Episode 1

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0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains strong language.

0:00:05 > 0:00:10# There are stars

0:00:10 > 0:00:13# In the southern sky

0:00:16 > 0:00:24# Southward as you go-o-o

0:00:25 > 0:00:31# There is moonlight

0:00:31 > 0:00:34# And moss in the trees

0:00:35 > 0:00:45# Down the Seven Bridges Ro-o-oad

0:00:45 > 0:00:48- Pretty close.- Not too bad.

0:00:48 > 0:00:50It's gonna be about two minutes, so come on.

0:00:50 > 0:00:51- Do what you got to do.- We got to go.

0:00:51 > 0:00:53I need a wrist band.

0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's something that you can't do forever, you know?

0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is not a lifetime career that we can do, you know? So...

0:00:59 > 0:01:01It's not?!

0:01:07 > 0:01:09All right, let's go.

0:01:10 > 0:01:12DISTANT CHEERING OF AUDIENCE

0:01:18 > 0:01:20AUDIENCE WHISTLE AND CHEER

0:01:26 > 0:01:30Thank you and good evening. We're the Eagles from Los Angeles.

0:01:30 > 0:01:32LOUD CHEERING

0:01:35 > 0:01:38One, two, three, four.

0:01:38 > 0:01:40MUSIC STARTS

0:01:54 > 0:01:57# Well, I'm running down the road

0:01:57 > 0:01:58# Trying to loosen my load

0:01:58 > 0:02:02# I got seven women on my mind... #

0:02:02 > 0:02:04People are always saying things to me like,

0:02:04 > 0:02:07"You're just like a normal person."

0:02:07 > 0:02:10And I always say, "Of course!"

0:02:10 > 0:02:11# Ooh ooh

0:02:11 > 0:02:13# Ooh ooh! #

0:02:13 > 0:02:14All right!

0:02:20 > 0:02:22We might be a little more world-wise, you know,

0:02:22 > 0:02:24than some of those kids, that's all.

0:02:24 > 0:02:26We just maybe have less innocence than they do, but, I mean,

0:02:26 > 0:02:29I eat, I sleep, I fall in love, I fall out of love, I work.

0:02:29 > 0:02:31You know, I do pretty much the same thing.

0:02:31 > 0:02:35# You got your demons and you got desires

0:02:35 > 0:02:38# But I got a few of my own

0:02:40 > 0:02:45# Oooh someone to be kind to

0:02:45 > 0:02:47# In between the dark and the light

0:02:49 > 0:02:53# Oooh coming right behind you

0:02:53 > 0:02:57# Swear I'm gonna find you one of these nights! #

0:03:03 > 0:03:06We saw a poster of us when On the Border was made.

0:03:06 > 0:03:11Everybody looked like little kids, you know, like, early 20s and stuff.

0:03:11 > 0:03:14And everybody didn't have their wrinkles and baggy eyes.

0:03:14 > 0:03:16Sort of like a president when he first takes office.

0:03:16 > 0:03:18THEY LAUGH

0:03:18 > 0:03:21And then, like four or five years later, you know,

0:03:21 > 0:03:23he just walks out, and his hair is grey,

0:03:23 > 0:03:27and his eyes are drooping, and he's just really, you know, real burned.

0:03:27 > 0:03:32# Spent the last year Rocky Mountain way

0:03:32 > 0:03:36# Couldn't get much higher! #

0:03:36 > 0:03:40The first thing that happens is you get some kind of label,

0:03:40 > 0:03:43then you've got to live up to it, and then you just get caught in that,

0:03:43 > 0:03:46and I forget what the second thing is!

0:03:46 > 0:03:48THEY LAUGH

0:03:48 > 0:03:53# You know I've always been a dreamer

0:03:53 > 0:03:57# Spend my life running round

0:03:57 > 0:04:00# And it's so hard to change

0:04:00 > 0:04:03It's hard. It's like living two lives.

0:04:03 > 0:04:05You know, I have a family, three kids.

0:04:06 > 0:04:09And it's just hard to live in between that line, you know,

0:04:09 > 0:04:13of being out on the road and being away for a month.

0:04:13 > 0:04:17# Keep on turning out and burning out

0:04:17 > 0:04:23# And turning out the sa-a-ame

0:04:23 > 0:04:27# So put me on a highway

0:04:27 > 0:04:31# And show me a sign

0:04:31 > 0:04:34# And take it to the limit

0:04:34 > 0:04:37# One more time. #

0:04:37 > 0:04:40Maybe we wouldn't want to do this any more,

0:04:40 > 0:04:42or maybe we can't do this any more,

0:04:42 > 0:04:44or maybe nobody will give a shit if we do this any more.

0:04:44 > 0:04:47# Take it to the limit

0:04:47 > 0:04:52# One more t-i-i-ime. #

0:04:54 > 0:04:56Thank you.

0:04:56 > 0:04:57APPLAUSE

0:05:06 > 0:05:08No, I insist. You first.

0:05:10 > 0:05:11Hi, there.

0:05:13 > 0:05:15Lock it up.

0:05:15 > 0:05:17A hearty bunch out there. Oh, he's not even here. Now lock it up.

0:05:17 > 0:05:20Hey, driver, lock 'em up for us tonight, ok?

0:05:20 > 0:05:23- Out of sight.- You just don't know what those kids will do.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25Doggone.

0:05:31 > 0:05:33How about a beer? Is that what I heard?

0:05:33 > 0:05:36- You got it, brother. - Don't hurt yourself, young America.

0:05:38 > 0:05:40- Would you like one? - Yeah, I would like one.

0:05:40 > 0:05:43I'm gonna drink tonight.

0:05:43 > 0:05:46I think they feel like they're up there, you know,

0:05:46 > 0:05:48like they're on the stage.

0:05:48 > 0:05:50Cos we look like them. We dress like them.

0:05:50 > 0:05:52Part of it is that, and part of it's the records.

0:05:52 > 0:05:54I think they just relate to the songs.

0:05:54 > 0:05:56I think it's 50/50, I guess.

0:05:56 > 0:05:59The thing is now is to try to see how long

0:05:59 > 0:06:01we can stay up here at the top of the mountain.

0:06:01 > 0:06:03It's very narrow and windy up here.

0:06:03 > 0:06:07We can probably continue doing what we're doing as long as the songs keep coming.

0:06:07 > 0:06:09That's the only thing that frightens us,

0:06:09 > 0:06:11is to not be able to do that any more.

0:06:11 > 0:06:14If we go to the well and nothing comes up, we would be in trouble. So far, so good.

0:06:14 > 0:06:17I think we can maintain this for a few more years.

0:06:17 > 0:06:20I don't see why not.

0:06:20 > 0:06:22Other people have. The Rolling Stones and the Who and the Led...

0:06:22 > 0:06:26and Led Zeppelin. I almost said THE Led Zeppelin! ..Have done it.

0:06:26 > 0:06:28Chicago's done it.

0:06:31 > 0:06:33Groups last longer than they used to, you know?

0:06:38 > 0:06:40Shit don't float.

0:06:58 > 0:07:0290% of the time, being in the Eagles was a fucking blast.

0:07:03 > 0:07:05You know, I was living the dream.

0:07:06 > 0:07:08# He was a hard-headed man

0:07:08 > 0:07:10# He was brutally handsome... #

0:07:10 > 0:07:15We never in our wildest dreams figured on being this successful and lasting this long.

0:07:15 > 0:07:17# She held him up... #

0:07:17 > 0:07:20We were a bunch of guys out there touring the country.

0:07:20 > 0:07:24We had a little private plane. We had parties after the shows.

0:07:24 > 0:07:27We had a good time. We were starting to make some money.

0:07:27 > 0:07:31# They took all the right pills They threw outrageous parties... #

0:07:31 > 0:07:35We had three guitar players finally, you know, so we could rock a bit.

0:07:35 > 0:07:40So, it was a good time, a good time for me, a good time for Don.

0:07:40 > 0:07:42# Life in the fast lane

0:07:42 > 0:07:43# Surely make you lose your mind... #

0:07:43 > 0:07:45Everybody was really happy...

0:07:47 > 0:07:48..then!

0:07:48 > 0:07:51# Life in the fast lane

0:07:51 > 0:07:53# Everything, all the time

0:07:53 > 0:07:54# Life in the fast lane... #

0:07:54 > 0:07:59It was going really fast, and probably too fast.

0:08:06 > 0:08:08There was turmoil within the band.

0:08:08 > 0:08:10We put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

0:08:10 > 0:08:13As Glenn used to say, "We made it, and it ate us."

0:08:14 > 0:08:17It's hard to be in a group. It's a bit like being in a marriage,

0:08:17 > 0:08:20if you quadruple it or quintuple it, in our case.

0:08:22 > 0:08:26They asked Don when the Eagles broke up, "What was that like for you?"

0:08:26 > 0:08:28And he said it was a horrible relief.

0:08:30 > 0:08:33And I think that clocks it pretty well.

0:08:36 > 0:08:38You're a real pro, Don, all the way.

0:08:38 > 0:08:40Yeah, you are, too. The way you handle people.

0:08:40 > 0:08:42Except the people you pay, nobody gives a shit about it.

0:08:42 > 0:08:46Fuck you. I've been paying you for seven years, you fuckhead.

0:08:46 > 0:08:48So much stuff just happened.

0:08:49 > 0:08:56You know, there's a philosopher who says, "As you live your life...

0:08:58 > 0:09:02"..it appears to be...

0:09:02 > 0:09:08"anarchy and chaos and random events,

0:09:08 > 0:09:12"non-related events smashing into each other

0:09:12 > 0:09:15"and causing this situation."

0:09:15 > 0:09:20And then... then this happens, and it's overwhelming,

0:09:20 > 0:09:25and it just looks like, "What in the world is going on?"

0:09:27 > 0:09:31And later, when you look back at it...

0:09:33 > 0:09:36..it looks like a finely-crafted novel.

0:09:38 > 0:09:42But at the time, it don't!

0:09:43 > 0:09:46And a lot of the Eagles' story is like that.

0:09:49 > 0:09:53I'm gonna fuckin' kill you. I can't wait. I can't wait.

0:09:58 > 0:10:00We might as well start at the beginning.

0:10:05 > 0:10:09I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. My dad worked in a factory.

0:10:09 > 0:10:11My mother baked pies at General Motors.

0:10:11 > 0:10:14I started taking piano lessons when I was five years old.

0:10:14 > 0:10:18That alone could get you beat up after school in suburban Detroit.

0:10:18 > 0:10:19# And then she said...

0:10:19 > 0:10:23# Just because you've become a young man now

0:10:23 > 0:10:26# There's still some things that you don't understand... #

0:10:26 > 0:10:30Detroit was Motown, and so they played all the Motown hits.

0:10:30 > 0:10:34# Keep your freedom for as long as you can now

0:10:34 > 0:10:37# My momma told me, you'd better shop around.... #

0:10:37 > 0:10:40And that was the kind of stuff that we would listen to.

0:10:42 > 0:10:45I stopped playing piano when I was 12. It was too much.

0:10:45 > 0:10:46I wanted to do other things,

0:10:46 > 0:10:50and I think the girl thing was starting to happen, as well.

0:10:50 > 0:10:52THEY SCREAM

0:10:52 > 0:10:53Then the Beatles came along,

0:10:53 > 0:10:57and my aunt took me down to see the Beatles at the Olympia.

0:10:57 > 0:10:59THEY SCREAM

0:10:59 > 0:11:00It was crazy.

0:11:00 > 0:11:03I remember having a girl that was standing on her seat in front of me

0:11:03 > 0:11:10fall backwards into my arms, delirious, going, "Paul, Paul!"

0:11:10 > 0:11:13You know, and I thought, "Oh, my God!"

0:11:13 > 0:11:15I have a very vivid memory of seeing the Beatles

0:11:15 > 0:11:18with my parents on our old Admiral TV set.

0:11:18 > 0:11:19It was like a bolt of lightning.

0:11:19 > 0:11:22It had a huge impact on me. It was revolutionary.

0:11:22 > 0:11:24And it was an impact that would last a lifetime,

0:11:24 > 0:11:27and I know that had a huge impact on Glenn, too,

0:11:27 > 0:11:29even though we didn't know each other at the time.

0:11:33 > 0:11:38Linden, Texas, is my hometown. It's a small town in North-eastern Texas.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41When I was growing up, the population was about 2,500, 2,600.

0:11:41 > 0:11:46# I can settle down... #

0:11:46 > 0:11:48It's primarily an agricultural area.

0:11:48 > 0:11:51Some people worked at the steel mill.

0:11:51 > 0:11:53It's just a typical small Texas town.

0:11:53 > 0:11:57There's an old courthouse dating back to before the Civil War

0:11:57 > 0:11:59and one stoplight.

0:11:59 > 0:12:02It's kind of like The Last Picture Show, you know?

0:12:04 > 0:12:05It was a great place musically,

0:12:05 > 0:12:07because it was kind of a cultural crossroads.

0:12:07 > 0:12:11It's really located where the old South begins to meet the West.

0:12:13 > 0:12:17Linden, Texas, was the birthplace of Scott Joplin and T-Bone Walker.

0:12:17 > 0:12:20# Yes, time is hard, baby... #

0:12:20 > 0:12:24Both my parents loved music, so we had a lot of records in the house.

0:12:24 > 0:12:29I was exposed to music of all kinds from an early age.

0:12:29 > 0:12:33You know, Country and Western music, Western swing music, gospel music, Blues...

0:12:33 > 0:12:36Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline.

0:12:36 > 0:12:37# More, more, more

0:12:37 > 0:12:39# Gonna live it up and tear it down

0:12:39 > 0:12:42# Get in the groove and paint the town

0:12:42 > 0:12:44# Got a lot of rhythm in my soul... #

0:12:44 > 0:12:46There was a 50,000-watt radio station in New Orleans,

0:12:46 > 0:12:49and I heard things on that station that I didn't hear anywhere else.

0:12:51 > 0:12:53So, I had a lot of radio coming in.

0:12:56 > 0:12:58And when I would go to work with my dad,

0:12:58 > 0:13:01he would listen to a station in Shreveport, Louisiana. KWKH.

0:13:04 > 0:13:07# Say, hey, good lookin!

0:13:07 > 0:13:10# What you got cookin?

0:13:10 > 0:13:13# How's about cooking something up for me? #

0:13:13 > 0:13:17And that station broadcast a radio show called the Louisiana Hayride,

0:13:17 > 0:13:21where Elvis Presley made his first radio broadcast in 1954.

0:13:21 > 0:13:23# Well, that's alright, Mama

0:13:23 > 0:13:26# That's alright with you

0:13:26 > 0:13:28# That's alright, Mama

0:13:28 > 0:13:30# Just any way you do

0:13:30 > 0:13:32# That's alright

0:13:32 > 0:13:34# That's alright... #

0:13:34 > 0:13:38The very first rock 'n' roll record I bought was by Elvis Presley.

0:13:38 > 0:13:42# Anyway you do... #

0:13:42 > 0:13:44My playing the drums was sort of an organic process.

0:13:44 > 0:13:48I began by beating on my school books with my fingers

0:13:48 > 0:13:49and with pencils.

0:13:49 > 0:13:51I would beat out little cadences,

0:13:51 > 0:13:54and I used to drive my classmates crazy doing that, until, I think,

0:13:54 > 0:13:55one day, somebody said to me -

0:13:55 > 0:13:57I think it was my friend Richard Bowden - he said,

0:13:57 > 0:14:00"Why don't you just start playing the drums?"

0:14:00 > 0:14:03I managed to cobble together a drum kit from old drums

0:14:03 > 0:14:06that I found stashed in the back of the band hall at high school.

0:14:06 > 0:14:09And then one day, my mom said, "Come on, get in the car."

0:14:09 > 0:14:12And she drove me to a town about an hour and a half away

0:14:12 > 0:14:15called Sulphur Springs, Texas, to McKay Music Company.

0:14:15 > 0:14:17Much to my surprise,

0:14:17 > 0:14:20she bought me a set of red-sparkle Slingerland drums

0:14:20 > 0:14:22that I still have today.

0:14:22 > 0:14:24So, I have to give my parents a lot of credit.

0:14:24 > 0:14:26They bought me that drum kit

0:14:26 > 0:14:28even though they couldn't really afford it.

0:14:32 > 0:14:35The first band I was in was a band with my high-school buddy

0:14:35 > 0:14:38Richard Bowden and another high-school friend, Jerry Surratt,

0:14:38 > 0:14:43and we played Dixieland jazz music. Nobody sang. We just played music.

0:14:46 > 0:14:50MUSICAL INTRO TO "SATISFACTION" BY THE ROLLING STONES

0:14:50 > 0:14:52I went to a high-school party, and there were four kids

0:14:52 > 0:14:55who were freshmen in high school who were playing.

0:14:55 > 0:14:57I was a junior, and I had a couple beers that night and said,

0:14:57 > 0:15:02"Hey, you know, do you know Satisfaction? Cos I can sing it."

