History of the Eagles Part One Page #2

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fall backwards into my arms,

delirious, going, "Paul, Paul!"

You know, and I thought, "Oh, my God!"

I have a very vivid memory

of seeing the Beatles

with my parents on our old Admiral TV set.

It was like a bolt of lightning.

It had a huge impact on me.

It was revolutionary.

And it was an impact that

would last a lifetime,

and I know that had a huge

impact on Glenn, too,

even though we didn't know

each other at the time.

Linden, Texas, is my hometown. It's a

small town in North-eastern Texas.

When I was growing up, the

population was about 2,500, 2,600.

I can settle down...

It's primarily an agricultural area.

Some people worked at the steel mill.

It's just a typical small Texas town.

There's an old courthouse dating

back to before the Civil War

and one stoplight.

It's kind of like The Last

Picture Show, you know?

It was a great place musically,

because it was kind of

a cultural crossroads.

It's really located where the old

South begins to meet the West.

Linden, Texas, was the birthplace

of Scott Joplin and T-Bone Walker.

Yes, time is hard, baby...

Both my parents loved music, so we

had a lot of records in the house.

I was exposed to music of all

kinds from an early age.

You know, Country and Western music, Western

swing music, gospel music, Blues...

Johnny Cash, Hank Williams,

and Patsy Cline.

More, more, more

Gonna live it up and tear it down

Get in the groove and paint the town

Got a lot of rhythm in my soul...

There was a 50,000-watt radio

station in New Orleans,

and I heard things on that station

that I didn't hear anywhere else.

So, I had a lot of radio coming in.

And when I would go to work with my dad,

he would listen to a station in

Shreveport, Louisiana. KWKH.

Say, hey, good lookin!

What you got cookin?

How's about cooking

something up for me?

And that station broadcast a radio

show called the Louisiana Hayride,

where Elvis Presley made his

first radio broadcast in 1954.

Well, that's alright, Mama

That's alright with you

That's alright, Mama

Just any way you do

That's alright

That's alright...

The very first rock 'n' roll record

I bought was by Elvis Presley.

Anyway you do...

My playing the drums was

sort of an organic process.

I began by beating on my

school books with my fingers

and with pencils.

I would beat out little cadences,

and I used to drive my classmates

crazy doing that, until, I think,

one day, somebody said to me -

I think it was my friend

Richard Bowden - he said,

"Why don't you just start

playing the drums?"

I managed to cobble together

a drum kit from old drums

that I found stashed in the back

of the band hall at high school.

And then one day, my mom said,

"Come on, get in the car. "

And she drove me to a town

about an hour and a half away

called Sulphur Springs, Texas,

to McKay Music Company.

Much to my surprise,

she bought me a set of

red-sparkle Slingerland drums

that I still have today.

So, I have to give my

parents a lot of credit.

They bought me that drum kit

even though they couldn't really afford it.

The first band I was in was a

band with my high-school buddy

Richard Bowden and another

high-school friend, Jerry Surratt,

and we played Dixieland jazz music. Nobody sang.

We just played music.

MUSICAL INTRO TO "SATISFACTION"

BY THE ROLLING STONES

I went to a high-school party,

and there were four kids

who were freshmen in high

school who were playing.

I was a junior, and I had a

couple beers that night and said,

"Hey, you know, do you know Satisfaction?

Cos I can sing it. "

So, I became the lead singer

of the Subterraneans.

And I try and I try

And I try...

I played in the Subterraneans for a while,

and then I played in another

band called the Mushrooms.

The most important thing

that happened to me

when I was in Detroit was I met Bob Seger.

Ye-e-e-ah

I'm gonna tell my tale, come on!

He took me under his wing.

He invited me to recording sessions

that he was having, you know,

so I could see how records were made.

I was his mentor.

He was just so young, and

I liked him right away

because he was so funny.

He had a great sense of

humour, and, like me,

I could see he was really ambitious.

He really wanted to be on the radio.

He cut a song called Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.

He let me play acoustic

guitar on the basic track

and sing background vocals.

Ramblin' ma-a-an

A gamblin' man...

You can really hear Glenn blurt

out on the first chorus.

He comes out really loud. Tremendous gusto.

Of course, that was a national hit

for us, so that was really cool.

Bob was the first guy that wrote

his own songs and recorded them

that I had ever met.

He said, "You know, if you want to make it,

"you're gonna have to

write your own songs. "

And I said, "Well, what if they're bad?"

And he said, "Well, they're gonna be bad. "

He says, "You just keep

writing and keep writing,

"and eventually, you'll write a good song. "

We were gonna have a band together.

He was gonna get rid of his other guys,

and I was gonna be his bass player.

It didn't work out.

My mom found me smoking

pot with a friend of mine

in somebody's basement, and she

called up Seger's manager,

Punch Andrews, and said, "Just

a minute, not so fast. "

In the years leading up

to the Great Depression,

my dad had to quit school

after the eighth grade.

He had to go home and work in the

fields with his brother and sister

to help support the family.

His fondest wish, in fact, his life's goal,

was that I would go to college.

Every Saturday night, he would

bring home seven quarters,

and we'd put them in a piggy

bank, and when those quarters

amounted to 100, he would

take me to the bank

and we would buy a savings bond,

a United States savings bond,

and put that away for my college education.

So, between what my dad had saved

and between what I was making

doing gigs all over Texas

and Arkansas and Louisiana

on weekends, I paid for three

and a half years of college.

They have a world-famous music

department in which I did not excel.

I took one music course.

I think it was beginning

theory, and I flunked.

I made an "F."

But I didn't really care because

I was an English major.

Well, after the Mushrooms, I

got invited to join this band

called the Four of Us.

Started getting into some

of the California bands -

the Byrds, Buffalo

Springfield, the Beach Boys.

Always wanted to go to California.

And I got out there, my mind was blown.

The vegetation - I'd never seen palm trees.

You know, it was just

like a dream come true.

So you want to be a rock'n'roll star?

Then listen now to what I say

Just get an electric guitar...

The first celebrity I saw was David Crosby.

And when your hair's combed

right and your pants fit tight

It's gonna be all right...

And he had on that

flat-brimmed hat that he wore

on the second Byrds album, and

he had a little leather cape on,

and I just looked and I thought,

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