Discussion of Eagles Documentary "History of the Eagles"

[Freypower]

Welcome! I agree with everything you've said and I want to add something that has been bothering me more and more, (I am probably feeling the way Glenn felt when Don Felder said, "I guess" after Senator Cranston thanked the Eagles for playing the benefit for him and Glenn got more and more angry the more he thought about it.) It has to do with Glenn retelling the story of why Randy left the band. Glenn could have said, "Randy was unhappy and decided to leave", and left it at that, but instead he mentions the "Take It to the Limit" issue and says that he told Randy, "If you don't want to sing it, then why don't you f**king quit? If you're so unhappy, just quit." Glenn may have been 100% right about the situation, but I feel that it was very disrespectful to Randy. Randy wasn't just some lackey, he, and Bernie for that matter, were founding members of the Eagles along with Glenn and Don H. and I don't think Glenn's comments were called for in the retelling.

Thanks for listening, I feel better now.

I sympathise, but if that is what happened then in my view it should be reported accurately.

[timfan]

Did some quick research and it does not appear to be difficult or unusual for a writer or publisher to change the order of credits. Given Timothy's easy-going attitude I doubt this change or mistake is bothering him at all.

This is the relevant portion:

The order of the names in the credits are generally based on how the writers (or publishers) choose to list them, and may change order on the same song depending on where they happen to be listed. In some instances, the writers may choose to list the writer first who came up with the initial idea/hook/title for the song. In some instances, the writers choose to list the names in alphabetical order. In other instances, the writer who is best known is listed first. Writer A may choose to list him/herself first on all of the songs on his/her own CD, while Writer B may list him/herself first on their own CD--or vice versa. Some writers don't care where they are listed and others may feel that it is important to be listed first, if the idea was theirs, or they feel that they wrote more of the song than their co-writer.

[sodascouts]

Most people wouldn't even notice, so if Glenn was trying to somehow "steal glory" from Tim (or other band members) as some seem to believe, it was pretty feeble.

Seriously, guys, let's use some logic here before we get all outraged. It doesn't benefit Glenn in any way to deliberately change the order on the songs. The idea that this is some kind of evil strategy to aggrandize himself at other members' expense is frankly laughable, as a small change on these songs that 99.9% of people wouldn't even notice would hardly accomplish that goal.

It's far more probable that it's a mistake, as the credits already contain at least one other error.

ETA: An intern does things like type up credits, not Glenn personally (I know because an intern emailed me about a photo credit question), and Glenn says they didn't even see the final product until Sundance! The job of musical producer is not the same as copy editor.

[sodascouts]

Oh my gosh, guys. I just realized something awful. This may be my fault.

Back in the day, when I'd only made Glenn Frey Online (at the time I was planning on that being the only site), it was easier for me to always list Glenn first because I'd just put "G. Frey and.." etc. I didn't think about it being a big deal. I was too lazy to change the order when I decided to make the Eagles site a couple years later.

Well, these guys kinda consulted my site for some stuff. I don't know that they did it for the song credits, but I know they asked me about photo credits, and it kinda makes sense that the interns would do it for the song credits too...

Crap.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Thank you for clearing that up, Nancy. As we surmised when it was pointed out, it had to be a mistake. I only know of one other time (doesn't mean there weren't more) that the order of names was changed, the HFO version of HC, and we've established why that happened as well.

I feel like an ungrateful wretch because I don't watch movie credits, but I'll probably just keep feeling that way as it's unlikely I'll ever watch them.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

In light of the movie being released, this article has been floating around the internet. Thought I would post it here. I just posted it elsewhere (the brother thread).

http://www.theuncool.com/2013/05/13/...ling-stone-75/

ETA: Jack Tempchin posted it on Facebook, that's where I got it.

[sodascouts]

Shoot, guys, I looked it up. Every song where I changed the order on my site is also changed on their credits: Desperado, One of These Nights, Take It to the Limit, Too Many Hands (where I reversed Randy and Felder's credit - Glenn isn't even credited on that song so he obviously didn't change the order), Life in the Fast Lane, Wasted Time, The Long Run, I Can't Tell You Why, Heartache Tonight, Get Over It, Hole in the World, Long Road Out of Eden, Busy Being Fabulous...

The only exceptions are Hotel California and Victim of Love, both of which have Felder listed before Glenn. Obviously, if Glenn were going to change all the songs to put himself first, wouldn't he have especially changed those? Instead, it looks like Felder's two biggest co-writes were the only ones the interns took care with, probably because of the controversy that surrounds him.

I am mortified... but how could I have known my little bit of laziness could come to this?

[MaryCalifornia]

I am under the impression that this message board is for the 0.1% who do notice Eagles-related things, and who are interested in discussing the nitty gritty details. I think this is an interesting topic, and I don't think we should be dismissive of a legitimate issue that members pick up on. Maybe changing the order of songwriting credits isn't an issue at all, I don't know...Maybe its just a mistake by interns going to a fan site for information...the only reason I noticed it was because I had heard that the credits had changed for other Eagles songs.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

You were very right to pick up on it, MaryC! And we're glad you mentioned it. Yes, that is what this message board is for. Well, that and drool, but mostly the details.

[sodascouts]

I didn't say it was wrong to note it; in fact, I'm glad it was noted so we could have this conversion. However, I did think people were jumping to conclusions, assigning blame, and casting harsh judgments way too quickly (something that tends to happen a lot on the internet where facts are often scarce, lol). I stand by that, since the answer to the puzzle seems pretty clear now, and it's not "Glenn The Evil Glory Hound" as was immediately assumed by some.