0:15:02 > 0:15:04So, I became the lead singer of the Subterraneans.

0:15:04 > 0:15:06# And I try and I try

0:15:06 > 0:15:09# And I try... #

0:15:09 > 0:15:11I played in the Subterraneans for a while,

0:15:11 > 0:15:14and then I played in another band called the Mushrooms.

0:15:14 > 0:15:16The most important thing that happened to me

0:15:16 > 0:15:18when I was in Detroit was I met Bob Seger.

0:15:21 > 0:15:23# Ye-e-e-ah

0:15:23 > 0:15:26# I'm gonna tell my tale, come on! #

0:15:26 > 0:15:28He took me under his wing.

0:15:28 > 0:15:31He invited me to recording sessions that he was having, you know,

0:15:31 > 0:15:34so I could see how records were made.

0:15:34 > 0:15:35I was his mentor.

0:15:35 > 0:15:38He was just so young, and I liked him right away

0:15:38 > 0:15:40because he was so funny.

0:15:40 > 0:15:44He had a great sense of humour, and, like me,

0:15:44 > 0:15:49I could see he was really ambitious. He really wanted to be on the radio.

0:15:49 > 0:15:51He cut a song called Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.

0:15:51 > 0:15:54He let me play acoustic guitar on the basic track

0:15:54 > 0:15:56and sing background vocals.

0:15:56 > 0:15:58# Ramblin' ma-a-an

0:15:58 > 0:16:01# A gamblin' man... #

0:16:01 > 0:16:04You can really hear Glenn blurt out on the first chorus.

0:16:04 > 0:16:08He comes out really loud. Tremendous gusto.

0:16:08 > 0:16:12Of course, that was a national hit for us, so that was really cool.

0:16:12 > 0:16:16Bob was the first guy that wrote his own songs and recorded them

0:16:16 > 0:16:17that I had ever met.

0:16:17 > 0:16:18He said, "You know, if you want to make it,

0:16:18 > 0:16:20"you're gonna have to write your own songs."

0:16:20 > 0:16:22And I said, "Well, what if they're bad?"

0:16:22 > 0:16:24And he said, "Well, they're gonna be bad."

0:16:24 > 0:16:26He says, "You just keep writing and keep writing,

0:16:26 > 0:16:29"and eventually, you'll write a good song."

0:16:29 > 0:16:31We were gonna have a band together.

0:16:31 > 0:16:33He was gonna get rid of his other guys,

0:16:33 > 0:16:35and I was gonna be his bass player.

0:16:35 > 0:16:37It didn't work out.

0:16:37 > 0:16:40My mom found me smoking pot with a friend of mine

0:16:40 > 0:16:43in somebody's basement, and she called up Seger's manager,

0:16:43 > 0:16:47Punch Andrews, and said, "Just a minute, not so fast."

0:16:50 > 0:16:52In the years leading up to the Great Depression,

0:16:52 > 0:16:54my dad had to quit school after the eighth grade.

0:16:54 > 0:16:57He had to go home and work in the fields with his brother and sister

0:16:57 > 0:16:59to help support the family.

0:16:59 > 0:17:01His fondest wish, in fact, his life's goal,

0:17:01 > 0:17:03was that I would go to college.

0:17:04 > 0:17:07Every Saturday night, he would bring home seven quarters,

0:17:07 > 0:17:10and we'd put them in a piggy bank, and when those quarters

0:17:10 > 0:17:13amounted to 100, he would take me to the bank

0:17:13 > 0:17:17and we would buy a savings bond, a United States savings bond,

0:17:17 > 0:17:20and put that away for my college education.

0:17:22 > 0:17:25So, between what my dad had saved and between what I was making

0:17:25 > 0:17:27doing gigs all over Texas and Arkansas and Louisiana

0:17:27 > 0:17:31on weekends, I paid for three and a half years of college.

0:17:31 > 0:17:35They have a world-famous music department in which I did not excel.

0:17:35 > 0:17:37I took one music course.

0:17:37 > 0:17:40I think it was beginning theory, and I flunked.

0:17:40 > 0:17:42I made an "F."

0:17:42 > 0:17:44But I didn't really care because I was an English major.

0:17:52 > 0:17:55Well, after the Mushrooms, I got invited to join this band

0:17:55 > 0:17:57called the Four of Us.

0:17:57 > 0:18:00Started getting into some of the California bands -

0:18:00 > 0:18:03the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the Beach Boys.

0:18:03 > 0:18:05Always wanted to go to California.

0:18:05 > 0:18:08And I got out there, my mind was blown.

0:18:08 > 0:18:10The vegetation - I'd never seen palm trees.

0:18:10 > 0:18:12You know, it was just like a dream come true.

0:18:12 > 0:18:15# So you want to be a rock'n'roll star?

0:18:15 > 0:18:19# Then listen now to what I say

0:18:19 > 0:18:21# Just get an electric guitar...

0:18:21 > 0:18:25The first celebrity I saw was David Crosby.

0:18:25 > 0:18:29# And when your hair's combed right and your pants fit tight

0:18:29 > 0:18:32# It's gonna be all right...

0:18:32 > 0:18:34And he had on that flat-brimmed hat that he wore

0:18:34 > 0:18:37on the second Byrds album, and he had a little leather cape on,

0:18:37 > 0:18:42and I just looked and I thought, "My God, there's David Crosby."

0:18:42 > 0:18:44Zoom, and we went right by.

0:18:44 > 0:18:48#And in a week or two if you make the charts

0:18:48 > 0:18:51# The girls'll tear you apart... #

0:18:51 > 0:18:54And the first person I met was John David Souther.

0:18:54 > 0:18:56We wanted to get high and play music.

0:18:56 > 0:18:58There were two of us with guitars.

0:18:58 > 0:19:01We were listening to a lot of that sort of interface between

0:19:01 > 0:19:04rock 'n' roll and country and western music that was

0:19:04 > 0:19:07happening in Southern California at the time with the Byrds

0:19:07 > 0:19:11and Dillard & Clark and the Burrito Brothers and Poco.

0:19:11 > 0:19:14# When I last saw you

0:19:14 > 0:19:18# I couldn't find a reason why

0:19:18 > 0:19:22# I felt kind of blue...#

0:19:22 > 0:19:25There was a lot of great music of that sort going around then.

0:19:25 > 0:19:27Longbranch Pennywhistle here.

0:19:27 > 0:19:29I suppose you wonder what that name meant, and John David and I -

0:19:29 > 0:19:32It was a well-kept spring back funky women.

0:19:32 > 0:19:35The songs weren't very good.

0:19:35 > 0:19:38I don't think Glenn and I were very far along as songwriters then.

0:19:38 > 0:19:40# Run, boy, run

0:19:40 > 0:19:43# You gotta move... #

0:19:43 > 0:19:46We were a funny little group, but we got gigs.

0:19:46 > 0:19:49We, you know, managed to play in some of the folk clubs around LA -

0:19:49 > 0:19:52the Golden Bear and the Ash Grove.

0:19:57 > 0:20:00# Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah

0:20:00 > 0:20:03# What condition my condition was in...

0:20:03 > 0:20:08We had a chance meeting with Kenny Rogers in Dallas, Texas, one day.

0:20:08 > 0:20:10He was coming through town with the First Edition.

0:20:10 > 0:20:12They were very hot at the time.

0:20:12 > 0:20:15# I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high... #

0:20:15 > 0:20:18I remember this like it was yesterday.

0:20:18 > 0:20:20This little kid came up and said, "Mr Rogers," he said,

0:20:20 > 0:20:23"I'm Don Henley, and I'm with a group called Felicity,

0:20:23 > 0:20:27and we're doing a show tonight, and we'd love to have you come see us."

0:20:27 > 0:20:30And I said, "You know, I'm really sorry, but I don't do that.

0:20:30 > 0:20:33I don't just go to clubs and watch groups."

0:20:33 > 0:20:36He said, "I really think you'd like us."

0:20:36 > 0:20:39And I thought, "Well, that's pretty cool," so I did.

0:20:39 > 0:20:43# From the minute that I met you, baby

0:20:43 > 0:20:46# You were hanging your chains on me

0:20:46 > 0:20:48# And I loved you so

0:20:48 > 0:20:53# I nearly lost my mind... #

0:20:53 > 0:20:56Kenny is a Texas boy, and he was looking for groups to produce.

0:20:56 > 0:20:58So, I brought them to LA,

0:20:58 > 0:21:02and they literally lived at my house for about four months.

0:21:03 > 0:21:05We changed their name to Shiloh.

0:21:05 > 0:21:08It was so much fun to take them into the studio.

0:21:08 > 0:21:15# Well, thank you Mr Big Time Music Business Man

0:21:15 > 0:21:20# For taking time to listen to my song...

0:21:20 > 0:21:22With Shiloh, we made one album, and it had a single called

0:21:22 > 0:21:26"Simple Little Down Home Rock and Roll Love Song for Rosie."

0:21:26 > 0:21:28Not exactly a short title!

0:21:28 > 0:21:30# Just a simple little down home

0:21:30 > 0:21:34# Rock and roll love song for Rosie... #

0:21:34 > 0:21:36We didn't know much about the business at that point.

0:21:36 > 0:21:37We were pretty naive.

0:21:37 > 0:21:41# Going down to the swamp river country some day... #

0:21:41 > 0:21:44We kicked around in the LA clubs for a while,

0:21:44 > 0:21:48played the Whisky, played some of the clubs down in the South Bay area,

0:21:48 > 0:21:51and nothing really happened for us.

0:21:54 > 0:21:57JD and I were looking for any place to play.

0:21:57 > 0:21:59We had heard about this guy Jackson Browne.

0:21:59 > 0:22:01He'd been playing the same clubs we had,

0:22:01 > 0:22:04but we never had seen him perform.

0:22:04 > 0:22:07- This is California. Mr Jackson Browne.- Ah, thank you, thank you.

0:22:07 > 0:22:10'Then there were a bunch of gigs that they had and some gigs that I had'

0:22:10 > 0:22:12that they would show up at my gigs

0:22:12 > 0:22:15and me at their gigs, and we became really good friends.

0:22:15 > 0:22:19And we'd start talking about, "Where do you live, and what's going on?"

0:22:19 > 0:22:24And Jackson said, "You know, you should come down to Echo Park.

0:22:24 > 0:22:26Rent's real cheap."

0:22:26 > 0:22:29Glenn got the apartment next to my apartment,

0:22:29 > 0:22:34and this apartment cost like 125 or something a month, you know.

0:22:34 > 0:22:36And I needed to economize, so I moved into the basement

0:22:36 > 0:22:40underneath Glenn's place, which I could get into for 35 a month.

0:22:40 > 0:22:43It only had one door. It was really just kind of an illegal place,

0:22:43 > 0:22:47just a cubby-hole, and that's where Jackson lived,

0:22:47 > 0:22:50with JD and I above. You know, that was it.

0:22:50 > 0:22:55There was a stereo, a piano, a bed, a guitar, you know, a teapot.

0:22:55 > 0:22:59KETTLE WHISTLES

0:22:59 > 0:23:04We slept late in those days, except around 9 o'clock in the morning,

0:23:04 > 0:23:06I'd hear Jackson Browne's teapot going off,

0:23:06 > 0:23:08this whistle in the distance.

0:23:08 > 0:23:11And then I'd hear him playing piano.

0:23:11 > 0:23:13I didn't really know how to write songs.

0:23:13 > 0:23:18I knew I wanted to write songs, but I didn't know exactly -

0:23:18 > 0:23:22you just wait around for inspiration, what was the deal?

0:23:22 > 0:23:26Well, I learned through Jackson's ceiling

0:23:26 > 0:23:29and my floor exactly how to write songs cos Jackson would get up,

0:23:29 > 0:23:33and he'd play the first verse and first chorus,

0:23:33 > 0:23:37and he'd play it 20 times until he had it just the way he wanted.

0:23:37 > 0:23:39And then there'd be silence.

0:23:39 > 0:23:42And then I'd hear the teapot go off again.

0:23:42 > 0:23:44Then it'd be quiet for 10 or 20 minutes.

0:23:44 > 0:23:47Then I'd hear him start to play again,

0:23:47 > 0:23:48and there was the second verse.

0:23:48 > 0:23:52So, then he'd work on the second verse, and he'd play it 20 times.

0:23:52 > 0:23:54And then he'd go back to the top of the song,

0:23:54 > 0:23:58and he'd play the first verse, the first chorus and the second verse

0:23:58 > 0:24:01another 20 times until he was really comfortable with it and,

0:24:01 > 0:24:05you know, change a word here or there, and I'm up there going,

0:24:05 > 0:24:07"So, that's how you do it" -

0:24:07 > 0:24:13elbow grease, you know, time, thought, persistence.

0:24:21 > 0:24:25# Doctor, my eyes have seen the years

0:24:25 > 0:24:28# And the slow parade of fears

0:24:28 > 0:24:30# Without crying...

0:24:30 > 0:24:31I wanted to kill him sometimes.

0:24:31 > 0:24:36Jackson would play the same phrase from Doctor, My Eyes for six weeks.

0:24:36 > 0:24:39The same thing with The Pretender. I just wanted to murder him.

0:24:39 > 0:24:44# Doctor, my eyes... #

0:24:44 > 0:24:46And it was during that period of time that I met Glenn Frey

0:24:46 > 0:24:49because we were on the same label, called Amos Records.

0:24:49 > 0:24:51Some of the things that struck me

0:24:51 > 0:24:53when I first met Glenn were things we had in common.

0:24:53 > 0:24:57Both of our dads made a living in the automotive industry.

0:24:57 > 0:25:00Glenn and I loved old cars, especially cars from the '50s.

0:25:00 > 0:25:03He had a '55 Chevy that he named Gladys.

0:25:03 > 0:25:07And we drove around Los Angeles in Gladys.

0:25:07 > 0:25:08- RADIO:- Check out the new talent.

0:25:08 > 0:25:11There's no better place in town to catch those new singers

0:25:11 > 0:25:13and songwriters than down at the Monday night Hoot Night,

0:25:13 > 0:25:16Doug Weston's world-famous Troubadour, happening tonight.

0:25:16 > 0:25:20'The Troubadour club was the centre of the musical universe.

0:25:20 > 0:25:23It was a very seminal place. It was the place to see and be seen.

0:25:24 > 0:25:26Every Monday night they had an open stage.

0:25:26 > 0:25:27It was called Hoot Night.

0:25:31 > 0:25:34The Troubadour was the place to go if you were young

0:25:34 > 0:25:38and happening and trying to get involved in the music scene.

0:25:38 > 0:25:40It was happening there.

0:25:40 > 0:25:41# California

0:25:41 > 0:25:44# Oh, California

0:25:44 > 0:25:47# I'm coming home

0:25:47 > 0:25:50# Oh, make me feel good Rock'n'roll band

0:25:50 > 0:25:52# I'm your biggest fan

0:25:52 > 0:25:56# California, I'm coming home. #

0:25:56 > 0:25:58I saw a lot of great acts at the Troubadour.

0:25:58 > 0:26:02# So far away

0:26:02 > 0:26:09# Doesn't anybody stay in one place any more?

0:26:09 > 0:26:13# It would be so fine to see your face... #

0:26:13 > 0:26:18I witnessed Elton John's American debut performance in 1970.

0:26:20 > 0:26:25# And it's good old country comfort in my bones

0:26:27 > 0:26:32# Just the sweetest sound my ears have ever known... #

0:26:32 > 0:26:34Everybody who was anybody at the time played at the Troubadour.

0:26:37 > 0:26:38Of course, Linda,

0:26:38 > 0:26:41she still has one of my favourite voices in the business, ever.

0:26:41 > 0:26:47# Feeling better now we're through

0:26:47 > 0:26:51# Feeling better cos I'm over you...

0:26:51 > 0:26:55The Troubadour is really responsible for the entire music scene.

0:26:55 > 0:26:58I mean, everything I got, really, was virtually through either

0:26:58 > 0:27:02performing there onstage or in the bar, you know?

0:27:02 > 0:27:04# I'm telling you now, baby

0:27:04 > 0:27:06# And I'm going my way...

0:27:06 > 0:27:09I was just started managing Linda then,

0:27:09 > 0:27:12and Linda was going to be a star - that voice as big as a house.

0:27:12 > 0:27:14There wasn't anybody in the room

0:27:14 > 0:27:16that cared about anything but that voice.

0:27:16 > 0:27:20# I'm gonna say it again... #

0:27:20 > 0:27:22One night, we're down at the Troubadour,

0:27:22 > 0:27:24and John Boylan comes to me - he's managing Linda Ronstadt -

0:27:24 > 0:27:27and he says, "I'm taking Linda on the road.

0:27:27 > 0:27:31"We need guys who can sing. You want to play rhythm guitar and sing?"

0:27:31 > 0:27:34I offered him 250 a week, and he took it.

