History of the Eagles Part One Page #19

---

It was another opus,

another David Lean movie.

And it's a long road out of Eden.

We finally got through,

and we finally made Long Road Out of Eden.

And we didn't give it to a record company.

We made a deal with Walmart.

This was the first major artist

to do a direct-to-retail release

and bypass the major record companies.

It was phenomenally successful.

The album entered at number one.

It gave, I think, the whole industry

hope that it could find a new

and different way to reach its fans.

They're becoming a much greener company,

and that was important to me.

And the other good thing was that

our fans got 20 songs for 12 bucks.

It was basically a double album, and

they weren't charged double for it.

Don said, "I got a title for a song

- Busy Being Fabulous. "

And I thought, "What a great title. "

I came home to an empty house

And I found your little note...

And then Don wrote, "Don't

wait up for me tonight,

"that was all she wrote. "

Don't wait up for me tonight

And that was all she wrote...

And then we were off on the story.

You were just too busy being fabulous

Too busy to think about us...

Busy Being Fabulous, Don

and Glenn had gotten it

to a certain state, and I came up

with some stuff for the bridge

and tweaked what already existed.

I was very involved in

the Long Road record.

I've always been a lot happier

getting into the entire project,

arranging stuff, producing the

stuff, co-writing the stuff.

Like, Waiting In The Weeds

and Business As Usual

were co-writes with Don.

Getting Steuart Smith in the

band was a real shot in the arm.

He's such a terrific musician.

It's a great solo.

It's like stepping into a space suit.

It is strange to be playing that song.

The reaction is terrific, and

you bask in that excitement.

But I didn't write it.

I'm one part hired gun, but

also one part collaborator.

I'm one of the guitar players.

But I'm not an Eagle.

I don't know what it's like

to be one of those guys.

Three, four!

My kids were looking on the Internet,

and they found this show that

the Eagles had done in 1974.

I was in my office watching TV,

and my kids come in and say,

"Hey, Dad, come here.

"You got to take a look at your hair. "

And one of the songs was How Long.

But if I never see the good old days

Shining in the sun

I'll be doing fine and then some

Tell me how long...

How Long was from my first solo album.

They found that cos Cindy

saw it on YouTube and said,

"Glenn, what's this?"

And he said, "Oh, it's a song of JD's. "

She said, "Well, you

didn't cut it, did you?"

How long, how long Rock yourself to sleep

GUITAR SOLO:

JD wanted it on his solo album,

so we never recorded it.

My wife said, "Hey, that sounds

like a hit Eagles song. "

Everybody feels all right you

know I heard some poor fool say

Somebody

Everyone is out there on the loose

Well, I wish I lived in the land

of fools, and no one knew my name

But what you get is not

quite what you choose

Tell me, how long, how long

Woman will you weep?

They are the American band.

Yeah, they pretty much encompassed

the '70s, didn't they?

And took it all in.

That's a long time to still

have a musical impact,

and it's due to this

incredibly crisp, tight,

extraordinarily good record-making

band and the presence of good songs.

But it's also now taken

on this other thing, too,

where it's everybody through

the band wants to remember a

'70s that they may or may not have had.

Good night, baby rock yourself to sleep

Sleep tight, baby rock yourself to sleep

B-B-B-Bye-bye, baby rock

yourself to slee-e-e-ep.

This band could go play

stadiums all over the country,

and people know these songs so intimately.

They last. The songs last.

I have one small plaque on my wall.

It says, "Presented to the Eagles

to commemorate the best-selling

"album of the 20th century,

"with sales in excess of 26 million units. "

That century's gone, so

nobody's going to top that.

What's it like to be an Eagle now?

It's just part of my life.

I do normal things.

I go to the market, and once in a

while, somebody comes up to me.

I don't walk around being an Eagle.

I'm an Eagle when it's time for me to be.

I made sure the dishes were done

before you guys came today.

You know?

He was a hard-headed man

And he was brutally handsome

She was terminally pretty

She held him up and

he held her for ransom

In the heart of the cold, cold city

He had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude

They said he was ruthless,

they said he was crude

They had one thing in

common they were good in bed

She'd say, "Faster, faster,

the lights are turnin' red"

Life in the fast lane

Surely make you lose your mind

Life in the fast lane...

I love everybody in the

band like a brother.

To be part of a real band -

a REAL band -

is something that not all musicians

get to do in their life.

And I'm real lucky to have

that chapter in my book.

Rock'n'roll saved my life. It

changed my life tremendously.

And as Mick Jagger so

famously and eloquently said,

"It's only rock'n'roll, but I like it. "

I think that one of the

reasons that Glenn and I

wanted to write songs is because

rock'n'roll music got us

through junior high and through

high school and those difficult

times when you're searching

for your identity

and wondering who the heck you are,

trying to get girls to notice

you, and wondering why

the football players are doing

so much better than you are.

At the end of the day, it was

and still is about the music.

You know, I've always

been a dreamer...

I regret that I didn't

handle some of the adversity

that the Eagles faced in

the late '70s better.

Fortunately, for me,

I've had another chance to be the

leader of the Eagles, another

chance to be Don's partner and do

this work again and play this music.

And in this second run, I think

I've done a pretty good job

of keeping the peace and keep the

band together, keep everybody happy.

So here we are.

Still doing it.

You gotta take it to the limit

One more time.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Thank you.

That's it! That's it!

Bye-bye.

'We wanted longevity.

'It wasn't a hobby for us.

It wasn't a game.

'It wasn't a pleasant diversion.

It was a life.

'It was a calling. It was a career. '

It was worth it.

We went to China last year.

We're still breaking new

ground 40 years later.

Back in the late '70s,

Neil Young sang a song about

the emerging punk ethic.

And the pivotal line in that song was,

"It's better to burn out

than it is to rust. "

And I'm not sure that even Neil himself

subscribed to that sentiment, but

I don't see rust as a bad thing.

I have an old 1962 John Deere

tractor that's covered with rust,

but it runs like a top.

You know, the inner workings are just fine.

You better let somebody love you

Let somebody love you

You better let somebody love...

'To me, that rust symbolises

all the miles driven

'and all the good work done and

all the experiences gained. '

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes