History of the Eagles Part One Page #5

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acoustic players, country

players, if you like.

And there was a bit of a confusion.

I didn't see what all the

fuss was about at all.

So I passed.

We're like, "God dang, what?" You

know, it's not what we expected.

He had worked with Led

Zeppelin, the Who, the Stones,

so he was coming from that,

and he said flat-out,

"You're not that, man. "

It isn't always easy to spot

what's hot about an artist

if you go and see them play. You

can see them on a bad night.

You know, it's not necessarily

the fairest way of doing it.

So, I thought, "Well, the best thing

to do would be for me to see them

"in a rehearsal situation

where we could converse

"and they could play new stuff

and I could stop and start. "

And they played the stuff

that they played in Aspen,

and it all sounded pretty much the same.

Well, I was thinking, "I don't get it.

I still don't get it. "

So, we decided to take a break for lunch

and as we were leaving,

somebody said, "Oh, why don't

we play Glyn that ballad?"

My daddy was a handsome devil

He had a chain five miles long...

And it just completely blew me off my feet.

I mean, there it was. That was the sound.

From every link a heart did dangle

For every maid...

Extraordinary blend of voices,

wonderful harmony sound.

Just stunning.

And that was it. I was in with both feet.

Now I have loved you like a baby...

Except that Glyn Johns

didn't want to come to the

United States and work.

He wanted to work in London

in the recording studios

that he was familiar with, and so

they shipped us off to England.

I don't think that any of us

except Bernie had ever been out

of the country, so it was a little

bit like going to the moon for us.

I'm hanging on to my peace of mind

I just don't know

I'm hanging on to those good times...

And I'm stoked. You know, I'm thinking,

"I'm going to go to Beatle

country with Glyn Johns.

"I'm going to record in the same studio

"where Led Zeppelin did Rock And Roll.

"Oh, my God, I can't wait. "

We were recorded at the

famous Olympic studios,

where a lot of legendary

records had been made.

Glyn Johns, he had a certain

style of recording,

which was very organic.

He would simply place a few mikes

around the room, and off you go.

You know, rather than, for example,

placing a microphone on each

and every drum, he would just put

three microphones on the drum kit.

He was accustomed to recording people

like John Bonham with Led Zeppelin.

And I said to Glyn, "I want

the bass drum to be louder. "

And he said, "If you want it

louder, hit it harder," you know?

And I hit it as hard as I could,

but I couldn't hit it

as hard as John Bonham.

He had a bunch of rules

that really didn't suit me

and some of the other guys, too.

You know, no getting high in the

studio, no drinking in the studio.

I agreed wholeheartedly with Glyn Johns

regarding drugs and alcohol in the studio -

that we'd get more work done and

that it would be better work.

When I got the opportunity

to produce and therefore

be in the chair, I decided that I

would no longer put up with that.

Somebody said to me the other night that

I was the designated driver

in the '60s and early '70s.

Glyn had worked with the Rolling

Stones at a time when they went

to the studio and did nothing except

wait for Keith, you know, to go down

in the basement and play his guitar

until he came up with some riff.

So, Glyn was impatient.

The Stones had burned him

out on the, you know,

"get high in the studio and wait for

something to happen" kind of thing.

'Let's go. We're rolling. '

'One, two, three. '

I like the way your

sparkling earrings lay

Against your skin so brown

And I wanna sleep with you

In the desert tonight...

There were three hit singles

on the first album.

Peaceful Easy Feeling was

written by Jack Tempchin,

who is our friend and

frequent collaborator.

Cos I got a peaceful easy feeling...

Peaceful Easy Feeling captures the

time, captures this attitude.

You can feel the wind

blowing across the desert.

Oh-ohh

What a feeling

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh.

MUSIC:
"Witchy Woman" by the Eagles

The second hit was Witchy Woman,

which I wrote with Bernie.

Witchy Woman started as a guitar figure.

Then we were jamming it one day,

and everybody was digging it.

And then Henley came back the

next day with the lyrics.

Raven hair and ruby lips

Sparks fly from her finger tips

Echoed voices in the night

She's a restless spirit

on an endless flight

Woo hoo, witchy woman

See how high she flies

Woo hoo, witchy woman

She got the moon in her eye...

During the time that the Eagles were

on the road for the first album,

we had just come through the

'60s - civil rights movement,

'68- all the assassinations,

all the rioting.

The Vietnam War still winding up.

Nixon, Watergate.

I welcome this kind of examination.

I really think that part of

the reason that the Eagles

succeeded the way they did

was because the country

and people and young people needed

to feel like things were OK.

So, here comes this song Take It Easy.

Well I'm a runnin' down the road

Trying to loosen my load

I've got seven women on my mind

Four that want to own me

Two that want to stone me

One says she's a friend of mine

Take it easy

Take it easy

Don't let the sound of your

own wheels drive you crazy

Lighten up while you still can

Don't even try to understand

Just find a place to play your hand

Take it easy...

Jackson had this song called Take It Easy.

He couldn't finish the song. He

was stuck in the second verse.

He had, "I'm standing on a

corner in Winslow, Arizona. "

And so, I filled in, "Such

a fine sight to see

"It's a girl, my Lord In a flatbed Ford

"Slowing down to take a look at me. "

Well, I'm a standin' on a

corner in Winslow, Arizona

Such a fine sight to see

It's a girl my Lord in a flat-bed Ford

Slowin' down to take a look at me...

Girl, Lord, Ford

- I mean, all the redemption, you know -

girls and cars and redemption

all in this one line.

I mean, he's very mercurical. You know...

mercurial? Mercurial.

And he's mercurical, too.

We may lose and we may win

But we will never be here again

So open up I'm climbin' in

So take it easy...

All right!

Someone once asked Stephen

Stills about the Eagles,

and his response was, "They

just wanted to be us. "

But when it came time

to do our album covers,

they suggested that we use

Gary Burden and Henry Diltz.

They had done the first

Crosby, Stills, Nash cover

and some stuff for Joni.

The one I really remember was

The Mamas & The Papas all

sitting in the bathtub.

That was one of their album covers.

So, these were, like, the cool

guys to have work on your album.

Gary Burden is about 40 years

old, full beard, long, greyish,

wavy hair, crystal-blue eyes.

Henry was a sort of magical,

non-invasive photographer guy.

For the Eagles,

it was the peyote spirits which

the American Indians, of course,

ate peyote and had a very,

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