Best Eagles songs of all time: Their greatest hits, from 'Hotel California' to 'Desperado'

As the Eagles’ Long Goodbye Tour nears its final destination, “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)” remains the biggest-selling greatest-hits collection in the history of rock ‘n’ roll with the title track to “Hotel California” fast approaching total streams of 1.5 billion on Spotify, which didn’t exist here in the States until 2011.

By any reasonable metric, they’re among the most successful artists of all time, with five chart-topping entries on the Billboard Hot 100, another 13 songs that went Top 40 and six chart-topping albums, two of which (“Their Greatest Hits” and “Hotel California”) have U.S. sales rivaled only by “Thriller.”

It’s been quite a ride, which brings us to this unapologetically subjective countdown of the Eagles’ greatest songs, from “Take It Easy” through the best of “Hotel California” to “I Can’t Tell You Why.”

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25. ‘How Long’ (2007)

It’s been said that you can check out any time you like but you can never leave. And so it came to pass that the Eagles returned to the garden on the aptly titled “Long Road Out of Eden,” their first full-length studio recording since “The Long Run” topped the album charts three decades earlier.

It’s always nice, at times like this, to tap into the essence of your early work. And that’s exactly what they did on this recording of a song by J.D. Souther, who co-wrote such classics as “Best of My Love” and “New Kid in Town.”

The Eagles often covered this one in their live show in the early ‘70s, which may be why it feels so much like something they’d have done on their first album. It picked up Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammys.

24. ‘Good Day in Hell’ (1974)

This was a pivotal moment in Eagles history, Don Felder’s first appearance on a studio recording. Founding member Bernie Leadon suggested his name when producer Bill Szymczyk advanced the idea of bringing in a harder-edged guitarist to add a slide part to this song for their third album, “On the Border.”

By the time the album hit the streets, the other Eagles had invited him to join, and hearing Felder tear it up on the fuzz-driven raunch of that slide-guitar solo, you can definitely hear why they would make that call. You wanted harder-edged guitar? You got it.

The icing on the cake here is the key change coming out of Felder’s solo. Don Henley has said that Glenn Frey’s lyrics were intended as a tribute to Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and Gram Parsons, both of whom had overdosed not long before the Eagles cut this record.

23. ‘Heartache Tonight’ (1979)

This was their fifth chart-topping entry on the Hot 100, a song whose place of honor in the Eagles universe is such that they’ve been closing encores with it on the Long Goodbye Tour. It may not be the deepest song they’ve ever done. As Frey says in the liner notes to “The Very Best of the Eagles,” “No heavy lyrics — the song is more of a romp — and that's what it was intended to be.”

Bob Seger wrote the chorus hook and it’s a great one, Frey’s lead vocal underscored by classic Eagles harmonies and scorching slide guitar from Joe Walsh. You can definitely feel the Seger in the mix as it builds to a spirited climax. It picked up a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and went on to be a country hit for Conway Twitty.

22. ‘Try and Love Again’ (1976)

This was founding member Randy Meisner’s final moment in the vocal spotlight on an Eagles album, written for the “Hotel California” album as the bassist was going through what certainly sounds like a painful divorce.

It’s a bittersweet country-rock ballad with a dual guitar lead from the Allman Brothers school of country blues and a heartbreaking vocal from Meisner, who wants for all the world to try and love again but knows it won’t be easy. “Well it might take years,” he sighs, “to see through all these tears.”

Those richly textured harmonies that show up to support him on the chorus are the perfect counterpart to Meisner’s plaintive vocal on a track that fades out on a sweet falsetto vocal vowing, “gonna try, gonna try, gonna try, gonna try.”

21. ‘The Long Run’ (1979)

The title track to the final album released before they went their separate ways in 1980 was a Top 10 hit written by Henley in response to the rock press suggesting that their sell-by date had long since passed them by in a pop scene ruled by punk and disco.

“We'll find out in the long run,” Henley sneers without explicitly addressing their detractors in what could easily be taken as a love song (“I know we can take it if our love is a strong one”). In the short run? Well, “The Long Run” was a huge success.

Their third chart-topping album in a row, it sent three singles to the Top 10, including this soulful rocker, which features stellar slide guitar from Walsh and Felder and the truly classic Henley line “’cause all the debutantes in Houston, baby, couldn’t hold a candle to you.”

20. ‘Seven Bridges Road’ (1980)

The Eagles’ harmonies have always been among their most enduring calling cards, and few songs in their catalog have done a better job of showcasing those harmonies than “Seven Bridges Road,” a song by country singer Steve Young that didn’t sound nearly as bluegrass on the version Young released in 1969.

