Celebration of "Long Road Out of Eden"!

[EagleLady]

Hmm, I like Frail Grasp on the Big Picture.

[Freypower]

Soda, you have made that 'no tears allowed/No Fun Aloud' comparison before. I think you're drawing a long bow and that this is pure coincidence, though I admit it is POSSIBLE.

Re Frail Grasp: I know I'll never convince you, but I don't find it 'repetitive'. Listen to the guitar work and the way the backing vocals vary around the song - also, I understand why you find the orgain part 'trite', but I think it's very appropriate. I also don't believe Henley isn't enunciating clearly. I think the 'sermon' comparison is more appropriate for some of Henley's solo work like Building The Perfect Beast, Shangri-La and The Genie (a song which I cannot remember anything of except the title line).

[Maleah]

As you know Soda, I TOTALLY agree with you on Frail Grasp. It comes across as completely condescending/mocking to me. In fact, after the initial run through listening to the entire song....I haven't listened to it again since. It is by FAR my least favorite on the cd. I know it's compared to Fast Company a lot and most people prefer it to that......but I would (and do lol) listen to FC any day of the week over this one.

'Course...then again I'm also in the minority who happens to really like Fast Company. LOL I don't mind the falsetto at all, in fact I quite like it on this particular song. It's something different and catchy, imo. Oddly enough when we got the 3 song preview at Walmart (this along with Do Something and No More Cloudy Days) this was the one that everyone kept playing and talking about.

As far as the Long Road Out Of Eden (the song) discussion......again I agree Soda that the intro is much too long. I'm fine with the middle eastern music and like the fact that it adds a little eeriness and moodiness to the song.....but over a minute of it is waaaaaay too long and gets boring fast. I don't, however, mind it later in the song. For some reason it just brings up an image later on of literally being over there at night looking up at the stars.....like I said....kind of adds that eery feeling to the song. That guitar solo is absolutely amazing and one of my favorites that I've ever heard on ANY song by ANY artist. Gives me goosebumps live when Don sings that "in your arms tonight" part and then Joe starts.

I do like "Center of the Universe" QUITE a bit more than most do though! Beautiful song, beautiful lyrics, beautiful vocals and harmonies!

[chaim]

As for the organ part...I have to disagree. I've never seen it as criticising religion, but criticising how easily mankind drags God into everything, and therefore really cheapens the REAL "concept" of God. I mean, "my car just started; there must be a God after all", "My favourite driver won the race, God answered my prayers", "I got a second chance to make millions, my prayers were answered" (the real words of the religious Peter Criss, who had been invited to the reunion of the original KISS), "God is on our side when we are going to bomb those *****s". Because the organ part makes the section sound more "holy", to me it makes Don's words there even more hollow. And that's his intention. It's almost in the Randy Newman department. Like Freypower, I think that the organ is appropriate here.
"What God wants" by Roger Waters has the same theme as this section of "Fail grasp".

[TimothyBFan]

)
'Course...then again I'm also in the minority who happens to really like Fast Company. LOL I don't mind the falsetto at all, in fact I quite like it on this particular song. It's something different and catchy, imo. Oddly enough when we got the 3 song preview at Walmart (this along with Do Something and No More Cloudy Days) this was the one that everyone kept playing and talking about.

Amen!!!! I totally agree (even tho I think you need to lose the current avi!)--FUN and DIFFERENT!!! Love it!

Frail Grasp--I don't get the hate on it! Love the music and LOVE the lyrics!! Maybe because I'm older and more cynical? I really get it! Now something I've seen others do and I've always wanted to try , I will pick it a part a bit and put my spin on it....

Well, ain't it a shame
'Bout our short little memory
We never seem to learn
The lessons of history
We keep makin' the same mistakes
Over and over and over and over again
And then we wonder why
We're in the shape we're in

Amen! Self explanatory here. Just look at the politics of this nation-different politicians but same problems and mistakes being made decade after decade.

Good ol' boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all
They don't know much of nothin'
Even if one of 'em was to read the newspaper
Cover to cover
That ain't what's going on
Journalism dead and gone

I know I've sure met these "good ol' boys" that think they know it all, rather they are setting in a bar, bus station, supermarket, etc...--we call it talking out their *ss. And as far as Journalism being dead & gone, just watch Fox News channel or E entertainment or read the National Enquirer or whatever and tell me that the majority of Journalism hasn't lost what it's really suppose to be about. True and balanced-yeah, right!

You my love-drunk friend
All that red wine and candlelight
Soulful conversations
That go on until the dawn
How many times can you tell your story?
How many hangovers can you endure
Just to get some snogging done?
You're living in a hormone dream
You don't have the slightest notion
What long-term love is all about
All your romantic liasons
Don't deal with eternal questions like
Who left the cap off the freaking toothpaste?
Whose turn to take the garbage out?

Which of us haven't been a little starry eyed at the beginning of a relationship only to find out later, once the newness has ceased, that it wasn't what we thought it was. I especially love the "You're living in a hormone dream"---young lust. And love the fact he uses the word "snogging"!
And we pray to our Lord
Who we know is American
He reigns from on high
He speaks to us through middlemen
And He shepherds His flock
We sing out and we praise His name
He supports us in war
He presides over football games
And the right will prevail
All our troubles shall be resolved
We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved



At the risk of being called unChristianlike, I'm sure we've seen people like this. I've always been one that thinks prayer can work but God really doesn't have time to make sure Notre Dame wins that football game this Saturday or I get an A on this exam. As far as God being an American & supporting us in war... I'm sure the underlying (or maybe obvious to most) meaning here is something everyone can figure out. How dare we push/force our thoughts and beliefs down other countries throats. Maybe they don't want to live like we do. I consider myself spiritual but not religious and one of the main reasons is because of the last 2 lines in this verse. I will gladly explain myself if anyone feels I need to but I don't want to get on my soapbox.