0:27:37 > 0:27:40I went back to him, I said,

0:27:40 > 0:27:43"Can you give me some of that money right now?"

0:27:43 > 0:27:44I think he gave me 50 bucks.

0:27:44 > 0:27:48And then I found Don from this band called Shiloh.

0:27:48 > 0:27:49I heard him playing at the Troubadour.

0:27:49 > 0:27:54# I'm coming down... #

0:27:54 > 0:27:58I was looking for a job. Glenn introduced me to John Boylan.

0:27:58 > 0:28:00I auditioned at this little house in Laurel Canyon.

0:28:00 > 0:28:03I had listened to her album hundreds of times,

0:28:03 > 0:28:05so I knew the songs backwards and forwards,

0:28:05 > 0:28:08and I guess I passed the audition, because I got the job.

0:28:08 > 0:28:12# I got a feeling called the blues Oh, Lord

0:28:12 > 0:28:15# Since my baby said good-bye

0:28:15 > 0:28:17# And I don't know what I'll do

0:28:18 > 0:28:22# All I do is sit and cry Oh, Lord

0:28:22 > 0:28:25# I've grown so used to him somehow

0:28:25 > 0:28:29# But I'm nobody's sugar momma now

0:28:29 > 0:28:32# And I'm lonesome

0:28:32 > 0:28:36# Got the lovesick blues. #

0:28:36 > 0:28:38I learned a lot from Linda.

0:28:38 > 0:28:40It was a very formative experience for me.

0:28:40 > 0:28:42And she could hang with the guys, you know.

0:28:42 > 0:28:46She could drink tequila with the rest of us and hold her own.

0:28:46 > 0:28:53# Saving nickels, saving dimes... #

0:28:53 > 0:28:54It was really very ad hoc.

0:28:54 > 0:28:57We had a station wagon, put the gear in the back.

0:28:57 > 0:29:00We'd all get in it and drive to the college and play there.

0:29:00 > 0:29:03As a cost-cutting measure, band members had to share

0:29:03 > 0:29:06rooms in those days, so Glenn and I were roommates.

0:29:06 > 0:29:09- What did you guys eat? - I had a bowl of Rice Krispies.

0:29:09 > 0:29:12'Ladies and gentlemen, Linda Ronstadt.'

0:29:17 > 0:29:21It's funny. I seem to get people at a critical stage in their development

0:29:21 > 0:29:22and they build their chops.

0:29:22 > 0:29:26I mean, there's nothing that gets your chops up better than playing every single night.

0:29:26 > 0:29:29# If the same thing happened to everybody

0:29:29 > 0:29:32# That just happened to me... #

0:29:32 > 0:29:35Linda and John Boylan really like the way Henley and I play,

0:29:35 > 0:29:39really like the way we sing with her, and they start to get

0:29:39 > 0:29:43a vision of putting together a super group to back up Linda -

0:29:43 > 0:29:46the best of the new country-rock musicians,

0:29:46 > 0:29:49and we were going to be part of it.

0:29:49 > 0:29:51I remember talking with Don, and Don said,

0:29:51 > 0:29:54"Well, you know, I'd rather, like, just be in a band with you."

0:29:56 > 0:29:58And I said, "Well, yeah, me too.

0:29:58 > 0:30:01"You know, I'd rather just be in a band with you."

0:30:06 > 0:30:08So, we went to Linda and said, "You know,

0:30:08 > 0:30:12we really appreciate everything you've done for us, and it means

0:30:12 > 0:30:16a lot, and we love playing with you, but we'd like to have our own band."

0:30:16 > 0:30:25# If you won't be with me someday...

0:30:25 > 0:30:27Now, you know, I think a lot of people, you know,

0:30:27 > 0:30:29could get miffed by that, say, "Well, wait a second.

0:30:29 > 0:30:31"I brought you out here, you know.

0:30:31 > 0:30:34"I gave you a paying job when you couldn't afford

0:30:34 > 0:30:38"your own drinks at the Troubadour bar, and now you want to quit?"

0:30:38 > 0:30:41# Smile... #

0:30:41 > 0:30:46Linda was extremely gracious about the whole thing, as was John Boylan.

0:30:46 > 0:30:49They weren't resentful or bitter at all. They were great.

0:30:49 > 0:30:52They were supportive, as a matter of fact.

0:30:52 > 0:30:55# There you go and baby

0:30:55 > 0:30:57# Here am I

0:30:57 > 0:30:59# Well you left me here

0:30:59 > 0:31:04# So I could sit and cry... #

0:31:04 > 0:31:07They started talking about putting a band together,

0:31:07 > 0:31:09and we told them they should get Bernie Leadon.

0:31:09 > 0:31:13I was in several bands in LA Early on, I met Linda.

0:31:13 > 0:31:15Then I worked with Dillard & Clark -

0:31:15 > 0:31:19Doug Dillard, banjo player, and Gene Clark from the Byrds.

0:31:19 > 0:31:22And so, now I'm in an offshoot of the Byrds world,

0:31:22 > 0:31:26and then that turned into an invitation from the Burrito Brothers

0:31:26 > 0:31:30from Chris Hillman to come join them for their second album on A&M.

0:31:30 > 0:31:34# Since we got the older guys to show us how

0:31:34 > 0:31:37# I don't see why we can't stop right now... #

0:31:37 > 0:31:40And I was still in the Burritos, but they had lost Gram Parsons,

0:31:40 > 0:31:44and it had changed, and I wasn't that interested any more.

0:31:47 > 0:31:49Bernie was a very accomplished banjo player,

0:31:49 > 0:31:53and he could also play guitar in what we called the Bindi lick style.

0:31:53 > 0:31:56It was pioneered by a fellow named Clarence White.

0:31:56 > 0:31:59And then Glenn told me about this guy named Randy Meisner who

0:31:59 > 0:32:00had been in a band called Poco.

0:32:00 > 0:32:04Randy could sing really high, and he also played bass.

0:32:04 > 0:32:06# It's a good morning and I'm feeling fine... #

0:32:06 > 0:32:08So, Glenn just kind of asked me one day

0:32:08 > 0:32:11if I'd be interested in starting a group with him.

0:32:11 > 0:32:17And he had Henley and Bernie. That was the first Eagles.

0:32:19 > 0:32:22So, the plan was that Glenn and I would try to recruit Bernie

0:32:22 > 0:32:25and Randy, and then we would all go to David Geffen and see

0:32:25 > 0:32:28if he would give us a recording contract.

0:32:28 > 0:32:32In the '70s, Asylum Records was considered the LA sound -

0:32:32 > 0:32:35Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,

0:32:35 > 0:32:36Jackson Browne.

0:32:36 > 0:32:40David Geffen, who started Asylum, is our patron, you know.

0:32:40 > 0:32:44A Medici, Medici of rock'n'roll.

0:32:44 > 0:32:49It's a very artist-oriented company, and whatever they want to do, we support them.

0:32:49 > 0:32:51If we believe in them, we'll stick with them,

0:32:51 > 0:32:52whether they make it or not.

0:32:52 > 0:32:55Jackson was our conduit to David Geffen.

0:32:55 > 0:32:57He was the first guy to get signed

0:32:57 > 0:33:00by Geffen's new Asylum Records label.

0:33:00 > 0:33:03So, we all walk in Geffen's office, and we basically said,

0:33:03 > 0:33:04"Here we are."

0:33:04 > 0:33:08Bernie Leadon just boldly says to Geffen,

0:33:08 > 0:33:10"Well, do you want us or not?"

0:33:10 > 0:33:12They were dying to sign with me.

0:33:12 > 0:33:15I think they were very ambitious, particularly Glenn.

0:33:15 > 0:33:17Glenn wanted to have a hit band.

0:33:17 > 0:33:19I loved the way Don sang.

0:33:19 > 0:33:20You know, we all had hopes for it.

0:33:20 > 0:33:23All of a sudden, we were signed to Geffen's new label.

0:33:23 > 0:33:25They sent us back to the drawing board.

0:33:25 > 0:33:27They said, "You guys need to go and rehearse some more."

0:33:27 > 0:33:31They said, "You know, you need to write some songs. You're not really ready to record yet."

0:33:34 > 0:33:37So, they packed us off to Aspen, Colorado.

0:33:37 > 0:33:38It could have been worse.

0:33:38 > 0:33:42There were people who were way higher than any of us had ever been.

0:33:44 > 0:33:47It was a Wild West wide-open town at that point.

0:33:47 > 0:33:50MUSIC: "Tryin'" by the Eagles

0:33:54 > 0:33:56We played at a club up there called The Gallery,

0:33:56 > 0:33:58which was located right at the foot of Aspen Mountain.

0:33:58 > 0:34:00# Tryin'

0:34:00 > 0:34:02# Got to keep on tryin'

0:34:04 > 0:34:06# Tryin'... #

0:34:07 > 0:34:10We didn't have a big catalogue of our own tunes at that point.

0:34:10 > 0:34:12We were just getting started.

0:34:15 > 0:34:17We needed to learn how to play together as a band, and we did.

0:34:17 > 0:34:21# The moon is a weeper

0:34:21 > 0:34:24# The sun is your clown

0:34:24 > 0:34:27# And his way of lovin'

0:34:27 > 0:34:30# Is holdin' you down... #

0:34:32 > 0:34:35And then it was like, "OK, we need to make a record.

0:34:35 > 0:34:37"Who are we going to get to produce it?"

0:34:37 > 0:34:39We wanted to shoot as high as we could.

0:34:39 > 0:34:42Glenn Frey came up with Glyn Johns as an idea.

0:34:42 > 0:34:47Glyn Johns was a name that kept popping up on records we loved.

0:34:49 > 0:34:52The first time I heard them was in Aspen.

0:34:52 > 0:34:55I was not at all impressed, really.

0:34:55 > 0:34:59THEY PLAY GUITAR DUET

0:34:59 > 0:35:02I thought they were confused.

0:35:02 > 0:35:06Glenn Frey wanted to be in a rock'n'roll band,

0:35:06 > 0:35:09and Bernie Leadon, on the other side, was one of the greatest

0:35:09 > 0:35:11acoustic players, country players, if you like.

0:35:11 > 0:35:14And there was a bit of a confusion.

0:35:14 > 0:35:17I didn't see what all the fuss was about at all.

0:35:17 > 0:35:19So I passed.

0:35:19 > 0:35:24We're like, "God dang, what?" You know, it's not what we expected.

0:35:24 > 0:35:29He had worked with Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Stones,

0:35:29 > 0:35:33so he was coming from that, and he said flat-out,

0:35:33 > 0:35:35"You're not that, man."

0:35:35 > 0:35:40It isn't always easy to spot what's hot about an artist

0:35:40 > 0:35:43if you go and see them play. You can see them on a bad night.

0:35:43 > 0:35:46You know, it's not necessarily the fairest way of doing it.

0:35:46 > 0:35:50So, I thought, "Well, the best thing to do would be for me to see them

0:35:50 > 0:35:53"in a rehearsal situation where we could converse

0:35:53 > 0:35:56"and they could play new stuff and I could stop and start."

0:35:56 > 0:35:58And they played the stuff that they played in Aspen,

0:35:58 > 0:36:01and it all sounded pretty much the same.

0:36:01 > 0:36:05Well, I was thinking, "I don't get it. I still don't get it."

0:36:05 > 0:36:10So, we decided to take a break for lunch

0:36:10 > 0:36:12and as we were leaving,

0:36:12 > 0:36:15somebody said, "Oh, why don't we play Glyn that ballad?"

0:36:15 > 0:36:21# My daddy was a handsome devil

0:36:21 > 0:36:27# He had a chain five miles long...

0:36:27 > 0:36:30And it just completely blew me off my feet.

0:36:30 > 0:36:32I mean, there it was. That was the sound.

0:36:32 > 0:36:38# From every link a heart did dangle

0:36:38 > 0:36:41# For every maid... #

0:36:41 > 0:36:44Extraordinary blend of voices, wonderful harmony sound.

0:36:44 > 0:36:47Just stunning.

0:36:47 > 0:36:49And that was it. I was in with both feet.

0:36:49 > 0:36:56# Now I have loved you like a baby... #

0:36:56 > 0:36:57Except that Glyn Johns

0:36:57 > 0:37:00didn't want to come to the United States and work.

0:37:00 > 0:37:03He wanted to work in London in the recording studios

0:37:03 > 0:37:06that he was familiar with, and so they shipped us off to England.

0:37:06 > 0:37:09I don't think that any of us except Bernie had ever been out

0:37:09 > 0:37:12of the country, so it was a little bit like going to the moon for us.

0:37:12 > 0:37:17# I'm hanging on to my peace of mind

0:37:17 > 0:37:20# I just don't know

0:37:20 > 0:37:22# I'm hanging on to those good times... #

0:37:22 > 0:37:25And I'm stoked. You know, I'm thinking,

0:37:25 > 0:37:28"I'm going to go to Beatle country with Glyn Johns.

0:37:28 > 0:37:29"I'm going to record in the same studio

0:37:29 > 0:37:32"where Led Zeppelin did Rock And Roll.

0:37:32 > 0:37:35"Oh, my God, I can't wait."

0:37:35 > 0:37:38We were recorded at the famous Olympic studios,

0:37:38 > 0:37:41where a lot of legendary records had been made.

0:37:41 > 0:37:44Glyn Johns, he had a certain style of recording,

0:37:44 > 0:37:45which was very organic.

0:37:45 > 0:37:49He would simply place a few mikes around the room, and off you go.

0:37:49 > 0:37:52You know, rather than, for example, placing a microphone on each

0:37:52 > 0:37:55and every drum, he would just put three microphones on the drum kit.

0:37:55 > 0:37:57He was accustomed to recording people

0:37:57 > 0:37:59like John Bonham with Led Zeppelin.

0:38:01 > 0:38:03And I said to Glyn, "I want the bass drum to be louder."

0:38:03 > 0:38:06And he said, "If you want it louder, hit it harder," you know?

0:38:06 > 0:38:07And I hit it as hard as I could,

0:38:07 > 0:38:10but I couldn't hit it as hard as John Bonham.

0:38:10 > 0:38:14He had a bunch of rules that really didn't suit me

0:38:14 > 0:38:16and some of the other guys, too.

0:38:16 > 0:38:20You know, no getting high in the studio, no drinking in the studio.

0:38:20 > 0:38:23I agreed wholeheartedly with Glyn Johns

0:38:23 > 0:38:25regarding drugs and alcohol in the studio -

0:38:25 > 0:38:29that we'd get more work done and that it would be better work.

0:38:29 > 0:38:32When I got the opportunity to produce and therefore

0:38:32 > 0:38:36be in the chair, I decided that I would no longer put up with that.

0:38:36 > 0:38:39Somebody said to me the other night that

0:38:39 > 0:38:44I was the designated driver in the '60s and early '70s.

0:38:45 > 0:38:49Glyn had worked with the Rolling Stones at a time when they went

0:38:49 > 0:38:53to the studio and did nothing except wait for Keith, you know, to go down

0:38:53 > 0:38:58in the basement and play his guitar until he came up with some riff.

0:38:58 > 0:39:00So, Glyn was impatient.

0:39:00 > 0:39:03The Stones had burned him out on the, you know,

0:39:03 > 0:39:07"get high in the studio and wait for something to happen" kind of thing.

0:39:07 > 0:39:08'Let's go. We're rolling.'

0:39:10 > 0:39:12'One, two, three.'

0:39:25 > 0:39:32# I like the way your sparkling earrings lay

0:39:32 > 0:39:36# Against your skin so brown

0:39:40 > 0:39:42# And I wanna sleep with you

0:39:42 > 0:39:45# In the desert tonight...

0:39:45 > 0:39:47There were three hit singles on the first album.

0:39:47 > 0:39:50Peaceful Easy Feeling was written by Jack Tempchin,

0:39:50 > 0:39:52who is our friend and frequent collaborator.

0:39:52 > 0:39:58# Cos I got a peaceful easy feeling...

0:39:58 > 0:40:03Peaceful Easy Feeling captures the time, captures this attitude.

0:40:03 > 0:40:06You can feel the wind blowing across the desert.

0:40:06 > 0:40:11# Oh-ohh

0:40:11 > 0:40:13# What a feeling

0:40:13 > 0:40:17# Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh. #

0:40:17 > 0:40:20MUSIC: "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles

0:40:23 > 0:40:26The second hit was Witchy Woman, which I wrote with Bernie.

0:40:28 > 0:40:31Witchy Woman started as a guitar figure.

0:40:31 > 0:40:34Then we were jamming it one day, and everybody was digging it.

0:40:34 > 0:40:37And then Henley came back the next day with the lyrics.

