The Eagles

I hadn’t given much thought to this band from the 1970’s until I saw a documentary about them on Netflix last fall. Turns out they are more interesting than I knew; and they were honored by President Obama last month at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

I recently re-listened to some of their hits, and came to the conclusion that—apart from a few great songs—the Eagles are over-rated. Compared to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, or the band Yes, the Eagles are lightweights. Their songs are mostly about girls, self-indulgence, or personal agendas. It would be easy to compare them to the Beach Boys, except that Brian Wilson’s harmonies and chord structures are brilliantly unique and memorable.

Hotel California remains a fascinating song, because not only is the music good, the lyrics invite endless speculation about what the song means. Don Felder wrote the music, but he was marginalized by the Eagles, and was not invited to attend the Kennedy Center honors. This, to me, was a grave oversight, because Felder provided years of memorable guitar licks on so many songs, in addition to Hotel California (which the Eagles still perform).

Take It To The Limit—penned and sung by bassist Randy Meisner—is a good song but not a great one. The opening is wonderful, but its theme about evolving from youth into maturity never quiet gets there. Still, the fans love it.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had a few duds also. Almost Cut My Hair and Our House are pleasant, but it was songs like Neil Young’s Ohio and Graham Nash’s Chicago in which political statements were forcefully made.

Steven Stills, a musical genius, penned some political songs when he and Young were part of Buffalo Springfield, a seminal band during the protest era. Stills’ song For What It’s Worth remains a classic and is still played today. If the title is unfamiliar to you, you may remember its opening: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”

This song remains relevant today, especially with the violence in the streets perpetrated by millions of anti-Trump protesters: “Hey children, what’s that sound?” By comparison, the Eagles sang about Lyin’ Eyes and other feminine wiles.

In my view, Yes remains the most unsung band of…well, maybe ever. The four principals, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman, were classically trained and each was a virtuoso. Together, the music they created was meticulous thunder. Their musicianship was light years beyond what other groups were doing, although the lyrics were often obscure and difficult to follow. Their songs were definitely not for AM radio, but for the more esoteric listener. Still, their music remains astonishing.

Desperado is a pretty good song, especially the way Linda Ronstadt sings it. The song contains one brilliant lyric: “Your prison is walking through this world all alone.” Now that could make a great song all by itself; but then they screw it up with “You better let somebody love you before it’s too late.” Still, it was their first song, so credit is due.

When Joe Walsh joined the Eagles, he helped transform the Eagles into a kick-ass rock and roll band, and a classic song such as Heartache Tonight (which I believe was co-written with Bob Seger) was straight-out rock, and a great song to sing along with.

The Eagles were a great band, no way around it. Plus it’s fun to sing along in the car when they play. The songs are not much of a challenge, but then rock and roll isn’t supposed to be.

Russ Mason
As Teo, Saipan