A live recording featured on the 1980 album “Eagles Live,” the Eagles’ version opens with an acapella reading of the chorus sung in flawless five-part harmony, adding traditional bluegrass instrumentation as they go.

Felder says they used to used to warm up for their concerts singing this one in the backstage showers, then go out and start the show that way. In his autobiography "Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles," Felder said it was “a unifying vocal moment.” Released as a single, it hit No. 21, the last Top 40 hit of their initial run.

19. ‘Witchy Woman’ (1972)

This appropriately spooky single from their first release features Henley uncorking the tale of an evil seductress who "drove herself to madness with a silver spoon” (partly inspired by reading a book about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda, an iconic flapper, while delirious from flu-related fever).

The musical aesthetic is established in the first few seconds as Leadon’s haunting minor-key guitar riff is met by a drum pattern Henley would later compare to “a Hollywood-movie version of Indian music — you know, the kind of stuff they play when the Indians ride up on the ridge while the wagon train passes below.”

When people talk about the Eagles leaving the country rock of their early work behind on later albums, it’s worth noting that you’d be hard-pressed to classify this song as country rock. And it’s the biggest hit on that first album, hitting No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

18. ‘After the Thrill Is Gone’ (1975)

“What can you do when your dreams come true and it's not quite like you planned?” In an interview with Rolling Stone, Henley talked about how he and Frey had written this heartbreaking highlight of “One of These Nights,” their first chart-topping album, as a sequel of sorts to B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.”

“We wanted to explore the aftermath,” he said. “We know that the thrill is gone — so, now what?” Frey and Henley share the vocal spotlight on this mournful ballad, which features a suitably bluesy guitar lead from Felder on the way to one last soulful high note on “after the thrill is gone.”

17. ‘Pretty Maids All In a Row’ (1976)

Walsh was the new kid in town when he contributed this stately ballad (a Joe Vitale co-write) to the “Hotel California” album, making the most of his turn in the lead-vocal spotlight with his aching delivery of this bittersweet reflection on the objects in his rearview mirror.

Setting the scene with a plaintive delivery of “Hi there, how are you? It’s been a long time/ Seems like we’ve come a long way,” Walsh’s lyrics are tinged with feelings of nostalgia and regret, a distant cousin of the Kinks’ “Do You Remember Walter?” Even Walsh’s slide guitar can’t keep from crying. He may be playing against type here, but it suits him.

16. ‘Wasted Time’ (1976)

This melancholy ballad brings the first side of the “Hotel California” album to a breathtaking conclusion, the string arrangement adding to the pathos of a deeply soulful breakup song based on an actual breakup (with Michelle Obama’s future jewelry designer Loree Rodkin) that ends with Henley holding out an olive branch of sorts.

“So you can get on with your search, baby, and I can get on with mine,” he sings. “And maybe someday we will find that it wasn't really wasted time.” As brilliantly arranged as everything about this record is, it’s the vulnerability that Henley brings to the proceedings that makes it such a masterclass in making other people feel their own pain in a story based on your experiences.

15. ‘In the City’ (1979)

Walsh’s star turn on “The Long Run” was a midtempo rocker he co-wrote with Barry De Vorzon for the soundtrack to “The Warriors.” The Eagles liked that solo version and encouraged him to re-record it for “The Long Run.” As Frey told Rolling Stone, “I always liked the song and thought it could have been an Eagles record, and so we decided to make it one.”

The result is remarkably similar although the other Eagles definitely make their presence felt, as any reasonable person would’ve guessed, on harmonies. It’s one of Walsh’s strongest, most contagious melodies and more than likely would’ve given them another Top 10 hit if they’d released it as a single. The slide guitar break is a nice, if hardly unexpected, touch.

14. ‘Tequila Sunrise’ (1973)

This country-rocking highlight of their second album, “Desperado,” is among the first songs Frey and Henley ever wrote together, based on a guitar part Frey describes in “History of the Eagles” as “kinda Roy Orbison, kinda Mexican,” which kinda sums it up.

In the liner notes to “The Very Best Of,” Henley says Frey had come up with the title but thought it may have been “a bit too obvious” because the drink Tequila Sunrise was so popular. So Henley suggested coming at the title from a different point of view: “You've been drinking straight tequila all night and the sun is coming up.”

And just like that, they had a song, setting the scene with a suitably weary delivery (by Frey) of “It’s another tequila sunrise/ Starin’ slowly ‘cross the sky/ I said goodbye.”

13. ‘Already Gone’ (1974)

“On the Border” gets off to a rollicking start with this country-rock classic, one of two songs on their third release to benefit from Felder dropping by the studio to lend a harder edge to their sound before he’d joined the band.