0:40:37 > 0:40:42# Raven hair and ruby lips

0:40:42 > 0:40:47# Sparks fly from her finger tips

0:40:47 > 0:40:52# Echoed voices in the night

0:40:52 > 0:40:57# She's a restless spirit on an endless flight

0:40:57 > 0:41:04# Woo hoo, witchy woman

0:41:04 > 0:41:09# See how high she flies

0:41:09 > 0:41:13# Woo hoo, witchy woman

0:41:13 > 0:41:19# She got the moon in her eye... #

0:41:19 > 0:41:22During the time that the Eagles were on the road for the first album,

0:41:22 > 0:41:26we had just come through the '60s - civil rights movement,

0:41:26 > 0:41:29'68 - all the assassinations, all the rioting.

0:41:31 > 0:41:34The Vietnam War still winding up. Nixon, Watergate.

0:41:34 > 0:41:36I welcome this kind of examination.

0:41:36 > 0:41:39I really think that part of the reason that the Eagles

0:41:39 > 0:41:42succeeded the way they did was because the country

0:41:42 > 0:41:47and people and young people needed to feel like things were OK.

0:41:47 > 0:41:49So, here comes this song Take It Easy.

0:41:56 > 0:41:59# Well I'm a runnin' down the road

0:41:59 > 0:42:00# Trying to loosen my load

0:42:00 > 0:42:03# I've got seven women on my mind

0:42:03 > 0:42:06# Four that want to own me

0:42:06 > 0:42:07# Two that want to stone me

0:42:07 > 0:42:11# One says she's a friend of mine

0:42:11 > 0:42:14# Take it easy

0:42:14 > 0:42:17# Take it easy

0:42:17 > 0:42:24# Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy

0:42:24 > 0:42:28# Lighten up while you still can

0:42:28 > 0:42:31# Don't even try to understand

0:42:31 > 0:42:34# Just find a place to play your hand

0:42:34 > 0:42:38# Take it easy...

0:42:42 > 0:42:44Jackson had this song called Take It Easy.

0:42:44 > 0:42:48He couldn't finish the song. He was stuck in the second verse.

0:42:48 > 0:42:53He had, "I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona."

0:42:53 > 0:42:56And so, I filled in, "Such a fine sight to see

0:42:56 > 0:42:58"It's a girl, my Lord In a flatbed Ford

0:42:58 > 0:43:00"Slowing down to take a look at me."

0:43:00 > 0:43:04# Well, I'm a standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

0:43:04 > 0:43:07# Such a fine sight to see

0:43:07 > 0:43:11# It's a girl my Lord in a flat-bed Ford

0:43:11 > 0:43:14# Slowin' down to take a look at me...

0:43:14 > 0:43:17Girl, Lord, Ford - I mean, all the redemption, you know -

0:43:17 > 0:43:20girls and cars and redemption all in this one line.

0:43:20 > 0:43:25I mean, he's very mercurical. You know... mercurial? Mercurial.

0:43:26 > 0:43:28And he's mercurical, too.

0:43:28 > 0:43:31# We may lose and we may win

0:43:31 > 0:43:35# But we will never be here again

0:43:35 > 0:43:38# So open up I'm climbin' in

0:43:38 > 0:43:41# So take it easy... #

0:43:41 > 0:43:42All right!

0:43:49 > 0:43:51Someone once asked Stephen Stills about the Eagles,

0:43:51 > 0:43:55and his response was, "They just wanted to be us."

0:43:55 > 0:43:57But when it came time to do our album covers,

0:43:57 > 0:44:01they suggested that we use Gary Burden and Henry Diltz.

0:44:01 > 0:44:03They had done the first Crosby, Stills, Nash cover

0:44:03 > 0:44:05and some stuff for Joni.

0:44:05 > 0:44:07The one I really remember was

0:44:07 > 0:44:10The Mamas & The Papas all sitting in the bathtub.

0:44:10 > 0:44:12That was one of their album covers.

0:44:12 > 0:44:16So, these were, like, the cool guys to have work on your album.

0:44:16 > 0:44:21Gary Burden is about 40 years old, full beard, long, greyish,

0:44:21 > 0:44:24wavy hair, crystal-blue eyes.

0:44:24 > 0:44:29Henry was a sort of magical, non-invasive photographer guy.

0:44:30 > 0:44:32For the Eagles,

0:44:32 > 0:44:36it was the peyote spirits which the American Indians, of course,

0:44:36 > 0:44:39ate peyote and had a very, very spiritual experience,

0:44:39 > 0:44:42and they would maybe meet their animal totem

0:44:42 > 0:44:45or they would get their quest for life.

0:44:45 > 0:44:50My deal was always to take the bands out of their comfort zone.

0:44:50 > 0:44:54Take them away from their girlfriends, from telephones,

0:44:54 > 0:44:57from anything, and have them under my control

0:44:57 > 0:45:02so that I could get things to happen without any interference.

0:45:02 > 0:45:04And so, we would take trips.

0:45:04 > 0:45:06Now, how this plan came about exactly,

0:45:06 > 0:45:11today you have to scratch your head, but this was the plan.

0:45:11 > 0:45:14OK, we'll all go to the Troubadour,

0:45:14 > 0:45:17and we'll stay there till closing time.

0:45:17 > 0:45:19And then we'll drive to Joshua Tree.

0:45:19 > 0:45:22# This morning I don't know... #

0:45:22 > 0:45:25We had a bag of peyote buttons, a bunch of trail mix,

0:45:25 > 0:45:28some tequila, and some water, and some blankets.

0:45:28 > 0:45:32And the seven of us set out for Joshua Tree.

0:45:32 > 0:45:35We got there probably about 4.30 in the morning, parked in this

0:45:35 > 0:45:38special place that I don't know how we found it in the dark.

0:45:44 > 0:45:48We all took one peyote button, put it in our mouths,

0:45:48 > 0:45:52and started hiking up to the place that we were supposed to go.

0:45:52 > 0:45:56So, right around the time that we're getting to the campsite

0:45:56 > 0:45:58and we're starting to build the fire

0:45:58 > 0:46:01and starting to cook some peyote tea, and the first buttons -

0:46:01 > 0:46:04everybody's chewing the first button

0:46:04 > 0:46:07and the drug starts coming on just as the sun is rising.

0:46:07 > 0:46:10MUSIC: "Earlybird" by the Eagles

0:46:25 > 0:46:28I think everybody got higher than they ever imagined

0:46:28 > 0:46:32anybody could be, and it was a good thing.

0:46:32 > 0:46:34We were after getting into life deeper

0:46:34 > 0:46:37and better and more and surrendering.

0:46:43 > 0:46:48I had to go to the bathroom, so I left the campsite,

0:46:48 > 0:46:52and I hear the guys yelling from the campfire, "Eagle! Eagle!"

0:46:52 > 0:46:57I look up, and it's soaring right above me. Huge wingspan.

0:46:57 > 0:47:00I'm, like, scuffling to get my pants back up, and I'm slipping.

0:47:00 > 0:47:04I fall down, and the bird just kind of goes,

0:47:04 > 0:47:08"Eagles, huh? Yeah, I don't think so."

0:47:11 > 0:47:14The images of the first album cover, I think,

0:47:14 > 0:47:19really set the tone for visually what Eagles are.

0:47:19 > 0:47:23Gary designed the album cover so that it would open up into a

0:47:23 > 0:47:30whole poster, and at the bottom were the Eagles around the campfire.

0:47:30 > 0:47:33And then, up at the top, it would go on up into the sky

0:47:33 > 0:47:35and the eagle up in the sky.

0:47:35 > 0:47:38But David Geffen thought that would be confusing,

0:47:38 > 0:47:42and without consulting us or consulting Gary or the Eagles

0:47:42 > 0:47:45or anybody, he told them, "Just glue it shut."

0:47:45 > 0:47:48And so, then, when they glued it shut, you would get this -

0:47:48 > 0:47:50this album, front and back, and you'd open it up,

0:47:50 > 0:47:54and it would be upside-down, which didn't make any sense to anybody.

0:48:00 > 0:48:03The fact was that the success of the first album scared the hell out of us.

0:48:03 > 0:48:06Why me instead of some guy down the street, you know?

0:48:06 > 0:48:09Why me and some friends of mine who are just as good of musicians

0:48:09 > 0:48:13as I am, you know, but it happened to me and it didn't happen to them?

0:48:13 > 0:48:14I don't know.

0:48:14 > 0:48:18Success can sometimes be just as disconcerting

0:48:18 > 0:48:20and frightening as failure, especially

0:48:20 > 0:48:24when you have questions about your own worthiness and your abilities.

0:48:24 > 0:48:27It came time to do another album.

0:48:27 > 0:48:30Don and I decided we'd try to write some songs together.

0:48:30 > 0:48:32I had been sitting over on Aqua Vista.

0:48:32 > 0:48:34I was living on the couch,

0:48:34 > 0:48:37and I'm just laying there playing the guitar, and I started going...

0:48:37 > 0:48:39# Ding-digga-ding digga...#

0:48:39 > 0:48:40You know, I'm thinking,

0:48:40 > 0:48:43"Yeah, that's pretty cool, kind of Roy Orbison, kind of Mexican.

0:48:43 > 0:48:45"Yeah, I like that."

0:48:45 > 0:48:47So, I showed him, you know, that guitar riff.

0:48:47 > 0:48:49I said, "Maybe we should write something to this."

0:48:51 > 0:48:56# It's another tequila sunrise

0:48:56 > 0:49:01# Staring slowly across the sky

0:49:04 > 0:49:06# I said goodbye

0:49:09 > 0:49:13# He was just a hired hand

0:49:14 > 0:49:20# Workin' on a dreamy plan to try...#

0:49:20 > 0:49:23Songs like "Desperado" and "Tequila Sunrise",

0:49:23 > 0:49:28that's when Glenn and I began collaborating, and that's when we really became a songwriting team.

0:49:28 > 0:49:31# Every night when the sun goes down

0:49:33 > 0:49:36# Just another lonely boy in town

0:49:38 > 0:49:44# And she's out runnin' round. #

0:49:44 > 0:49:45Earlier that year,

0:49:45 > 0:49:49someone had given Jackson Browne the book of gunfighters.

0:49:50 > 0:49:56It had all the big outlaw groups, Frank and Jesse, the Doolin-Dalton gang.

0:49:56 > 0:49:58We were all just fascinated with those guys,

0:49:58 > 0:50:00and we thought it would make a great analogy.

0:50:00 > 0:50:04Well, for example, we live outside the laws of normality.

0:50:04 > 0:50:07Also, you usually, because of records or bank robberies,

0:50:07 > 0:50:10you usually heard about these guys before you ever saw them.

0:50:10 > 0:50:14They had posters that were wanted posters up for people.

0:50:19 > 0:50:22There just seemed to be some parallels.

0:50:26 > 0:50:29It wasn't really like we were outlaws,

0:50:29 > 0:50:33but I think they did have their nobler characteristics.

0:50:34 > 0:50:41# A life on the road is the life of an outlaw, man. #

0:50:41 > 0:50:42We started talking about it.

0:50:42 > 0:50:46Then we said, "Well, maybe we should do, "like, an album all about the rebels."

0:50:46 > 0:50:48We got to doing this outlaw album,

0:50:48 > 0:50:52and we had eight songs finished, and we needed two more.

0:50:52 > 0:50:56An idea Randy came up with was how the guy became an outlaw

0:50:56 > 0:50:58and how he became a guitar player.

0:51:01 > 0:51:07# He was a poor boy Raised in a small family

0:51:09 > 0:51:17# He kinda had a craving For something no one else could see

0:51:18 > 0:51:24# They said that he was crazy The kind that no lady should meet

0:51:26 > 0:51:32# He ran off to the city Then wandered around in the street. #

0:51:32 > 0:51:36I kind of started it, and that's what usually happened.

0:51:36 > 0:51:38I'd get a verse or two, and then I'm done,

0:51:38 > 0:51:40and they would help fill in the blanks.

0:51:43 > 0:51:48# Oh, yeah. He wants to see the lights a-flashing

0:51:48 > 0:51:51# And listen to the thunder ring. #

0:51:51 > 0:51:58Nobody expected there to be a concept album with western cowboys music.

0:51:58 > 0:52:01Don Henley was from Texas. He was a cowboy.

0:52:01 > 0:52:05Glenn was from Detroit. He wanted to be a cowboy.

0:52:05 > 0:52:09Because I knew all these guys had a little cowboy inside of them,

0:52:09 > 0:52:14I took them to Western Costume and just said, "Pick out your persona."

0:52:14 > 0:52:18Their premise was that, if they had lived 100 years ago,

0:52:18 > 0:52:21in like 1872, they probably would have been gunslingers.

0:52:21 > 0:52:25Everybody's going to be firing in the direction of this building right here.

0:52:25 > 0:52:28Jackson, J.D., Boyd, you all got to be in the picture more.

0:52:28 > 0:52:32- We're going to be in there. - You ready? One, two, three!

0:52:38 > 0:52:42And we fired so many blanks that it was a cloud of smoke hanging

0:52:42 > 0:52:44over this western town,

0:52:44 > 0:52:50and the fire department came Cos they thought it was a fire.

0:52:50 > 0:52:51Keep firing!

0:52:51 > 0:52:54We were just a bunch of kids. We were just playing around.

0:53:02 > 0:53:04The picture that's on the back of the album,

0:53:04 > 0:53:05there's a lot of reality in it.

0:53:05 > 0:53:08All of the agents and managers and road managers, all the guys

0:53:08 > 0:53:13who didn't play are standing up, alive with badges and guns,

0:53:13 > 0:53:17and the four Eagles at the time and Jackson and I are all dead, bound

0:53:17 > 0:53:20up the way they used to do when they'd catch outlaws in those days.

0:53:20 > 0:53:21They'd stand them up for display.

0:53:21 > 0:53:24People never tired of looking at the corpse of a bad boy.

0:53:28 > 0:53:31We all felt, when we were doing it and as it was delivered, that it

0:53:31 > 0:53:35was another really remarkable record on the part of the band.

0:53:35 > 0:53:38I mean, it was pretty extraordinary.

0:53:38 > 0:53:41The band and I were enormously thrilled with it.

0:53:41 > 0:53:43They literally carried me out of the control room.

0:53:43 > 0:53:45They chaired me out of the control room.

0:53:45 > 0:53:49# Desperado

0:53:49 > 0:53:52# Is there gonna be anything left...#

0:53:52 > 0:53:54"Desperado" comes out, and it bombs.

0:53:56 > 0:54:00Jerry Greenberg was the Vice President of Atlantic Records.

0:54:00 > 0:54:02They were excited to get the second Eagles album.

0:54:02 > 0:54:05We played him "Desperado," and he said,

0:54:05 > 0:54:08"Hmm, that's, yeah, that's nice, that's good, that's nice."

0:54:08 > 0:54:13And turned around and said, "God, they made a fuckin' cowboy record."

0:54:13 > 0:54:18# Desperado

0:54:18 > 0:54:24# Oh, you ain't gettin' no younger. #

0:54:24 > 0:54:27I was extremely flattered that Linda recorded "Desperado."

0:54:27 > 0:54:30It was really her that popularized the song.

0:54:30 > 0:54:33Her version was very poignant and beautiful.

0:54:33 > 0:54:35# And freedom, oh, freedom

0:54:35 > 0:54:39# That's just some people talkin'

0:54:39 > 0:54:48# Your prisoner is walking through this world all alone. #

0:54:48 > 0:54:54There have been a lot of articles and things that identify me with the L.A. sound.

0:54:54 > 0:54:56It's sort of, like, me and Jackson Browne and the Eagles.

0:54:56 > 0:55:00All of us are reaching out for other musical influences all the time.

0:55:00 > 0:55:03The so-called southern California sound was developing.

0:55:03 > 0:55:06It was fresh, it was different, it was unique.

0:55:06 > 0:55:08It was a melting pot, people moving

0:55:08 > 0:55:10here from all over the United States to pursue their dream.

0:55:10 > 0:55:15Actors, musicians, wannabe managers, agents, wannabe, you know, like me.

0:55:19 > 0:55:23I picked up the phone cold and called David Geffen,

0:55:23 > 0:55:25who was just starting Asylum Records.

0:55:25 > 0:55:29Long story short, I took a job as a manager with Asylum.

0:55:29 > 0:55:30I was intrigued.

0:55:30 > 0:55:34I wanted to know about the Eagles and meet the Eagles

0:55:34 > 0:55:35Cos I was a fan.

0:55:36 > 0:55:38Emergency?

0:55:38 > 0:55:41I get a phone call. Glenn Frey's on the phone.

0:55:41 > 0:55:43"We need money for Christmas. Can you book dates?"

0:55:43 > 0:55:44I book some dates.

0:55:44 > 0:55:47So, I get on a plane and go out to meet them.

0:55:47 > 0:55:50First of all, the show was fantastic.

0:55:50 > 0:55:53Crowd was nothing like I'd seen a year, year and a half earlier.

0:55:53 > 0:55:58- Good evening. Welcome to the Portland version of...- Spread Eagle.

0:55:58 > 0:56:02Spread Eagle. Tonight, the promoter gave us chopsticks.

0:56:02 > 0:56:05I don't think we ever checked in a hotel.

0:56:05 > 0:56:08We went from there to a party at a sorority house.

