History of the Eagles Part One Page #6

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very spiritual experience,

and they would maybe

meet their animal totem

or they would get their quest for life.

My deal was always to take the

bands out of their comfort zone.

Take them away from their

girlfriends, from telephones,

from anything, and have

them under my control

so that I could get things to

happen without any interference.

And so, we would take trips.

Now, how this plan came about exactly,

today you have to scratch your

head, but this was the plan.

OK, we'll all go to the Troubadour,

and we'll stay there till closing time.

And then we'll drive to Joshua Tree.

This morning I don't know...

We had a bag of peyote

buttons, a bunch of trail mix,

some tequila, and some

water, and some blankets.

And the seven of us set

out for Joshua Tree.

We got there probably about 4.30

in the morning, parked in this

special place that I don't know

how we found it in the dark.

We all took one peyote button,

put it in our mouths,

and started hiking up to the place

that we were supposed to go.

So, right around the time that

we're getting to the campsite

and we're starting to build the fire

and starting to cook some peyote

tea, and the first buttons -

everybody's chewing the first button

and the drug starts coming on

just as the sun is rising.

MUSIC:
"Earlybird" by the Eagles

I think everybody got higher

than they ever imagined

anybody could be, and it was a good thing.

We were after getting into life deeper

and better and more and surrendering.

I had to go to the bathroom,

so I left the campsite,

and I hear the guys yelling from

the campfire, "Eagle! Eagle!"

I look up, and it's soaring right above me.

Huge wingspan.

I'm, like, scuffling to get my

pants back up, and I'm slipping.

I fall down, and the

bird just kind of goes,

"Eagles, huh? Yeah, I don't think so. "

The images of the first

album cover, I think,

really set the tone for

visually what Eagles are.

Gary designed the album cover

so that it would open up into a

whole poster, and at the bottom were

the Eagles around the campfire.

And then, up at the top, it

would go on up into the sky

and the eagle up in the sky.

But David Geffen thought

that would be confusing,

and without consulting us or

consulting Gary or the Eagles

or anybody, he told them,

"Just glue it shut. "

And so, then, when they glued

it shut, you would get this -

this album, front and back,

and you'd open it up,

and it would be upside-down, which

didn't make any sense to anybody.

The fact was that the success of the

first album scared the hell out of us.

Why me instead of some guy

down the street, you know?

Why me and some friends of mine

who are just as good of musicians

as I am, you know, but it happened

to me and it didn't happen to them?

I don't know.

Success can sometimes be

just as disconcerting

and frightening as failure, especially

when you have questions about your

own worthiness and your abilities.

It came time to do another album.

Don and I decided we'd try to

write some songs together.

I had been sitting over on Aqua Vista.

I was living on the couch,

and I'm just laying there playing

the guitar, and I started going...

Ding-digga-ding digga...

You know, I'm thinking,

"Yeah, that's pretty cool, kind

of Roy Orbison, kind of Mexican.

"Yeah, I like that. "

So, I showed him, you

know, that guitar riff.

I said, "Maybe we should

write something to this. "

It's another tequila sunrise

Staring slowly across the sky

I said goodbye

He was just a hired hand

Workin' on a dreamy plan to try...

Songs like "Desperado"

and "Tequila Sunrise",

that's when Glenn and I began collaborating, and

that's when we really became a songwriting team.

Every night when the sun goes down

Just another lonely boy in town

And she's out runnin' round.

Earlier that year,

someone had given Jackson

Browne the book of gunfighters.

It had all the big outlaw groups, Frank

and Jesse, the Doolin-Dalton gang.

We were all just fascinated

with those guys,

and we thought it would

make a great analogy.

Well, for example, we live

outside the laws of normality.

Also, you usually, because of

records or bank robberies,

you usually heard about these

guys before you ever saw them.

They had posters that were

wanted posters up for people.

There just seemed to be some parallels.

It wasn't really like we were outlaws,

but I think they did have

their nobler characteristics.

A life on the road is the

life of an outlaw, man.

We started talking about it.

Then we said, "Well, maybe we should do,

"like, an album all about the rebels. "

We got to doing this outlaw album,

and we had eight songs finished,

and we needed two more.

An idea Randy came up with was

how the guy became an outlaw

and how he became a guitar player.

He was a poor boy

Raised in a small family

He kinda had a craving For

something no one else could see

They said that he was crazy The

kind that no lady should meet

He ran off to the city Then

wandered around in the street.

I kind of started it, and

that's what usually happened.

I'd get a verse or two, and then I'm done,

and they would help fill in the blanks.

Oh, yeah. He wants to

see the lights a-flashing

And listen to the thunder ring.

Nobody expected there to be a concept

album with western cowboys music.

Don Henley was from Texas. He was a cowboy.

Glenn was from Detroit.

He wanted to be a cowboy.

Because I knew all these guys had

a little cowboy inside of them,

I took them to Western Costume and

just said, "Pick out your persona. "

Their premise was that, if

they had lived 100 years ago,

in like 1872, they probably

would have been gunslingers.

Everybody's going to be firing in the

direction of this building right here.

Jackson, J.D., Boyd, you all

got to be in the picture more.

- We're going to be in there.

- You ready? One, two, three!

And we fired so many blanks that

it was a cloud of smoke hanging

over this western town,

and the fire department came Cos

they thought it was a fire.

Keep firing!

We were just a bunch of kids.

We were just playing around.

The picture that's on

the back of the album,

there's a lot of reality in it.

All of the agents and managers

and road managers, all the guys

who didn't play are standing up,

alive with badges and guns,

and the four Eagles at the time and

Jackson and I are all dead, bound

up the way they used to do when

they'd catch outlaws in those days.

They'd stand them up for display.

People never tired of looking

at the corpse of a bad boy.

We all felt, when we were doing it

and as it was delivered, that it

was another really remarkable

record on the part of the band.

I mean, it was pretty extraordinary.

The band and I were

enormously thrilled with it.

They literally carried me

out of the control room.

They chaired me out of the control room.

Desperado

Is there gonna be anything left...

"Desperado" comes out, and it bombs.

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