The song was written by Robb Strandlund and Jack Tempchin, the man responsible for “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” one of three hit singles from their first release.

As great as that guitar riff is, the best part may be Frey responding to the realization that his lover is about to put him “on the shelf” with “Let me tell you, I got some news for you/ And you'll soon find out it's true/And then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself.”

The first single released from “On the Border,” it became their highest-charting hit since “Peaceful Easy Feeling” when it peaked at No. 32.

12. ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ (1972)

Speaking of “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” this soft-rocking ballad effortlessly lives up to the promise of its title, the strum of acoustic guitars and gorgeous three-part harmonies underscoring a tender lead vocal from Frey, who sets the scene for romance with “I like the way your sparkling earrings lay against your skin so brown / And I want to sleep with you in the desert night with a billion stars all around.”

The chorus is more guarded, taking a more philosophical approach to love: “And I know you won't let me down/ 'Cause I'm already standin' on the ground.” This song peaked at No. 22 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and played in a cab when Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski famously proclaimed his hatred of the Eagles. But he's supposed to be a loser, so it is in character.

11. ‘Best of My Love’ (1975)

There’s a reason this became the Eagles’ first chart-topping entry on the Billboard Hot 100. It speaks to the human condition with a gently strummed guitar and stellar harmonies to underscore a chorus hook that all but dares you not to sing along.

A bittersweet reflection on the tendency to sabotage our own relationships, inspired in part by Henley’s breakup with Suzannah Martin, it sets the scene with “Every night I'm lying in bed/ Holding you close in my dreams/ Thinking about all the things that we said/ And coming apart at the seams.”

The prevailing mood, though, is remorseful, not resentful. Breakup songs are rarely this romantic. Or this kind. As Henley sizes up the situation “We try to talk it over, but the words come out too rough/ I know you were trying to give me the best of your love.”

10. ‘The Last Resort’ (1976)

The song that brings the “Hotel California” album to a stately finish may be the hardest-hitting piece of social commentary the Eagles ever managed, a sobering treatise on the damage done to the land and Indigenous people of America under the cover of Manifest Destiny.

In the liner notes to “The Very Best of the Eagles” compilation, Henley explained, “I was thinking of all the literary themes based on nature that I had studied back in school — the awesome beauty and the spirituality inherent in the natural world and the unrelenting destruction of it, wrought by this thing that we call civilization or progress.”

The fact that it’s also a deeply emotional track makes it that much more effective as a damning meditation on man’s folly that doesn’t pull a single punch. As a piece of music, it’s just as effective, easing you in with piano and vocals and building to a powerful crescendo.

9. ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ (1975)

The second single from their fourth release is a cheatin' song that sounds like it was written for their country-rock debut, its peaceful easy feeling offset by the sad, uneasy details of a city girl who found out early “how to open doors with just a smile” running around on a "rich old man” with “hands as cold as ice."

It’s a richly detailed story song that manages to feel more empathetic than it is, thanks in part to those ethereal harmonies sweetening the chorus but mostly due to Frey’s dejected vocal, which almost makes it feel like he’s commiserating.

This one peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and picked up a well-deserved Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. It also peaked at No. 8 on Billboard’s country chart, the only hit of their initial run to go Top 40 on that chart.

8. ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ (1979)

The newest kid in town, bassist Timothy B. Schmidt, walks away with the show on “The Long Run” with the Rundgren-worthy blue-eyed soul of "I Can't Tell You Why.”

Schmidt presented an early version of the song to Frey and Henley, and they helped him flesh it out. But it’s Walsh who sets the tone here on the only keyboard for the task at hand, a Fender Rhodes piano, adding Hammond B-3 organ as the song progresses.

It’s a sweetly soulful melody that Schmidt conveys with pure emotion as he navigates those high notes, drawing you into the song with the trembling vulnerability of “Look at us baby, up all night, tearing our love apart.” Frey has said this song is straight Al Green, and he’s not wrong. It peaked at No. 8 in 1980 on the Billboard Hot 100 to become their final Top 10 entry on that chart.

7. ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ (1976)

“Pretty Maids All in a Row” is a beautiful song, but Walsh's greatest contribution to the “Hotel California” album is the classic guitar riff that opens yet another cautionary tale about the dance we do with decadence, "Life in the Fast Lane," which earned him a co-writing credit.

They’ve never rocked with more conviction. The guitar interplay between Felder and Walsh is brilliant. Henley’s vocal is more bite than bark and it’s sad to think that anyone could fail to celebrate the genius of his phrasing on “He had a nasty reputation as a cru-el dude.” The album’s third and final single, this one hit No. 11 on the Hot 100.