0:56:08 > 0:56:12One thing led to another, and I'd never seen anything like this.

0:56:12 > 0:56:14They wouldn't give us any booze in the bar.

0:56:14 > 0:56:16We tried to get some booze, but they fucked up,

0:56:16 > 0:56:19so we may burn the fucking place down. We're not sure.

0:56:19 > 0:56:20I don't think we went to sleep.

0:56:20 > 0:56:22It was Eagle mania.

0:56:25 > 0:56:30And then they went off to England to record "On the Border" with Glyn Johns.

0:56:32 > 0:56:34They were quite open to being produced.

0:56:34 > 0:56:37Understandably, that changed.

0:56:37 > 0:56:42They began to be more opinionated and less insecure, perhaps.

0:56:42 > 0:56:45We wanted to play rock 'n' roll or at least a more rock 'n -roll

0:56:45 > 0:56:48version of country music, and Glyn Johns

0:56:48 > 0:56:51was of the opinion that we weren't really capable of that.

0:56:51 > 0:56:54I think he had been bombarded by loud,

0:56:54 > 0:56:56aggressive rock 'n' roll for many, many years.

0:56:56 > 0:57:01At that point in his life, he wanted mellow people and mellow music,

0:57:01 > 0:57:05and we weren't exactly at the same stage in life.

0:57:05 > 0:57:08Frey sort of took over more.

0:57:08 > 0:57:11He had this desire to be something that

0:57:11 > 0:57:13I didn't really feel that they were capable of doing.

0:57:13 > 0:57:20He and Glenn Frey were like oil and water. They clashed frequently.

0:57:20 > 0:57:24In the studio, Glyn Johns was pretty much a schoolmarm.

0:57:24 > 0:57:28He'd push, push, push, you know? And then he'd say, "That's it.

0:57:28 > 0:57:32"That's good enough. We're moving on. You're not a rock 'n -roll band.

0:57:32 > 0:57:35"The Who is a rock 'n -roll band, and you're not that."

0:57:36 > 0:57:41After each of those records, the band freaked out and said,

0:57:41 > 0:57:43"We've made a huge mistake.

0:57:43 > 0:57:45"Glyn Johns missed it."

0:57:45 > 0:57:47We actually had conversations.

0:57:47 > 0:57:49You know, "Desperado" hadn't done as well as the first album.

0:57:49 > 0:57:54None of them were thrilled with the way the record sounded.

0:57:54 > 0:57:58We wanted more input into how our albums were being made.

0:57:58 > 0:58:01We wanted more input into the recording process itself.

0:58:01 > 0:58:05Don and I thought that the vocals were too wet.

0:58:05 > 0:58:08There was too much echo on them.

0:58:08 > 0:58:10And he definitely told us, "Excuse me, that's my echo.

0:58:10 > 0:58:13"It's my signature. It's my bloody echo. It stays there.

0:58:13 > 0:58:14"You don't tell me what to do."

0:58:14 > 0:58:16We needed to make a change.

0:58:19 > 0:58:23I joined the Navy at the height of the Cold War.

0:58:23 > 0:58:26One of the main things they were doing was looking for Russian

0:58:26 > 0:58:28submarines, and you do that by using sonar.

0:58:29 > 0:58:34When I got out, I had a lot of electronics education, obviously.

0:58:34 > 0:58:37And I got a job in a recording studio here in New York.

0:58:38 > 0:58:41The first session I ever saw, like day one, day two,

0:58:41 > 0:58:43was a Carole King demo.

0:58:43 > 0:58:47She sat down and played piano, and it was like, "Boy, this is fun.

0:58:47 > 0:58:50"These people are having fun here."

0:58:53 > 0:58:56I worked my way up through the ranks, and then, of course,

0:58:56 > 0:58:59after engineering for four or five years, I was like,

0:58:59 > 0:59:03"Well, I can produce better than some of these guys I'm working for."

0:59:03 > 0:59:06At the time, I was managing Joe Walsh, so I played them

0:59:06 > 0:59:12Walsh music that I thought was an example of how it could be edgier.

0:59:12 > 0:59:14Joe and I had just finished an album called

0:59:14 > 0:59:17"The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get."

0:59:17 > 0:59:21And they heard that and said, "That's what we want to sound like."

0:59:21 > 0:59:24So, Irving arranged for us to have a meeting with Bill Szymczyk.

0:59:24 > 0:59:27We really only had two questions that we wanted to ask him -

0:59:27 > 0:59:30do you mind if we have some input about how much echo is on the vocals?

0:59:30 > 0:59:33And we wanted somebody who would put a microphone on each

0:59:33 > 0:59:36and every drum so we could have more control over the mix.

0:59:36 > 0:59:41He said yes to every question, and so we knew he was the guy for us.

0:59:41 > 0:59:43I said, "OK, under one condition.

0:59:43 > 0:59:46"I have to call Glyn and make sure it's OK with him."

0:59:46 > 0:59:49So, I called him, and I said, you know,

0:59:49 > 0:59:52"Glyn, the Eagles want me to produce them."

0:59:52 > 0:59:53"Better you than me, mate."

0:59:53 > 0:59:56That's pretty much how I felt.

0:59:56 > 1:00:01I mean, it had come to a fairly unpleasant end.

1:00:01 > 1:00:05Well, OK, you know, so much for Beatle country with Glyn Johns.

1:00:09 > 1:00:13Let's have a warm round of applause on a hot afternoon for the Eagles!

1:00:15 > 1:00:18# James Dean, James Dean

1:00:18 > 1:00:21# So hungry and so lean

1:00:21 > 1:00:24# James Dean, James Dean

1:00:24 > 1:00:28# You said it all so clean. #

1:00:29 > 1:00:31Along about the third album,

1:00:31 > 1:00:36I was having some difficulty in communicating, I felt, in the

1:00:36 > 1:00:39band, and I was starting to think maybe I should go at some point.

1:00:39 > 1:00:44They still had this unfulfilled desire to be a mainstream

1:00:44 > 1:00:47rock band and not just a vocal band,

1:00:47 > 1:00:50but I think they wanted to go in a tougher direction.

1:00:52 > 1:00:55Bernie Leadon was a country-based guitar player, but every time

1:00:55 > 1:01:00I wanted to do a rock 'n -roll song, he was the lead guitar player.

1:01:02 > 1:01:06# Cos I'm already gone. #

1:01:06 > 1:01:09Every time we wanted to do something country that Bernie sang,

1:01:09 > 1:01:10I was supposed to be the lead guitar player,

1:01:10 > 1:01:13and I wasn't a country musician by any stretch.

1:01:13 > 1:01:17It always felt like we needed a third guitar player.

1:01:19 > 1:01:23We had met this friend of Bernie's, this guy named Don Felder.

1:01:23 > 1:01:25We were playing in Boston, and he came back to visit Bernie,

1:01:25 > 1:01:27and we were jamming upstairs in the dressing room,

1:01:27 > 1:01:30and this guy was all over the neck.

1:01:36 > 1:01:37What he brought was great chops.

1:01:37 > 1:01:40I mean, we called him Fingers, Fingers Felder,

1:01:40 > 1:01:42because he was an incredible player.

1:01:50 > 1:01:52We did that session. I think it was like three hours.

1:01:52 > 1:01:55And then I packed up and went home,

1:01:55 > 1:01:58not thinking anything more about it than it was just another session.

1:01:58 > 1:02:00And the next day, Glenn called me and asked me

1:02:00 > 1:02:03if I would like to join the band.

1:02:03 > 1:02:04I said, "Absolutely."

1:02:06 > 1:02:07All right, let's do...I'm in heaven.

1:02:07 > 1:02:11- Let's go another one. - All right, do it right!

1:02:11 > 1:02:15The banter that would go on in between takes was hysterical,

1:02:15 > 1:02:20and so I took to running a two-track to pick up these silly things.

1:02:20 > 1:02:24We were young men with raging hormones and something to prove.

1:02:24 > 1:02:26In the context of the times and the profession,

1:02:26 > 1:02:29the way we behaved wasn't really all that remarkable.

1:02:29 > 1:02:32The creative impulse comes from the dark side of the personality,

1:02:32 > 1:02:35so we worked it good, you know.

1:02:35 > 1:02:39We did a lot of stupid things, said a lot of stupid things.

1:02:39 > 1:02:42It was the '70s. There were drugs everywhere.

1:02:42 > 1:02:47# Cactus sunrise was in my face Everyone was dying

1:02:47 > 1:02:51# Everyone was lying and trying

1:02:51 > 1:02:54# Well, rub your belly in the linseed oil...#

1:02:54 > 1:02:56There you go.

1:02:58 > 1:03:02Well, the heartbreak of psoriasis has once again descended upon

1:03:02 > 1:03:05the adolescent experience, and we'll see you later.

1:03:05 > 1:03:07See you at the show later on tonight.

1:03:07 > 1:03:12The question was, you know, who could handle it? Who could function?

1:03:12 > 1:03:13Who could show up?

1:03:13 > 1:03:16# One of these nights

1:03:19 > 1:03:22# One of these crazy long nights

1:03:24 > 1:03:27# We're gonna find out, pretty mama

1:03:29 > 1:03:30# What turns on your lights

1:03:33 > 1:03:36# The full moon is calling

1:03:36 > 1:03:38# The fever is high

1:03:38 > 1:03:41# And the wicked wind whispers and more

1:03:43 > 1:03:45# You got your demons

1:03:45 > 1:03:50# And you got desires But I got a few of my own

1:03:52 > 1:03:57# Ooooh, someone to be kind to

1:03:57 > 1:04:00# In between the dark and the light

1:04:00 > 1:04:05# Ooooh, comin' right behind you

1:04:05 > 1:04:09# Swear I'm gonna find you One of these nights

1:04:09 > 1:04:12# One of these days

1:04:12 > 1:04:13There were always girls.

1:04:20 > 1:04:24There were a lot of opportunities out on the road to entertain

1:04:24 > 1:04:26ourselves with one thing or another.

1:04:26 > 1:04:29So, we started to perfect after-show partying,

1:04:29 > 1:04:33and we invented a place called the Third Encore.

1:04:33 > 1:04:37We did two encores in our show, so the third encore was the party.

1:04:37 > 1:04:41Everybody in the band and everybody in the crew was given a bunch

1:04:41 > 1:04:45of buttons, and all we said was, "No weirdos, no strange people, OK?

1:04:45 > 1:04:48If you're going to give a button to somebody, you know, make it count."

1:04:48 > 1:04:52Totally sick. There's some real warped shit coming on now, ladies and gentlemen.

1:04:52 > 1:04:56A member of Andy Warthog's pop-bowel movement has just tried to crash our party.

1:04:56 > 1:05:02- What the?- Welcome to Pittsburgh Spread Eagle.

1:05:02 > 1:05:06We want to just ask these girls why they think they have to leave now that it's 2:00.

1:05:06 > 1:05:08One thing, he smells like beer.

1:05:08 > 1:05:11We'd fill the bathtubs up with Budweiser,

1:05:11 > 1:05:13and we'd have a party after every show.

1:05:13 > 1:05:17- Your name, please.- Tammy Farley. - Tammy, Tammy, Tammy.

1:05:17 > 1:05:20- Here we have Karen. Karen is 20 years old. - Is that correct?

1:05:20 > 1:05:24- Yeah.- What's your name, dear? - Fuck it, man.- Pardon? Fuck it.

1:05:24 > 1:05:25Her name's "Fuck it, man."

1:05:25 > 1:05:28I want to talk about sex and drugs.

1:05:30 > 1:05:31Who wants to go first?

1:05:31 > 1:05:34I'm not lost for words on either subject.

1:05:34 > 1:05:37Sex and drugs kind of came as a big package in the '60s.

1:05:37 > 1:05:40You know, it seemed like everybody, the sexual revolution

1:05:40 > 1:05:44and the drug thing, I guess, probably started out together.

1:05:46 > 1:05:48Didn't they?

1:05:50 > 1:05:54Don and I both tried to have relationships while we were members

1:05:54 > 1:05:58of the Eagles, but it was always like the Eagles trumped everything.

1:06:00 > 1:06:04When the Eagles became successful, we challenged all the rules.

1:06:06 > 1:06:09Like when David Geffen left Asylum Records

1:06:09 > 1:06:13and sold everything to Warner Bros and started his new empire.

1:06:13 > 1:06:17Let's be frank. When we signed that contract, we were idiots.

1:06:17 > 1:06:20We knew nothing about the business.

1:06:20 > 1:06:24We had poor legal representation, nobody looking out for us.

1:06:24 > 1:06:29Remember, bands don't really get record royalties usually ever.

1:06:29 > 1:06:33So, they get money from touring, but they get publishing money.

1:06:33 > 1:06:36So, in the very beginning, one thing that Geffen did

1:06:36 > 1:06:39that I thought was great. He had us form a band publishing company.

1:06:39 > 1:06:42All the band's publishing went in that.

1:06:42 > 1:06:44The problem was Geffen had the other half.

1:06:44 > 1:06:47Half the Eagles' publishing, half of my publishing,

1:06:47 > 1:06:50half of all the artists that he signed went to Warner Bros, but

1:06:50 > 1:06:53he got them to return mine.

1:06:53 > 1:06:56Jackson turned me on to the Eagles.

1:06:56 > 1:06:58He had turned me on to a lot of artists,

1:06:58 > 1:07:01and I felt I owed him something.

1:07:01 > 1:07:05And that, not surprisingly, was not acceptable rationale to the Eagles!

1:07:05 > 1:07:09There's a certain amount of ire, like, real, you know, like,

1:07:09 > 1:07:12"What the fuck?

1:07:12 > 1:07:14"I mean, we didn't get our publishing back!"

1:07:14 > 1:07:17So, it was the publishing issue and the fact that the business managers

1:07:17 > 1:07:20and the lawyers were all shared common guys,

1:07:20 > 1:07:25and did they have a conflict when an issue came up and which side to take?

1:07:25 > 1:07:27Well, it just makes you feel like meat, you know?

1:07:27 > 1:07:30It started out as such a personal, nurturing endeavour, you know,

1:07:30 > 1:07:33with Mr Geffen saying, "Oh, I'm going to protect you guys.

1:07:33 > 1:07:35"That's why I'm calling my new label 'Asylum'.

1:07:35 > 1:07:38"It's going to be a sanctuary for real artists."

1:07:38 > 1:07:41He once said to Irving Azoff,

1:07:41 > 1:07:43"You know, Irving, this would be a great business

1:07:43 > 1:07:46"if there weren't artists."

1:07:46 > 1:07:49Irving was the one guy who really believed in us,

1:07:49 > 1:07:52that I thought could do something to help us.

1:07:52 > 1:07:54I basically hired a lawyer and went in

1:07:54 > 1:07:58after I said, "The Eagles would like their publishing back,

1:07:58 > 1:08:00to which the obvious response was, "No".

1:08:00 > 1:08:04He sort of drew a line in the sand and declared war,

1:08:04 > 1:08:07so I felt, for my survival, as their manager,

1:08:07 > 1:08:10I needed to prove to them that I wasn't afraid of Geffen

1:08:10 > 1:08:12and would stand up and, you know.

1:08:12 > 1:08:15The lawsuit was filed as a last resort.

1:08:15 > 1:08:18I don't think David liked reading his name in the lawsuit.

1:08:18 > 1:08:20I thought it was incredibly ungrateful

1:08:20 > 1:08:25and they misrepresented the facts, but so be it.

1:08:25 > 1:08:27Ultimately, we settled out of court,

1:08:27 > 1:08:29and I don't believe it took very long.

1:08:29 > 1:08:30He just wanted to get rid of us.

1:08:30 > 1:08:35This is our new record contract.

1:08:35 > 1:08:37Just paper!

1:08:37 > 1:08:40So, then we headed off, for parts unknown

1:08:40 > 1:08:42with Irving Azoff at the helm.

1:08:50 > 1:08:53This card game is called Eagle Poker.

1:08:53 > 1:08:55It's a bastardization of Red Dog.

1:08:55 > 1:09:00I invented it in Detroit, Michigan, in 1947...

1:09:00 > 1:09:02..one year before I was born.

1:09:02 > 1:09:08- We were big gamblers. We played poker all the time.- Oh, boy.

1:09:08 > 1:09:11They should have never given me money!

1:09:11 > 1:09:15So, we decided we'd go to the Bahamas to gamble.

1:09:15 > 1:09:18Everybody but Don was holding.

1:09:18 > 1:09:20I had like four joints in a baggie,

1:09:20 > 1:09:22stuffed down my sock in my cowboy boot.

1:09:22 > 1:09:24Durkin, the pilot, has a joint.

1:09:24 > 1:09:28Irving had about 30 valiums in a sugar pack.

1:09:28 > 1:09:31There was a couple of customs officials there

1:09:31 > 1:09:35that asked us to collect all our luggage and come over,

1:09:35 > 1:09:37and they wanted to search us 'cause we looked terrible.

