History of the Eagles Part One Page #18

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so I'd like to thank my predecessor,

Randy Meisner, for being there.

'I'm glad that Randy and

Bernie got recognised. '

I think that's appropriate.

Hey, how you doin'?

It's a good feeling.

Looks good on my resume.

HE CHUCKLES:

I'd really like to thank Don and

Glenn for writing those songs.

Thank you, guys. It makes my

job real easy. Thank you!

APPLAUSE:

Charming outfit, Joe.

I'd like to, again,

thank Don Henley and Glenn Frey for

writing an incredible body of work

that's propelled this band through

20-some-odd years' worth of life.

Thank you, guys.

When a kid first picks up

a guitar or a drumstick,

it's not really to be famous.

It's because that kid wants

to fit in somewhere,

he wants to be accepted, and he

wants to be understood, even.

And so, I like to think of this

award as something that is

acknowledging us not for being

famous, but for doing the work.

And I appreciate all the work that

all these guys behind me have done.

I want to thank Irving Azoff,

without whom we wouldn't be here today.

APPLAUSE:

As I've said before, he may

be Satan, but he's our Satan.

We're in a dog-eat-dog business.

Show me anybody that's going to

be responsible for guiding or

managing an artist's career

that's made too many friends,

and I'm going to show you somebody

that's sold out their artist

and done a crappy job.

So, I was quite proud of Henley's

reference of what he said.

It was more or less, for me, a

validation of a job well done.

A lot of my job was trying to

keep the band from breaking up.

In the '70s, we formed a corporation

called Eagles, Limited.

And that was all-for-one and one-for-all.

Well, it wasn't the three musketeers.

As our friend JD Souther used to

say, "Time passes, things change. "

In talking with Irving about

putting the Eagles back

together in 1994, I said,

"Irving, I'm not going to do it

"unless Don and I make more

money than the other guys. "

"We're the only guys who have done anything

"career-wise in the last 14 years.

"We're the guys that have kept

the Eagles' name alive on radio,

"television and in concert halls. "

So we came up with a deal

that I was happy with,

and Don was happy with,

Timothy was happy with,

Joe was happy with, and Don

Felder was not happy with.

And I called Felder's representative.

And I said, "Hello, Barry.

" This is Glenn Frey.

"I'm sorry you happen to represent

the only a**hole in the band,

"but let me tell you something.

"You either sign this agreement

before the sun goes down today,

"or we're replacing Don Felder.

"That's the final deal.

"He signs by sunset, or he's

out of the f***ing band. "

Hung up.

So, he signed the deal, and

we started out on the tour.

I didn't sense a great deal of camaraderie.

You hardly saw anybody

if it wasn't walking on the plane

or walking onto the stage.

Everyone thought, "Well,

if we don't get together,

"we won't have problems. "

And I think instead of being able to

sit down and have a beer and talk

about stuff and renew a relationship

with everyone, that independent

isolation really didn't add the

comfort necessary to make it work.

Don Felder was never, ever

satisfied, never, ever happy.

A rock band is not a perfect democracy.

It's more like a sports team.

No one can do anything

without the other guys,

but everybody doesn't get to

touch the ball all the time.

Time went on, and time went on, and

Felder became more and more unhappy.

Couldn't appreciate the amount

of money he was making,

more concerned about how

much money I was making.

If Don Felder really thought about it,

it really was he wanted it to

be a "band" band in the purest

sense of the words, you know, we're

all going to get equal songwriting,

singing, expression stuff, and

this was not a hippie commune.

You know, and everything for them

really goes back to those

two words - song power.

We finally made the decision that we

won't be working with him anymore.

It just broke my heart. It's

not just playing with Joe.

I miss these guys.

But I really missed the

friendship and the music.

OK.

Glenn and I, when it comes

time to make band decisions,

usually stick together.

It's difficult for four or five

people to have an equal say.

Here we are 40 years

later, and we're doing OK.

We're one of the few

bands that can say that.

The novelty of the Eagles being back

together and those few new songs

that we had on the Hell Freezes

Over album is one thing.

But we needed to make a record.

Considering that we haven't

made a record in so long,

we spent a good two-and-a-half years

making Long Road Out of Eden.

We finally figured out that we

just needed to do what we do.

This really goes back to the

essence of what we do best,

which is singing and songwriting.

A lot of harmony singing on this album.

ALL:
There's a hole in the world tonight

Don't let there be a hole

in the world tomorrow...

Big tragedies like that make

you think, as a parent,

what kind of world is coming up?

What's going to happen next?

What's the world going to be

like when my kids are grown?

After September 11th, our

immediate visceral reaction,

our gut reaction, resulted

in Hole In The World.

Don't let there be a hole

in the world tomorrow...

The Eagles have written and

sung plenty of love songs

over the years, but we've

also written and sung songs

that have to do with what's

going on in the wider world.

We've never shied away

from social commentary.

We think it's part of a rich

tradition that dates all

the way back to medieval times.

And so we still engage in it.

No more walks in the wood

The trees have all been cut down

And where once they stood

Not even a wagon rut

appears along the path...

The writings and the ideas

of Henry David Thoreau

and Ralph Waldo Emerson

had a huge impact on me.

They got me through some very

difficult times in my life,

one being when my father was

stricken with heart disease,

and provided a lot of

spiritual support for me.

When I found out in 1980 that

part of Walden was going to be

destroyed by commercial development,

I decided that was something

I needed to help fight.

So I ended up founding the

Walden Woods Project.

And we are in our 27th year now, and

we've accomplished a great deal.

It's been one of the most rewarding

things that I've ever done.

We and the trees and the way

Back from the fields of play...

The lyrics to that song

were originally a poem

written by a great American

poet named John Hollander.

No more walks in the wood.

Don had this title, Long Road Out of Eden.

Timothy goes over, and he

picks up an acoustic guitar.

And I go over to the keyboards

and Joe grabs a guitar

and Don goes on the drums.

And we start making up this

sort of musical story called

Long Road Out of Eden, a story

of, really, the war in Iraq.

Moon shining down through the palms

Shadows moving on the sand...

And it was, like, the last resort.

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