6. ‘One of These Nights’ (1975)

“One of These Nights” is soft rock meeting disco on its own terms, setting the tone with one of Meisner’s greatest moments as a bassist before slinky guitars hit the dance floor, where the Eagles' inner Bee Gees take the spotlight on a chorus hook that put this on the fast track to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 and Felder squeezes out a fuzzy little lead that's up there with his best work.

In the liner notes to “The Very Best of” compilation, Frey calls this his favorite Eagles record and “a quantum leap,” saying Henley’s voice “allowed us to go in a more soulful direction, which made me exceedingly happy.”

5. ‘New Kid in Town’ (1976)

The first single from “Hotel California,” "New Kid in Town" is a wonderfully wounded meditation on the fleeting, fickle nature of not only love but also fame, especially in the music business.

As Henley recalled in the liner notes to “The Very Best of” compilation, “We were already chronicling our own demise. We were basically saying, ‘Look, we know we’re red hot right now but we also know that somebody’s going to come along and replace us — both in music and in love.”

That insecurity took them straight to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with a song that started with a J.D. Souther chorus hook ("Johnny-come-lately, the new kid in town”) that Frey and Henley helped him turn into a finished song.

It's a brilliant piece of songwriting, both musically and lyrically, especially that final twist (“They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along”), with harmonies so rich, the Grammys had no choice but to give it Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices.

4. ‘Desperado’ (1973)

This mournful cowboy ballad was the melancholy highlight of their second album, also titled “Desperado,” and remains one of their most beloved songs, despite the mystifying decision in 1973 not to make it a single.

It certainly feels like a hit, inspiring a Linda Ronstadt cover that same year. The Eagles’ original version really gets inside the sadness of those lyrics, largely due to the vulnerability of Henley’s vocals on a track that starts with piano and vocal with musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra adding strings arranged by Henley’s former bandmate Jim Ed Norman as the song progresses.

In the liner notes to “The Very Best of,” Henley credits “Desperado,” a song he started working on in 1968 or so, as the beginning of his songwriting relationship with Frey, who helped bring it home, adding, “That’s when we became a team.” The team went on to write “Tequila Sunrise” that same week.

3. ‘Take it to the Limit’ (1975)

A majestic waltz with a soulful lead vocal from Meisner, soaring harmonies and a tasteful string arrangement, "Take it to the Limit” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 as the third and final single from “One of These Nights.” It’s Meisner’s finest hour, an achingly beautiful lead vocal with some awe-inspiring high notes as it heads into the fadeout.

Meisner wasn’t done writing the song as the time to start on the album approached, so Frey and Henley helped him with the lyrics. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Meisner noted, “I was feeling kind of lonely and started singing ‘All alone at the end of the evening, and the bright lights have faded to blue.' And it went from there.”

2. ‘Take it Easy’ (1972)

This carefree tribute to the spoils of the sexual revolution made a solid case for standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, while announcing the arrival of the Eagles as their debut single, hitting No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Jackson Browne showed Frey an early version of the song and Frey helped him finish the lyrics, supplying the essential ending to that Winslow verse (“It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me”).

A rollicking country-rock treasure with Leadon's banjo peaking through the mix and the sort of harmonies that would define a large part of their sound, it begins with a Townsend-esque opening chord that as Frey would recall in "The Very Best of" liner notes, “felt like an announcement, ‘And now … the Eagles.’”

1. ‘Hotel California’ (1976)

The Eagles' greatest hit builds to an epic guitar jam but starts as a wounded morality play about a hedonistic culture in a Hell of its own making where the night man tells Don Henley, "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave."

"Hotel California" was their first release with the James Gang’s Joe Walsh on guitar, and he certainly makes his presence felt on the beyond-iconic instrumental passage he and Felder spent three days perfecting. It was voted best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitarist.

There’s an understated reggae lilt and a slight hint of Spanish guitar, which may explain the working title they assigned the instrumental demo when Felder submitted it: “Mexican Reggae.”

Henley and Frey took that demo and ran with it, writing the bulk of the lyrics on a cinematic triumph with the mythic Hotel California as the backdrop to a surrealistic parable that begins on a dark desert highway, where the narrator, Henley, decides he’s too tired to drive through the night.

As Frey recalled in the liner notes to “The Very Best of,” that’s when “it becomes Fellini-esque — strange women, effeminate men, shadowy corridors, disembodied voices, debauchery, illusion… weirdness.” The title track to “Hotel California” topped the Billboard Hot 100 and won Record of the Year at the Grammys.

The Eagles Long Goodbye Tour in Phoenix

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 19 and 20.

Where: Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix.

Admission: Resale ticket prices vary.

Details: 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Eagles' 25 best songs ranked: Their greatest hits