1:09:37 > 1:09:40We had really long hair and patches on our jeans

1:09:40 > 1:09:42and a beard and not slept.

1:09:42 > 1:09:44Now, I'm freaking out.

1:09:44 > 1:09:47Bernie's freaking out. Irving's freaking out.

1:09:47 > 1:09:49Henley's pissed off.

1:09:49 > 1:09:51Don't touch me.

1:09:51 > 1:09:53Well, the guy proceeds to put us all in a room together,

1:09:53 > 1:09:57and they start searching us one by one.

1:09:57 > 1:10:00My greatest fear is that I'm going to be locked in a jail cell

1:10:00 > 1:10:03with Bernie Leadon.

1:10:03 > 1:10:06So, at this point, Irving steps in and takes

1:10:06 > 1:10:09one of the Bahamian customs guys over to the side

1:10:09 > 1:10:11and has a chat with him.

1:10:11 > 1:10:14I'm not sure, to this day, what Irving said to him.

1:10:17 > 1:10:21The next thing I knew, they let us pass with no problem.

1:10:21 > 1:10:23It was sort of miraculous, really, it was,

1:10:23 > 1:10:26because I thought for sure we were going to be in the slammer.

1:10:26 > 1:10:28It was dumb luck that this guy bought my line

1:10:28 > 1:10:30and didn't search them.

1:10:30 > 1:10:32That was the day I decided, Irving Azoff

1:10:32 > 1:10:34was the greatest manager in rock 'n' roll

1:10:34 > 1:10:37and I would never do anything without him by my side.

1:10:39 > 1:10:42I had the only seat in a major championship fight...

1:10:42 > 1:10:47to be sitting there when, you know, when a lyric was thrown out

1:10:47 > 1:10:49and then hear a track.

1:10:50 > 1:10:54# My on my, you sure know how to arrange things... #

1:10:54 > 1:10:57I've watched the creative process with lots of people,

1:10:57 > 1:10:59but I've never seen it the way it fell in place with them.

1:10:59 > 1:11:02I remember watching "Lyin' Eyes" written.

1:11:02 > 1:11:05Glenn just had a way of coming up with a phrase, you know?

1:11:05 > 1:11:08He had written some kind of a tune, and they were sitting in Tana's

1:11:08 > 1:11:12one night and looking at some young girl with an older guy at the bar,

1:11:12 > 1:11:15and Glenn said, "Look at those lyin' eyes."

1:11:15 > 1:11:18And just... just like that, wow, there's the song.

1:11:18 > 1:11:24# You can't hide your lyin' eyes

1:11:24 > 1:11:31# And your smile is a thin disguise

1:11:31 > 1:11:38# I thought by now you'd realise,

1:11:38 > 1:11:44# There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes... #

1:11:44 > 1:11:47It was just about all these girls who would come down to Dan Tana's

1:11:47 > 1:11:51looking beautiful, and they'd be there from 8:00pm to midnight

1:11:51 > 1:11:53and have dinner and drinks with all of us rockers,

1:11:53 > 1:11:57and then they'd go home because they were kept women.

1:11:57 > 1:12:02# On the other side of town, a boy is waiting

1:12:04 > 1:12:11# With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal

1:12:11 > 1:12:17# She drives on through the night anticipating,

1:12:17 > 1:12:22# Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel... #

1:12:22 > 1:12:25You know, when we were doing the "One of These Nights" album,

1:12:25 > 1:12:27we'd gone through three albums,

1:12:27 > 1:12:31and the only people who'd sung on any hit records were Don and myself.

1:12:31 > 1:12:34And Randy always felt like, you know, he was a lead singer, too.

1:12:34 > 1:12:37And I actually felt that way, too. I liked his voice.

1:12:37 > 1:12:40So, he brought in the beginnings of 'Take It To the Limit',

1:12:40 > 1:12:43and it became the Eagles' first number-one single.

1:12:43 > 1:12:46# Take it to the limit, come on,

1:12:46 > 1:12:50# and take it to the limit,

1:12:50 > 1:12:54# One more time,

1:12:54 > 1:12:58# Take it to the limit... #

1:12:58 > 1:13:01The line 'Take It To the Limit' was to keep trying

1:13:01 > 1:13:06before you reach a point in your life where you feel, you know,

1:13:06 > 1:13:09you've done everything and seen everything sort of feeling.

1:13:09 > 1:13:13You know, a part of getting old, and just to take it to the limit

1:13:13 > 1:13:17one more time, like every day, just keep punching away at it.

1:13:17 > 1:13:20And that's all that I really... that was the line,

1:13:20 > 1:13:24and from there, the song took a different, you know, course.

1:13:24 > 1:13:26# Take it to the limit,

1:13:26 > 1:13:28# AH,

1:13:28 > 1:13:31# (Take it to the limit) #

1:13:35 > 1:13:40I think everybody in the Eagles did the level best we could.

1:13:40 > 1:13:42You have to remember how young we were,

1:13:42 > 1:13:45the fact that nobody had anything when we started,

1:13:45 > 1:13:48and you got all this stuff coming at you.

1:13:48 > 1:13:52Meanwhile, you're touring all the time. It's a lot.

1:13:52 > 1:13:56To Bernie, success on any scale was synonymous with selling out.

1:13:56 > 1:13:59He wanted us to remain sort of an underground band.

1:13:59 > 1:14:04We had our problems with Bernie, and Bernie had his problems with us.

1:14:04 > 1:14:08Some of it was based on him being able to have a voice in the Eagles

1:14:08 > 1:14:12and record the songs he wanted to, the way he wanted to.

1:14:12 > 1:14:14We were getting more and more rocked out,

1:14:14 > 1:14:19and I think Bernie was less and less happy about that...

1:14:19 > 1:14:22to the point that, one time, we had worked on a track all night.

1:14:22 > 1:14:24I mean, it was a rocked-out track,

1:14:24 > 1:14:27and we're all sitting behind the board the next day,

1:14:27 > 1:14:29listening to the various takes of it, trying to decide

1:14:29 > 1:14:32which take we liked the best. Bernie hadn't said a word.

1:14:32 > 1:14:36So, I asked him over the board, I said, "Bernie, what do you think?"

1:14:36 > 1:14:38There's a long pause, and he gets up, and he stretches,

1:14:38 > 1:14:41and he says, "I think I'm going surfing."

1:14:41 > 1:14:44And he left.

1:14:52 > 1:14:54I was caught in the middle a lot of times.

1:14:54 > 1:14:56And sometimes I would agree with Bernie,

1:14:56 > 1:14:58but most of the time, I would agree with Glenn.

1:14:58 > 1:15:01Glenn and I always wanted the band to be a hybrid,

1:15:01 > 1:15:04to encompass bluegrass and country and rock 'n' roll.

1:15:04 > 1:15:07There was a part of Bernie that really resisted that.

1:15:07 > 1:15:09After a while, it became a real problem,

1:15:09 > 1:15:13particularly between Bernie and Glenn.

1:15:13 > 1:15:15Finally, we were at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

1:15:15 > 1:15:19We were backstage, and we were talking about what our next move

1:15:19 > 1:15:22was going to be, what our plans were supposed to be,

1:15:22 > 1:15:27and I was animated and adamant about what we needed to do next

1:15:27 > 1:15:30here, there, and everywhere, and Bernie comes over

1:15:30 > 1:15:34and pours a beer on my head and says, "You need to chill out, man."

1:15:36 > 1:15:39I have no idea. It was a spontaneous thing.

1:15:39 > 1:15:43I mean, I take that incident now quite seriously.

1:15:43 > 1:15:46That was a very disrespectful thing to do.

1:15:46 > 1:15:50Obviously, it was intended to be humiliating to him,

1:15:50 > 1:15:56I would say, and is something I'm really not proud of.

1:15:56 > 1:15:58It did illustrate a breaking point.

1:16:06 > 1:16:08During that time, we got a couple shows

1:16:08 > 1:16:13opening for the Rolling Stones, and Irving was managing Joe Walsh.

1:16:13 > 1:16:18Joe Walsh was a bona fide rock 'n' roll guitar player.

1:16:22 > 1:16:26So, for a couple of those shows, just for our encores,

1:16:26 > 1:16:28we'd put Joe Walsh in a road box,

1:16:28 > 1:16:32and we'd come back to do an encore, and we'd roll the road box out,

1:16:32 > 1:16:35and just like the model jumping out of a cake,

1:16:35 > 1:16:39we'd open the guitar case, and there would be Joe Walsh

1:16:39 > 1:16:43with his Les Paul, and he'd climb out of the box and plug in,

1:16:43 > 1:16:46and the Eagles... We would play 'Rocky Mountain Way.'

1:16:54 > 1:16:56I loved the way he played.

1:16:56 > 1:16:59I'd loved the James Gang when I was growing up in Detroit.

1:16:59 > 1:17:04Now I started thinking, "Joe Walsh for Bernie Leadon."

1:17:06 > 1:17:11# Spent the last year Rocky Mountain Way

1:17:11 > 1:17:17# Couldn't get much higher... #

1:17:17 > 1:17:20OK, maybe the vocals won't be quite as good,

1:17:20 > 1:17:22but, boy, are we going to kick some ass!

1:17:22 > 1:17:26# Time to open fire

1:17:26 > 1:17:31# And we don't need the ladies cryin'

1:17:31 > 1:17:35# 'Cause the story's sad... #

1:17:35 > 1:17:38I think one of the things that I brought into the band

1:17:38 > 1:17:41that was good for the band was

1:17:41 > 1:17:44to bring it up a notch when we played live.

1:17:44 > 1:17:48Just keep kicking it in the butt a little bit, you know?

1:18:17 > 1:18:21All right, D.C., come on, give it up!

1:18:21 > 1:18:24I went to a show, maybe eight months later,

1:18:24 > 1:18:27and the band are interacting with each other

1:18:27 > 1:18:32exactly like we did with me onstage, except instead of me,

1:18:32 > 1:18:36Walsh was up there, and it just was, like, really, really odd, you know,

1:18:36 > 1:18:40to be watching it and not be part of it.

1:18:40 > 1:18:42So, I actually left that show. I was just like,

1:18:42 > 1:18:44"This is, like, too weird."

1:18:44 > 1:18:48So, we got Joe Walsh in the band. That's another adventure,

1:18:48 > 1:18:51because Joe was an interesting bunch of guys.

1:18:51 > 1:18:53Hey, I tell you what. If you got firecrackers,

1:18:53 > 1:18:56just wait until you get home, lock yourself in the closet,

1:18:56 > 1:18:58and light everything you got, OK?

1:18:58 > 1:19:01APPLAUSE

1:19:01 > 1:19:02Thank you, Joe.

1:19:02 > 1:19:05He brought a lot of levity to just about everything that happened,

1:19:05 > 1:19:09which was needed at that time.

1:19:09 > 1:19:12- Heads or tails?- Heads.

1:19:12 > 1:19:15Well, I could use a little head myself.

1:19:15 > 1:19:17In those days, you didn't know what he was going to do next.

1:19:17 > 1:19:21It was fun most of the time, although not all the time.

1:19:21 > 1:19:23It was fun, depending on how much you'd had to drink,

1:19:23 > 1:19:26to see a television go sailing off the 14th-floor balcony

1:19:26 > 1:19:29and into the pool, as long as nobody got hurt.

1:19:36 > 1:19:39Joe Walsh was the American King of room trash.

1:19:39 > 1:19:42He had studied under some of the best.

1:19:42 > 1:19:45One of the most terrifying things that ever happened to me

1:19:45 > 1:19:49was that Keith Moon decided he liked me.

1:19:49 > 1:19:51All those Keith Moon stories are true.

1:19:53 > 1:20:00This guy was full-blown nuts, and you never knew what was coming next.

1:20:07 > 1:20:11Keith was my mentor at chaos, getting arrested,

1:20:11 > 1:20:15practical jokes, pranks, room damage.

1:20:15 > 1:20:20# I live in hotels, tear out the walls,

1:20:20 > 1:20:25# I have accountants pay for it all,

1:20:25 > 1:20:31# They say I'm crazy, but I have a good time... #

1:20:36 > 1:20:39One year, we gave him a chainsaw for his birthday as a joke.

1:20:39 > 1:20:44# Life's been good to me so far,

1:20:44 > 1:20:48# Yeah, yeah, yeah... #

1:20:48 > 1:20:51By this time, we were eating in nice restaurants

1:20:51 > 1:20:56and buying expensive wine and staying in great hotel rooms.

1:20:56 > 1:20:59There were a lot of hotels that we weren't allowed to go back to.

1:20:59 > 1:21:03We were in Chicago, and we were staying at the Astor Towers.

1:21:03 > 1:21:05In Chicago, here's what happened.

1:21:05 > 1:21:09There was a knock on the door, and in walked John Belushi.

1:21:10 > 1:21:16John wanted to show me the finer restaurants of Chicago.

1:21:16 > 1:21:18So, we went to the restaurant,

1:21:18 > 1:21:21and they wouldn't let us in because we had jeans, and he got

1:21:21 > 1:21:24the maitre d' up to like a 300 bribe

1:21:24 > 1:21:26and still they would not let us in.

1:21:26 > 1:21:29And John said, "I know what to do. I know what to do."

1:21:30 > 1:21:34And the next thing I knew, we were standing in the alley,

1:21:34 > 1:21:39and he spray-painted my jeans black and made me do his,

1:21:39 > 1:21:42and we went back, and we got in.

1:21:44 > 1:21:48We were sitting in these Queen Anne-period chairs that had

1:21:48 > 1:21:52needlepoint, and when we stood up, that was all black,

1:21:52 > 1:21:54and the butts of our pants were jeans again,

1:21:54 > 1:21:59so, we had to kind of back out of there and leave fast.

1:22:00 > 1:22:02But that was the beginning of it.

1:22:02 > 1:22:07And so that night, with much glee,

1:22:07 > 1:22:10Joe set about to set the world record for room trash.

1:22:12 > 1:22:16John and I did 28,000 of room damage.

1:22:20 > 1:22:24Glenn and Don didn't really ever approve of the room trashing,

1:22:24 > 1:22:25but they understood it.

1:22:25 > 1:22:27They wanted respect as rock 'n' rollers,

1:22:27 > 1:22:30and Joe brought that respect.

1:22:30 > 1:22:33I was insecure always and afraid,

1:22:33 > 1:22:40so I hid behind all of my hang-ups with humour.

1:22:40 > 1:22:45I was totally in awe of Don and Glenn.

1:22:45 > 1:22:51I was intimidated by Don and Glenn because they sang so good,

1:22:51 > 1:22:57and they were writing stuff I could never come close to writing.

1:22:59 > 1:23:03After we've just had a bunch of hit records on One Of These Nights,

1:23:03 > 1:23:06we were under the microscope. Everybody was going to look at

1:23:06 > 1:23:09the next record we made and pass judgment.

1:23:09 > 1:23:12Don and I were going, "Man, this better be good."

1:23:14 > 1:23:17- Look at that.- It's going to be quite a nice guitar.

1:23:17 > 1:23:22- Felder, you see this? - Who, uh, who tuned this?

1:23:22 > 1:23:23Well, it has no nut.

1:23:23 > 1:23:27With Joe in the band with me, I wanted to write something,

1:23:27 > 1:23:31musically, that would fit two guitar players, that we

1:23:31 > 1:23:33could play off of each other.

1:23:33 > 1:23:37So, I was sitting on a sofa in Malibu at this rental house

1:23:37 > 1:23:40that I had on the beach. I was playing this acoustic guitar

1:23:40 > 1:23:43and this introduction came out, that progression.

1:23:43 > 1:23:45I kept playing it three or four times.

1:23:45 > 1:23:48I had an old reel-to-reel tape recorder,

1:23:48 > 1:23:52so I went back and recorded that introduction to that song and

1:23:52 > 1:23:56laid down that progression, made a mix of it, and put it on a cassette

1:23:56 > 1:24:00with, I don't know, the other 14 or 15 pieces of music that I had

1:24:00 > 1:24:05assembled, and I gave a copy of the cassette to Don, one to Glenn.

1:24:05 > 1:24:10Don Felder used to send Henley and I instrumental tapes, song ideas.

1:24:10 > 1:24:1495% of them were cluttered with guitar licks,

1:24:14 > 1:24:18and we would listen to these things and go, "Well, where do you sing?"

1:24:18 > 1:24:22As Don and I were listening through one of the Felder cassettes and this

1:24:22 > 1:24:26song came up, we both sort of said, "Hmm. Now, this is interesting."

1:24:27 > 1:24:31The music sounded to me like some sort of a cross between

1:24:31 > 1:24:35Spanish music and reggae music, and that one really jumped out at me.

1:24:36 > 1:24:40So, we set out to write a song to that progression.

1:24:42 > 1:24:45I'm pretty sure it was Henley's idea to have a song called

1:24:45 > 1:24:46Hotel California.

1:24:51 > 1:24:54I think Henley's and Glenn's lyric writing really came to a head.