I'm sorry if I seem I might be taking this whole song way to seriously or if I have disillusioned anyone about myself but I really really get this song! As much as I disagree with some of the stuff Don Henley does, I almost always agree with some of his (and Glenn's) cynical lyrics to songs like this or Dirty Laundry or Get Over It or several others.

[GlennLover]

Chaim & TBF, I think you're both right on with your interpretations of Frail Grasp. In the "Gold" interview where the Eagles talk about the individual songs on LROOE, Don says pretty much the same thing as you do about the meaning of the "And we pray to our Lord" verse. I think that Don very cleverly gets his message across in this song. I enjoy it.

Listen to the clip here:

https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...007Part4-2.mp3

Soda has posted the entire interview here: https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...stuffaudio.htm

I first listened to this program in 2007 when LROOE came out. I found it interesting to go back & listen to it two years later after the album has become so familiar to me.

[chaim]

Chaim & TBF, I think you're both right on with your interpretations of Frail Grasp. In the "Gold" interview where the Eagles talk about the individual songs on LROOE, Don says pretty much the same thing as you do about the meaning of the "And we pray to our Lord" verse. I think that Don very cleverly gets his message across in this song. I enjoy it.

Listen to the clip here:

https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...007Part4-2.mp3

Soda has posted the entire interview here: https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...stuffaudio.htm

I first listened to this program in 2007 when LROOE came out. I found it interesting to go back & listen to it two years later after the album has become so familiar to me.

Thanks for the links!! I'm gonna listen to them immediately!

[sodascouts]

I love reading all of these opinions and interpretations of the songs, even if they differ from mine. The Eagles sure give us a lot of fodder for discussion, don't they?

Soda has posted the entire interview here: https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...stuffaudio.htm

I first listened to this program in 2007 when LROOE came out. I found it interesting to go back & listen to it two years later after the album has become so familiar to me.

You know, I'm gonna do the same and see if I have any comments. Already in Part One I heard some interesting things:

Joe: "We all used to live in the same car..."

Joe, you are so full of it.

Tim: "From my point of view, it's always frustrating, especially when some of the issues between some of the guys sometimes gets so strained that you can't work. [...] The difference is it used to really, really bother me a lot when something came up [...] but now it doesn't. Now, I'm better at just... you know... it's kind of up to the gods. I can't do anything about it."

Sounds totally like the theme of his new song "I Don't Mind"!

Glenn: "Just after [Hell Freezes Over], we tried a couple of times to go in the studio, and it just wasn't happening. The good news was that we didn't freak out. I know enough now to just go, 'It's not the right time. When the time is right, maybe we'll make a record.''"

So glad they didn't "freak out" lol. It may have taken a while, but they finally got it together!

Don: [regarding finding "An Old-Fashioned Song", which is the poem that provided the lyrics to "No More Walks in the Wood"] "I was thumbing through the Oxford Dictionary of American Poetry..."

I LOVE that he did that. In some ways, he's a man after my own heart!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well, I'll continue using this scale below to rate the songs for all of the remaining albums as we celebrate their anniversaries. I don't have time to comment on the songs individually right now, but I will make a few comments about some things that have come up in this thread. First of all, I have to say that I like every song on this album including the ones at the bottom of my list. Regarding whether or not I Love To Watch a Woman Dance is a good fit on the album, I agree that it probably sounds like more of a Glenn solo song. And as Soda mentioned, another reason it may seem out of place may be because we are not used to hearing romantic Eagles songs. However, I still think it is a beautiful song that fits thematically with the rest of the album. To me, the album is about the guys all grown up now - including matters of the heart. I also agree with chaim's and TBF's interpretations of FGOTBP. My reason for just liking it, as opposed to loving it, has more to do with the melody than the lyrics. As far as Fast Company, I guess it's the falsetto that drops it down a notch for me, although I think the falsetto is pretty appropriate for the song. Overall, I think that the guys did themselves proud with this album. While I don't think some of it is their very best work, neither is any of it their weakest. So here is my rating of the songs in the order that I like them ...

1. How Long – 5
2. Waiting In the Weeds – 5
3. What Do I Do With My Heart – 5
4. Somebody – 5
5. Long Road Out of Eden – 5
6. You Are Not Alone – 5
7. I Dreamed There Was No War – 5
8. I Love To Watch a Woman Dance – 5

9. Do Something – 4
10. Last Good Time In Town – 4
11. Business As Usual – 4
12. No More Cloudy Days – 4
13. Guilty of the Crime – 4
14. Center of the Universe – 4
15. It’s Your World Now – 4
16. Busy Being Fabulous – 4

17. I Don’t Want To Hear Any More – 3
18. No More Walks In the Wood – 3
19. Frail Grasp On the Big Picture –3
20. Fast Company – 3


key:
5 - I love it
4 - I really like it
3 - I like it
2 - meh
1 - yikes

[sodascouts]

And of course the inspiration for the recording of "How Long":

How Long (Holland 1973)
Download .mpg (32 megs)
Download .wmv (8 megs)


Which became this...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcwnlbbL30"]How Long[/ame]