at the Troubadour, observing all the women & their older partners, Glenn commented 'look at those lyin' eyes'.

Life In The Fast Lane: Glenn on the Hollywood Freeway with his coke dealer (!) telling him not to speed. The dealer replied 'it's life in the fast lane' & Glenn thought 'that's a song'.

You Are Not Alone: written when Taylor Frey was going through a difficult time.

[Delilah]

I like the back story when it is inspired by a specific person, like in "Peaceful Easy Feeling." Jack Tempchin saw a brown-skinned young lady with silver earrings and wrote the lyrics on the back of a poster. If memory serves me right, he was sleeping on the floor above a coffeehouse where he was performing.

The back story of "Doolin-Dalton" is really interesting. I also like that the "Sad Cafe" is about the Troubadour, where the original members hung out and performed before they became a band. It's a song on their last studio album from the 70s that hearkens back to their beginnings.

[UndertheWire]

This doesn't count as "love", more surprised and fascinated. In the Rolling Stone Special, Henley said that "Good Day in Hell" was Glenn's tribute to Gram Parsons and Danny Whitten and about the perils of the music business and the lifestyle that goes with it. It hadn't occured to me that it was about the temptation of drugs.

[Pippinwhite]

@UTW-- I picked up that it was about the perils of drug use -- or at least a commentary on how common they were -- but had no idea it was a tribute to Gram and Danny.

I'm just thankful none of our guys ended up that way. It could have happened very, very easily.

[chaim]

I don't know many backstories, but it's always great when writers keep their ears open - when they're not just telling us in song how they just broke up and what the other person did wrong. So I love the LITFL story.

[NightMistBlue]

This doesn't count as "love", more surprised and fascinated. In the Rolling Stone Special, Henley said that "Good Day in Hell" was Glenn's tribute to Gram Parsons and Danny Whitten and about the perils of the music business and the lifestyle that goes with it. It hadn't occured to me that it was about the temptation of drugs.

Wow, that is surprising. I thought the song was very sexual and was about their "wild bachelors" (to quote Felder) lifestyle on the road. It has that fascinating hint of self-loathing/Puritan revulsion.

[Pippinwhite]

NMB-- Just goes to show you how a song can mean different things, depending on the listener. I definitely picked up that "wild child" vibe, too. (Glenn said sex and drugs were a package deal, after all. LOLOL.)