1:24:54 > 1:24:57They became real honest-to-God songwriters then.

1:25:00 > 1:25:03During the recording of it, I thought that we

1:25:03 > 1:25:06were on to something. I knew we were on to something.

1:25:07 > 1:25:12We were in a really creative phase,

1:25:12 > 1:25:16and it just so happened that Bill Szymczyk pushed record.

1:25:18 > 1:25:19Thank God!

1:25:21 > 1:25:25# On a dark desert highway

1:25:25 > 1:25:28# Cool wind in my hair

1:25:28 > 1:25:31# Warm smell of colitas

1:25:31 > 1:25:34# Rising up through the air

1:25:34 > 1:25:37# Up ahead in the distance

1:25:37 > 1:25:41# I saw a shimmering light

1:25:41 > 1:25:44# My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

1:25:44 > 1:25:47# I had to stop for the night

1:25:47 > 1:25:51# There she stood in the doorway

1:25:51 > 1:25:54# I heard the mission bell

1:25:54 > 1:25:56# And I was thinkin' to myself

1:25:56 > 1:26:00# This could be heaven or this could be hell

1:26:00 > 1:26:04# Then she lit up a candle

1:26:04 > 1:26:07# And she showed me the way

1:26:07 > 1:26:10# There were voices down the corridor

1:26:10 > 1:26:13# I thought I heard them say

1:26:13 > 1:26:17# Welcome to the Hotel California

1:26:19 > 1:26:22- # Such a lovely place - Such a lovely place

1:26:22 > 1:26:26# Such a lovely face

1:26:26 > 1:26:28# Plenty of room at the Hotel... #

1:26:28 > 1:26:32We've been asked a million times, "What does that song mean?"

1:26:32 > 1:26:36Don and I were big fans of hidden, deeper meaning.

1:26:36 > 1:26:40You know, you write songs and you send them out to the world.

1:26:40 > 1:26:43# ...So I called up the Captain

1:26:43 > 1:26:45# Please bring me my wine

1:26:45 > 1:26:47# He said

1:26:47 > 1:26:52# We haven't had that spirit here since 1969... #

1:26:52 > 1:26:56And maybe somewhere in that song is some stuff that's just yours,

1:26:56 > 1:26:58that they're never going to figure out.

1:26:58 > 1:26:59# ..Far away

1:26:59 > 1:27:03# Wake you up in the middle of the night

1:27:03 > 1:27:04# Just to hear them say... #

1:27:04 > 1:27:07There has been a great deal of ridiculous

1:27:07 > 1:27:09speculation about that song over the years.

1:27:09 > 1:27:12I mean, it's really taken on a life or a mythology of its own.

1:27:12 > 1:27:15It's sort of like the "Paul is dead" thing, or "Who was the walrus?"

1:27:15 > 1:27:20# ..Bring your alibis... #

1:27:20 > 1:27:22It's been denounced by Evangelicals.

1:27:22 > 1:27:25We've been accused of all kinds of wacky things,

1:27:25 > 1:27:27like being members of the Church of Satan.

1:27:27 > 1:27:30People see images on the album cover that aren't there.

1:27:30 > 1:27:32Just lunatic stuff.

1:27:32 > 1:27:39# ..And in the master's chambers They gathered for the feast

1:27:39 > 1:27:43# They stabbed it with their steely knives

1:27:43 > 1:27:46# But they just can't kill the beast

1:27:46 > 1:27:49# Last thing I remember

1:27:49 > 1:27:52# I was running for the door

1:27:52 > 1:27:58# I had to find the passage back to the place I was before... #

1:27:58 > 1:28:02My simple explanation is it's a song about a journey from innocence

1:28:02 > 1:28:05to experience. That's all.

1:28:05 > 1:28:08# ..You can check out any time you like

1:28:08 > 1:28:11# But you can never leave... #

1:28:29 > 1:28:35Whereas Felder was technically very, very good, Walsh brought spontaneity

1:28:35 > 1:28:39to it, and the two of them playing off each other was just brilliant.

1:28:58 > 1:29:01Out of great respect for each other, there was always a little

1:29:01 > 1:29:04competition between Felder and I.

1:29:04 > 1:29:07We always tried to kind of one-up each other, you know?

1:29:12 > 1:29:15And that's really healthy.

1:29:15 > 1:29:20It always made the song better when we were kind of,

1:29:20 > 1:29:22"Oh, yeah? Listen to this."

1:29:30 > 1:29:34We got to the end, where now is the harmony guitars that are

1:29:34 > 1:29:37playing together, and Joe said, "We should do something that's like...

1:29:37 > 1:29:39# Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. #

1:29:56 > 1:29:58The ending of Hotel California -

1:29:58 > 1:30:02that's one of my high points of my entire recording career.

1:30:11 > 1:30:15To have a seven-minute single be number one - that was unheard of.

1:30:15 > 1:30:18The record company said, "You got to do an edit. You got to do an edit."

1:30:18 > 1:30:22And we all said, "No. Take it or leave it." And they took it.

1:30:24 > 1:30:28We had no idea that that song would affect as many

1:30:28 > 1:30:30people on the planet as it did.

1:30:32 > 1:30:33Thank you.

1:30:35 > 1:30:39The rest of the album kind of developed around that song.

1:30:39 > 1:30:43The album, you could loosely say, is a thematic album, a concept album.

1:30:46 > 1:30:48Not unlike Desperado, Hotel California

1:30:48 > 1:30:52was our reaction to what was happening to us.

1:30:54 > 1:30:57On just about every album we made, there was some kind of a

1:30:57 > 1:31:02commentary on the music business and on American culture in general.

1:31:02 > 1:31:05The hotel itself could be taken as a metaphor not

1:31:05 > 1:31:07only for the myth-making of Southern California,

1:31:07 > 1:31:10but for the myth-making that is the American dream because it's a

1:31:10 > 1:31:14fine line between the American dream and the American nightmare.

1:31:14 > 1:31:20# When you're out there on your own Where your memories... #

1:31:20 > 1:31:26All the songs we write for this album can fit inside this concept.

1:31:28 > 1:31:34# ..You were lost until you found out what it all comes down to... #

1:31:34 > 1:31:37Once the rest of the guys in the band understood what the song

1:31:37 > 1:31:40Hotel California was about, it became kind of a theme,

1:31:40 > 1:31:44and they started to customise their writing to fit in with it.

1:31:46 > 1:31:53# ..Day by day It's only fair to wait... #

1:31:53 > 1:31:55I think that the Eagles started breaking up

1:31:55 > 1:31:57during the recording of Hotel California.

1:31:57 > 1:32:02There were creative tensions, but there was always tension tensions.

1:32:02 > 1:32:05By the time we got to recording Hotel California,

1:32:05 > 1:32:08if the song wasn't good enough to survive the amount of time

1:32:08 > 1:32:10we were working on the record, it didn't make it on the record.

1:32:10 > 1:32:13Perfection is not an accident.

1:32:13 > 1:32:15'Our goal was just to be the best we could be.

1:32:15 > 1:32:17'We wanted to get better as songwriters'

1:32:17 > 1:32:19and as performers, and we worked on it.

1:32:21 > 1:32:26Don and I felt like there was no space now for filler, and

1:32:26 > 1:32:31Don Felder, for all of his talents as a guitar player, is not a singer.

1:32:33 > 1:32:36Felder wanted to write more, sing more, and Felder had kind of

1:32:36 > 1:32:40demanded that, "I'm going to sing two songs on Hotel California."

1:32:46 > 1:32:49We were all alphas,

1:32:49 > 1:32:54and we were all very assertive and powerful in our own way.

1:32:54 > 1:32:59You could bring in a great track to Don and Glenn

1:32:59 > 1:33:01and be really excited about it.

1:33:01 > 1:33:03This happened to Felder.

1:33:07 > 1:33:10I wrote the track for Victim Of Love.

1:33:10 > 1:33:14It was going to be a follow-up song on the Hotel California

1:33:14 > 1:33:16record for me to sing.

1:33:16 > 1:33:19# ..Victim of love... #

1:33:19 > 1:33:22I have no recollection of anybody being promised anything.

1:33:22 > 1:33:26Victim Of Love was not brought to the band as a complete song.

1:33:26 > 1:33:29It was simply another chord progression that Don Felder brought in.

1:33:29 > 1:33:33It had no title, no lyrics, and no melody.

1:33:33 > 1:33:35Glenn and I and JD Souther

1:33:35 > 1:33:38all sat down and hammered out the rest of it.

1:33:38 > 1:33:40We did let Mr Felder sing it.

1:33:40 > 1:33:44He sang it dozens of times over the span of a week, over and over

1:33:44 > 1:33:45and over again.

1:33:45 > 1:33:47It simply didn't come up to band standards.

1:33:49 > 1:33:53Victim Of Love had been recorded with Felder as the lead vocalist,

1:33:53 > 1:33:56and my job was to take Don Felder out to lunch or dinner

1:33:56 > 1:34:00while they went in the studio and put Henley's vocal on it.

1:34:00 > 1:34:03# ..What kind of love have you got? #

1:34:05 > 1:34:10Irving took me out and said that everybody in the band

1:34:10 > 1:34:13thought that it was better if Don sang that.

1:34:13 > 1:34:16And it was a little bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

1:34:16 > 1:34:19I felt like Don was taking that song from me.

1:34:19 > 1:34:22I'd been promised a song on the next record.

1:34:22 > 1:34:26But there was no real way to argue with my vocal versus

1:34:26 > 1:34:27Don Henley's vocal.

1:34:27 > 1:34:30There was no way to argue with anybody's vocal in the band

1:34:30 > 1:34:31compared to Don Henley.

1:34:38 > 1:34:42Felder demanding to sing that song would be the equivalent of me

1:34:42 > 1:34:45demanding to play lead guitar on Hotel California.

1:34:45 > 1:34:46It just didn't make sense.

1:34:50 > 1:34:54If you look at my vocal participation in the Eagles

1:34:54 > 1:34:59over the course of the 1970s, I sang less and less.

1:34:59 > 1:35:02It was intentional. We had Don Henley.

1:35:07 > 1:35:15Don and Glenn's position was, "This is the best thing for the Eagles."

1:35:15 > 1:35:17And Don Felder never forgot that.

1:35:18 > 1:35:23# ..What kind of love have you got? #

1:35:30 > 1:35:32Get it! Get it! Run! Run! Run!

1:35:32 > 1:35:34Shit!

1:35:35 > 1:35:37This is a real healthy thing.

1:35:37 > 1:35:41It promotes good feelings, you know, among...the guys,

1:35:41 > 1:35:44and it keeps us from killing each other.

1:35:44 > 1:35:47Where's my glove? Who's got my glove?

1:35:47 > 1:35:49If we can yell at each other on a baseball field,

1:35:49 > 1:35:52then we don't have to yell at each other when we're working.

1:35:52 > 1:35:56- Get all my frustrations out. - What frustrations?

1:35:56 > 1:35:57I haven't been getting laid.

1:35:57 > 1:36:02We try to get out and play softball with the crew if we have a day off.

1:36:02 > 1:36:06- Swing, batter!- Oh, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone.

1:36:06 > 1:36:09'Something to help release the tension.'

1:36:09 > 1:36:12That's really what I do to keep from going crazy.

1:36:12 > 1:36:14How do you keep from going crazy, Joe?

1:36:16 > 1:36:18Well...

1:36:22 > 1:36:23I tell you, I just, uh...

1:36:25 > 1:36:30'In the press and the media, it was presented that we were

1:36:30 > 1:36:35'constantly at war, and I can't say that's exactly the case.

1:36:39 > 1:36:45'We were interacting and we were all intense.

1:36:45 > 1:36:46'Glenn said to me one time,'

1:36:46 > 1:36:51"I get nuts sometimes and I'm sorry."

1:36:51 > 1:36:52Hey, Joe.

1:36:52 > 1:36:56'But that tension had a lot to do with'

1:36:56 > 1:36:59fanning the artistic fire.

1:37:00 > 1:37:07Having that dynamic was important in making the music.

1:37:09 > 1:37:12Well, we're rehearsing now, and before we're even playing

1:37:12 > 1:37:14and guys are just noodling around and getting their amps going

1:37:14 > 1:37:16and stuff, we hear Joe go...

1:37:19 > 1:37:21..# Do-do-do-do-do. #

1:37:21 > 1:37:25You know, and everyone would kind of go, "What did you play?

1:37:25 > 1:37:27"Play that again."

1:37:27 > 1:37:31That was an exercise I was doing because it's a coordination thing.

1:37:31 > 1:37:33You know, it's like one of these deals.

1:37:34 > 1:37:38So, I was doing that to warm up, and they said, "Well, what is that?"

1:37:38 > 1:37:42And I said, "Well, that's just something I have, you know?

1:37:43 > 1:37:44There you go.

1:37:44 > 1:37:46That's the lick.

1:37:46 > 1:37:49That's what we should build the song around.

1:37:55 > 1:37:59I was riding shotgun in a Corvette with a drug dealer on the way

1:37:59 > 1:38:01to a poker game, and the next thing I knew,

1:38:01 > 1:38:05we were going about 90 miles an hour, holding big time.

1:38:05 > 1:38:08I was like, "Hey, man. What are you doing?"

1:38:08 > 1:38:10You know, and he looked at me, and he grinned.

1:38:10 > 1:38:12He goes, "Life in the fast lane."

1:38:14 > 1:38:18And I thought, immediately, "Now, there's a song title."

1:38:18 > 1:38:23# Life in the fast lane Surely make you lose your mind

1:38:23 > 1:38:25# Life in the fast lane... #

1:38:30 > 1:38:31Then they put out the greatest hits.

1:38:31 > 1:38:34There was a period where we sold a million records

1:38:34 > 1:38:36a month for 18 months.

1:38:36 > 1:38:40It's a little-known fact that the Eagles had the biggest-selling

1:38:40 > 1:38:43album of the 20th century.

1:38:43 > 1:38:49But the music business never ever got honest of its own volition.

1:38:49 > 1:38:52No record company ever went to an artist and said,

1:38:52 > 1:38:53"You've done a great job.

1:38:53 > 1:38:56"We're going to increase your royalties."

1:38:56 > 1:38:59So we created our own promotion company.

1:38:59 > 1:39:01We created our own management company.

1:39:01 > 1:39:03We had our own booking agency.

1:39:03 > 1:39:05Stop any time.

1:39:06 > 1:39:09# Take it to the limit... #

1:39:11 > 1:39:18We achieved an amount of success beyond our wildest imagination,

1:39:18 > 1:39:22and Randy really had trouble with it.

1:39:22 > 1:39:24Bam! Bam!

1:39:24 > 1:39:28'Randy used to have trouble singing the high note at the end of Take It To The Limit.'

1:39:28 > 1:39:32# ..Come on and take it to the limit

1:39:32 > 1:39:34# One more time

1:39:36 > 1:39:39# Take it to the limit... #

1:39:39 > 1:39:42Oh, yeah, I was always kind of scared, basically.

1:39:42 > 1:39:45"What if I don't hit it right?" It was a pretty high note.

1:39:51 > 1:39:56And in the middle of the fade, you crank the volume knob and go, "What?!"

1:39:56 > 1:40:04Randy could do it, but if you made him do it, "Oh, no, man, I, uh..."

1:40:04 > 1:40:11# ...One more time. #

1:40:11 > 1:40:14- Thank you.- Randy Meisner.

1:40:15 > 1:40:17He'd call the road manager and say,

1:40:17 > 1:40:19"Tell Glenn I don't want to do Take It To The Limit any more.

1:40:19 > 1:40:22"Take it out of the set." I confronted him about this.

1:40:22 > 1:40:23I called him up, and I said,

1:40:23 > 1:40:27"Randy, there's thousands of people waiting to hear you sing that song.

1:40:27 > 1:40:30"You just can't say, 'Fuck them. I don't feel like it.'

1:40:30 > 1:40:31"Do you think I like singing Take It Easy

1:40:31 > 1:40:33"and Peaceful Easy Feeling every night?

1:40:33 > 1:40:34"I'm tired of those songs,

1:40:34 > 1:40:37"but there's people in the audience who've been waiting

1:40:37 > 1:40:40"years to see us do those songs."

1:40:40 > 1:40:44We just got fed up with that and just said, "OK, don't sing it.

1:40:44 > 1:40:49"Why don't you just quit? You say you are unhappy, quit."

1:40:49 > 1:40:54Randy never knew how great he was. He wasn't alpha.

1:40:56 > 1:41:00Confrontations were really hard for him.

1:41:00 > 1:41:03All I want to see is five guys happy playing together, you know,

1:41:03 > 1:41:05and that's what makes the music.

1:41:10 > 1:41:12We were backstage and the crowd was going wild.

1:41:12 > 1:41:15And our encore number was Take It To The Limit.

1:41:15 > 1:41:19People loved that song, they went crazy when Randy hit those high notes.

1:41:19 > 1:41:21But Randy didn't want to do the song that night.

1:41:21 > 1:41:23He'd been up partying all night with a couple of girls

1:41:23 > 1:41:26and a bottle of vodka, and Glenn kept trying to talk him into it.

1:41:26 > 1:41:30He said, "Man, the people want to hear that song. You've got to do it."

1:41:30 > 1:41:32And Randy kept saying no.

1:41:32 > 1:41:34So after about the third or fourth time that Randy refused, Glenn

1:41:34 > 1:41:37just backed up a couple of steps and said, "Well, fuck you then!"

1:41:39 > 1:41:43There were police officers standing backstage and when they saw us

1:41:43 > 1:41:45about to go at it, they started to move in

1:41:45 > 1:41:50and Henley turned right to the cops and said, "Stay out of this!

1:41:50 > 1:41:54"This is personal and it is private, real fucking private!"

1:41:56 > 1:41:59The writing was on the wall and Randy was going to leave.

1:42:03 > 1:42:07There was only one person to ever replace Randy Meisner in the Eagles

1:42:07 > 1:42:10and in my mind it was Timothy B Schmit.

1:42:12 > 1:42:17He replaced him in Poco, and plugged in and sang the same parts.

1:42:19 > 1:42:22And I remember sitting with Irving and saying, "Irving, I think

1:42:22 > 1:42:26"we should get Timothy Schmit." He said, "Well, I just saw Timothy.

1:42:26 > 1:42:29"I was out on the road when the guys in Poco were in the hotel bar

1:42:29 > 1:42:33"and Timothy was smashed out of his mind, he was jacked up.

1:42:33 > 1:42:34"You sure about this?"

1:42:34 > 1:42:37I said, "Irving, if you had been in a band for 11 years

1:42:37 > 1:42:41"and you were still making 250 a week working 40 weeks a year,

1:42:41 > 1:42:44"maybe you would be a little smashed up yourself."

1:42:44 > 1:42:49They asked me to join their band before I had even played

1:42:49 > 1:42:51a note of music with them.

1:42:51 > 1:42:54I just said, you know, "Where do you want me? When?

1:42:54 > 1:42:56"I am definitely in."

1:42:56 > 1:43:00We want to introduce you to the newest member of our band.

1:43:00 > 1:43:04He is our new bass player and we got him from a really fine band, Poco.

1:43:04 > 1:43:07Please give a nice Houston, Texas welcome to Timothy Schmidt.

1:43:07 > 1:43:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:43:12 > 1:43:15I went on the road with them in 1978 as the new guy.

1:43:15 > 1:43:20# ..Your smile is a thin disguise... #

1:43:22 > 1:43:25And I heard a few, "Where is Randy?" From the audience.

1:43:25 > 1:43:29But I knew it was a good move for them and me.

1:43:35 > 1:43:40There were a lot of decisions business-wise that needed to be made

1:43:40 > 1:43:44in a secret session, Glenn and Don and Irving in the back of the plane.

1:43:44 > 1:43:46I didn't like that I wasn't part of that,

1:43:46 > 1:43:51but I knew that it was good for the Eagles.

1:43:51 > 1:43:55Don Felder REALLY did not like it.

1:43:57 > 1:43:59Glenn and I saw ourselves as the leaders of the band

1:43:59 > 1:44:02but other people saw us dictators.

1:44:02 > 1:44:06You just cannot have five leaders in a band. It does not work.

1:44:06 > 1:44:09People have to do what they do best.

1:44:09 > 1:44:15There is all this undercurrent and resentment and plotting

1:44:15 > 1:44:20and complaining and I'm sure Timothy thought, "What have I got myself into?"

1:44:20 > 1:44:24I was just really happy to be there and all these tensions, it is

1:44:24 > 1:44:27not that I did not feel it, but I had no idea how deep it was.

1:44:27 > 1:44:31In my experience, all rock 'n' roll bands are on the verge of

1:44:31 > 1:44:33breaking up at all times.

1:44:35 > 1:44:38The band at that point had begun to split up into factions.

1:44:38 > 1:44:43Don Felder, in an effort to gain more control, had co-opted Joe Walsh,

1:44:43 > 1:44:47so much of the time it was Felder and Walsh against me and Glenn.

1:44:47 > 1:44:51And at that point, even Glenn and I were beginning to have our differences.

1:44:51 > 1:44:52It was tearing the band apart.

1:44:54 > 1:44:57The magic ingredient that made the band successful was

1:44:57 > 1:44:59the relationship between Don and Glenn.

1:44:59 > 1:45:03Through years of touring, years in the studio, all of that

1:45:03 > 1:45:08friction really started driving a wedge in between that relationship.

1:45:11 > 1:45:14It reached a point where we were just tired of each other.

1:45:14 > 1:45:19Tired of the hoopla, tired of touring, tired of pretty much everything.

1:45:19 > 1:45:23At that point, song-writing was becoming very difficult.

1:45:23 > 1:45:26How much sleep did you guys get? When did you get finished loading up?

1:45:26 > 1:45:30- Two o'clock?- 5.30. - 530 this morning?- Yeah.- OK.

1:45:30 > 1:45:35After the success of Hotel California - Grammy winner, mega sales -

1:45:35 > 1:45:40top that, and we show up at the studio and nobody has one song done.

1:45:44 > 1:45:46I don't know what we will do first but...

1:45:48 > 1:45:52I had enough of a piece where they both went "That's great.

1:45:52 > 1:45:55"Let's develop that," and I was really pleased that they wanted to

1:45:55 > 1:45:59develop that one because it came out more as an R&B song.

1:46:02 > 1:46:04And it is very simple.

1:46:04 > 1:46:09Very simple instrumentation, very simple arrangement.

1:46:12 > 1:46:15There's a lot of air in it.

1:46:17 > 1:46:20That's why it works.

1:46:22 > 1:46:27# Look at us baby Up all night

1:46:27 > 1:46:32# Tearing our love apart

1:46:33 > 1:46:38# Aren't we the same two people who live... #

1:46:38 > 1:46:43About halfway through, Don comes up to me and says, "There's your hit."

1:46:45 > 1:46:51# ..Every time I try to walk away

1:46:51 > 1:46:55# Something makes me turn around and stay

1:46:55 > 1:47:00# And I can't tell you why... #

1:47:02 > 1:47:09We are on top of the world. We are young. We were overdoing everything.

1:47:18 > 1:47:21There was a lot of chemical dependency going on within

1:47:21 > 1:47:22the band and that was rough.

1:47:24 > 1:47:28During all of that time of writing and recording The Long Run,

1:47:28 > 1:47:30and all the time on the road that we were on the road doing

1:47:30 > 1:47:33The Long Run, we were all using cocaine.

1:47:34 > 1:47:38When we first started snorting coke it was like a writing tool.

1:47:38 > 1:47:41Do a couple of bumps and kind of get started talking about stuff,

1:47:41 > 1:47:47get yourself going and launch into some sort of idea for a song.

1:47:47 > 1:47:51But in the end, cocaine brought out the worst in everybody.

1:47:52 > 1:47:55Yes, this half hour of the show is brought to you by cocaine,

1:47:55 > 1:47:57the makers of hits.

1:48:00 > 1:48:03# ..In the long run

1:48:03 > 1:48:07# Ooh I want to tell you it's a long run... #

1:48:07 > 1:48:11Making that album was excruciating. We were just completely burned out.

1:48:11 > 1:48:15We had driven ourselves really hard for almost a decade

1:48:15 > 1:48:16and we were just fried.

1:48:18 > 1:48:21It was long too. I mean, the days and hours would drag on, it would

1:48:21 > 1:48:24feel like we were not getting anything done.

1:48:31 > 1:48:33It was more painful than Hotel California.

1:48:33 > 1:48:36It was more of a painful birth,

1:48:36 > 1:48:40because all the stuff was going on and we were getting pretty frazzled.

1:48:43 > 1:48:48And the record company didn't care if we farted and burped.

1:48:50 > 1:48:55They would put that out. They didn't care.

1:48:55 > 1:48:59"When can we have it?" Because that was their whole corporate quarter.

1:48:59 > 1:49:02# Who can go the distance?

1:49:02 > 1:49:07# We will find out in the long run

1:49:07 > 1:49:09# In the long run... #

1:49:09 > 1:49:14At that point, we inked in The Long Run as the title.

1:49:14 > 1:49:19I think Henley said, "I know what to call this one. Look at us."

1:49:19 > 1:49:21# ..We can handle some resistance... #

1:49:21 > 1:49:23MUSIC STOPS

1:49:23 > 1:49:25Hold it. Stop.

1:49:25 > 1:49:27That is it.

1:49:29 > 1:49:33Eagles, The Long Run, song two, take one.

1:49:33 > 1:49:36It was a struggle, an endless start, stop, start, stop.

1:49:36 > 1:49:38We called it The Long One.

1:49:40 > 1:49:42It was the beginning of the end.

1:49:42 > 1:49:45Even though I don't think I saw it right then.

1:49:49 > 1:49:51There were a lot of things building up

1:49:51 > 1:49:54and a lot of things I tried to overlook for the good of the band,

1:49:54 > 1:49:58and ultimately I just couldn't look past some of this any more.

1:49:58 > 1:50:02And it festered because we didn't talk about these things.

1:50:03 > 1:50:05It finally came to a head in Long Beach.

1:50:05 > 1:50:09We were doing a benefit for Senator Alan Cranston.

1:50:09 > 1:50:11He was concerned about a lot of some of the same issues

1:50:11 > 1:50:14we were concerned about, including environmental destruction

1:50:14 > 1:50:17and the war, so we wanted to support him.

1:50:17 > 1:50:19Felder didn't like us doing benefits,

1:50:19 > 1:50:22he just thought that was money that should be going into his pocket.

1:50:22 > 1:50:25"Why are we doing it for Jerry Brown or anti-nukes?"

1:50:27 > 1:50:31# Are you willing to sacrifice? #

1:50:31 > 1:50:36Alan Cranston and his wife are coming around to personally thank

1:50:36 > 1:50:38every member of the Eagles for doing this.

1:50:38 > 1:50:43I was very uninformed about politics, I couldn't care

1:50:43 > 1:50:47less about politics, I didn't even know or care who Alan Cranston was.

1:50:48 > 1:50:50Senator Cranston went up to Felder and said,

1:50:50 > 1:50:53"I want to thank you," and Felder looked at the Senator and said,

1:50:53 > 1:50:57"You're welcome," and then as he was turning away he said, "I guess."

1:50:57 > 1:50:58"I guess."

1:50:58 > 1:51:01"I guess." And Glenn heard it.

1:51:01 > 1:51:05And I just...got really mad.

1:51:05 > 1:51:08I was drinking a long-necked Bud and walked into the tuning room

1:51:08 > 1:51:10while Walsh and Felder was and took the beer bottle

1:51:10 > 1:51:14and threw it against the wall and smashed it.

1:51:14 > 1:51:16I stormed out.

1:51:16 > 1:51:22I got more mad and more mad. By the time we went on stage, I was seething.

1:51:22 > 1:51:24I wanted to kill Felder.

1:51:24 > 1:51:26Thank you again very much from all the Eagles,

1:51:26 > 1:51:29and for Senator Cranston for coming out here and checking it out.

1:51:31 > 1:51:32One, two, three, four.

1:51:38 > 1:51:42A lot of tensions between Glenn and Felder

1:51:42 > 1:51:48and the real manifestation of it came that night.

1:51:48 > 1:51:54# Somebody is going to hurt someone before the night is through... #

1:51:54 > 1:51:56So now we are playing the show

1:51:56 > 1:52:00and trying to act like everything is OK and we get through the songs,

1:52:00 > 1:52:05and I just keep looking over at him, "You ungrateful son of a bitch."

1:52:05 > 1:52:08# There's going to be a heartache tonight

1:52:08 > 1:52:11# A heartache tonight, I know... #

1:52:12 > 1:52:16Just seeing that, I really saw how serious it was at that show.

1:52:16 > 1:52:19They were fighting on stage, there's audio of it.

1:52:19 > 1:52:21You are a real pro, Don, all the way.

1:52:21 > 1:52:25Yeah, you are too, the way you handle people, except for the people you pay.

1:52:25 > 1:52:26Nobody gives a shit about it.

1:52:26 > 1:52:29Fuck you, I have been paying you for seven years, you fuckhead.

1:52:30 > 1:52:33So it starts getting towards the end of the set

1:52:33 > 1:52:36and I am looking at him going, "Three more songs, asshole."

1:52:36 > 1:52:39And I am looking at him and I am ready to go.

1:52:39 > 1:52:42I can't wait to get my hands on him.

1:52:43 > 1:52:46"When we get off the stage, I am going to kick your ass."

1:52:46 > 1:52:49Fucking kill you. I can't wait.

1:52:52 > 1:52:56Whoa! When that kind of stuff is on stage and you're in front of people,

1:52:56 > 1:52:58you've got problems.

1:53:04 > 1:53:05Thank you very much.

1:53:06 > 1:53:11We got through the show and it just, all hell broke loose backstage.

1:53:12 > 1:53:16When the set ended, he was out ahead of me, took his cheapest guitar...

1:53:23 > 1:53:27..busted it in a million pieces, jumped into his limousine and drove off.

1:53:29 > 1:53:33And that was it. That was really the straw that broke the camel's back.

1:53:35 > 1:53:36# Well, baby, there you stand... #

1:53:42 > 1:53:46Someone wrote the Eagles went out with a whimper not a bang,

1:53:46 > 1:53:48which was true.

1:53:50 > 1:53:56# ..Oh my God, I can't believe it is happening again... #

1:53:56 > 1:54:01I didn't want to hear it. This was like my super dream had come true.

1:54:01 > 1:54:04# ..And it looks like the end... #

1:54:05 > 1:54:09So I called Glen and I said, "What is the status? What is going on?

1:54:09 > 1:54:12"Is this thing really broken up?" He said, "Yeah, it is over."

1:54:15 > 1:54:21We were beat and it was really affecting the foundational core,

1:54:21 > 1:54:25the soul of the band. We hit the wall.

1:54:25 > 1:54:28You work, work, work, you get up to a peak

1:54:28 > 1:54:36and then it is almost invariably people head-butt and, "Whose band is it?"

1:54:36 > 1:54:39And, "I am in charge." And, "No, you are not." And there you go.

1:54:39 > 1:54:48# ..You never thought you'd be alone This far down the line... #

1:54:48 > 1:54:51We had always said that we wanted to step off the wave just before it

1:54:51 > 1:54:53crashed into the beach and we did.

1:54:56 > 1:55:02# ..You're afraid it's all been wasted time...

1:55:07 > 1:55:11# ..The autumn leaves have got you thinking... #

1:55:13 > 1:55:17The Beatle guys say they never thought, McCartney never thought that

1:55:17 > 1:55:22band was going to last more than two years, because no pop band did.

1:55:22 > 1:55:24I think it's part of it. It comes together, it's magic

1:55:24 > 1:55:26and it falls apart.

1:55:26 > 1:55:33But how cool... that it even happens at all.

1:55:33 > 1:55:36# ..I could have done so many things, baby... #

1:55:36 > 1:55:37It was magical.

1:55:37 > 1:55:40# ..If I could only stop my mind... #

1:55:40 > 1:55:44They wrote a lot of great, great songs that will be celebrated

1:55:44 > 1:55:46and listened to and loved for a long time.

1:55:48 > 1:55:54We managed to represent that period of time in the '70s,

1:55:54 > 1:56:00Southern California, which was very artistically creative.

1:56:01 > 1:56:08I hope that is remembered like the roaring '20s are, you know?

1:56:08 > 1:56:10Our generation and what we did.

1:56:13 > 1:56:17# ..You can get on with your search Baby

1:56:17 > 1:56:22# And I can get on with mine

1:56:22 > 1:56:28# And maybe some day we will find

1:56:31 > 1:56:36# That it wasn't really wasted time. #

1:56:42 > 1:56:46We set out to become a band for our time, but sometimes

1:56:46 > 1:56:51if you do a good enough job, you become a band for all time.

1:57:08 > 1:57:12# On a dark desert highway

1:57:12 > 1:57:15# Cool wind in my hair

1:57:15 > 1:57:18# Warm smell of colitas

1:57:18 > 1:57:22# Rising up through the air

1:57:22 > 1:57:25# Up ahead in the distance

1:57:25 > 1:57:29# I saw a shimmering light

1:57:29 > 1:57:31# My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

1:57:31 > 1:57:34# I had to stop for the night

1:57:34 > 1:57:38# There she stood in the doorway

1:57:38 > 1:57:41# I heard the mission bell

1:57:41 > 1:57:43# I was thinking to myself

1:57:43 > 1:57:47# This could be heaven Or this could be hell

1:57:47 > 1:57:51# Then she lit up a candle

1:57:51 > 1:57:54# And she showed me the way

1:57:54 > 1:58:00# There were voices down the corridor I thought I heard them say... #

1:58:02 > 1:58:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd