A Good Day In Hell - The Official ILM Track-By-Track EAGLES Listening Thread

(xpost) Wow, yeah Happy Days debuted in 1974 too. Coincidence, or...

Loool LL

Reading about this song I thought I'd never heard it, but then I played it and it was like ooooooh, right, this thing. If I don't hear it for another 20 years maybe I can go back to thinking I've never heard it.

I'm not even sure I ever knew it was the Eagles. It would pop up late at night on the rawk radio.

Paulina Mia 5 months ago
I think the Eagles are one of the most underrated bands of all time.
Reply · 10 Vote UpVote Down

one guitar riff in the verses is basically just the Beatles' "Birthday." agree the drum mix is whack, but it's just one of many problems with this turkey

Always thought this was more a rip-off of Ballad of John & Yoko.

I think I tolerate this one more than the rest of you guys. It's just too cheesy to fully hate (see also "Crocodile Rock" and, well, I did start this thread years ago Tributes to 50s Rock’n’Roll and Doo Wop by Rockers form the late 60s and early 70s (A List)).

Glenn & Don from the Crowe interview:

JAMES DEAN
GLENN: Again, all from that same night when we’d gone to see Tim Hardin. As Desperado became a concept album with an Old West theme, “James Dean” got shelved. When it came time to do On the Border, we got “James Dean” right off the shelf and said, “Let’s finish this.” I always thought the best line in “James Dean” was “I know my life would look alright if I could see it on the silver screen.” You just don’t get to do that.

DON: I sat there and listened to the guys talk about James Dean. They had evidently studied him and knew much more about him than I did. I had seen most of Dean’s movies, but I somehow missed the whole icon thing. The mythology never quite reached my part of East Texas, but I pitched in and ended up with a writing credit — although the song was mostly Jackson’s, I think.

I like how Henley doesn't 'get' James Dean, despite seeing "most of (his) movies". Dude, there's only three--which one'd you miss? FWIW, PBS used to show a doc about the making of Giant that the Don-ster narrated.

I sat there and listened to the guys talk about James Dean.
lol
they're total airheads

Jackson Browne wrote some of this offal?

Most of it, according to Don! Hey, they can't all be "Before The Deluge" or "Lawyers In Love"!

Legal Eagles in Love

i saw legal eagles at the movies. redford is such a lump.

robert redford is the eagles of acting.

and that's one of Redford's better performance!

s

me too! but darryl hannah and her fire dance to that rod stewart song were amusing, and that made me think of jackson browne. weren't they married? why did my parents take me to see legal eagles?!

you wanna see Browne and Hannah dance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knVbfhmME1g

Didn't realize Browne wrote this. That means there's only one degree separating "James Dean" and "All Tomorrow's Parties."

it must be awesome to be Jackson Browne and have Daryl Hannah doing her watercolors while the big man clomps on your hardwood floor.

there are apparently no degrees separating "you're a friend of mine" from the friends theme song

"Always thought this was more a rip-off of Ballad of John & Yoko."

yes! I had the wrong beatles rip-off

http://home.comcast.net/~leslienoelani/TNI.html

Jackson: "...It's bullshit! I did not hit her! I did naaaaaht! Oh hi, Glenn."

http://youtu.be/ISXiFJS9D5A

Glenn: "I'm just sittin' up here chuggin', you know."

In a brief digression, Lou Barlow has things to say about Don Henley and "All She Wants To Do Is Dance."

"Ol' 55"

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/288046/Tom+Waits.jpg

http://youtu.be/Fcqfcw3kmoI

oldmanhatdudejpeg

oh man i am feeling lou on the zach & cody theme song. ugh. i will find myself just repeating a phrase from it at home like a lunatic and i can't stop myself.

Lickety Splitly sounds like a fkin Sid and Marty Krofft character

brutal lyrics throughout on this one

this totally sucks all the soul and feeling from the original. But i'm still glad the Eagles recorded it, because as a result I heard the song when I was very young and liked it enough to make me (and undoubtedly countless others) seek out more from this Tom Waits guy early on.

The harmonies kill when they kick in on the chorus, but yeah, thanks Glenn for sucking the marrow out for us.

Like the "cars are all passing me / trucks are all flashing me" part. That was actually a good line before Glenn Stiller got a hold of it.

http://youtu.be/ZXunos4IXDU

And holy shit, I just realized the Eagles changed that line!

"What does he mean the trucks were flashing him? Like a guy in a trenchcoat? Ha, ha, you hear that, Bernie? No, let's make it where 'the lights are flashing', that will make more sense to the listener."

AVC: It’s a little ridiculous that this song has electric drums on it when Don Henley is a famous drummer.

Don Henley may be a famous drummer, but he is not, nor should he be, famous for his drumming.

plodding drum-kit owner

The last two days have been grim.

Usually I like pedal steel, but somehow it increases the suckage here ... the Waits version is by no means top-grade Waits, but it sure sounds good compared to the vacuum-sealed Eagles version. Waits' 55 is rusted out and barely rolling, the Eagles' was rented for a photo shoot.

this song is just zzzzzzzzz to me and it kinda just makes me wish i was listening to johnny rivers slow dancin' and swayin' to the music.

yeah, pretty ghastly. Hate the way Frey sings "freeway CARS and TRUCKS" and then Henley comes in as if he's been wheeled over to the microphone. Seems to go on for like 10 minutes, too. It probably was Waits' biggest source of royalties until Rod Stewart came along, though

lots of people covered his songs back then. he must have been doing okay. i know this isn't the only cover of this song from the 70's.

or at least i THINK i've head other covers of it? i might be wrong. seem to recall some folkies that did it.

best information i've ever read on the internet:

"Big in Japan," from the Tom Waits album "Mule Variations" , was covered on the Alphaville album "Forever Young."

wiki says tim buckley was the first person to cover a waits song. in 1973.

oh man the pumpkins. at least fester doesn't sing it. though the guitar dude is horrible enough. this is good motivation for people who can't sing to get up on stage anyway.

http://youtu.be/Sfk5qhWmnr0

"Ol' 55" is horrendous. Even worse than the filliest filler on Desperfiller.

Desperfiller! hahaha!

iain matthews does a good cover of ol'55, released just a month before the eagles

"Ol' 55" is like "Hallelujah." There are very few people, especially singer/songwriter types, who haven't covered it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRLAkIicG84

"iain matthews does a good cover of ol'55"

right! duh, that's the one i was thinking of.

I heard about 10 seconds of "life in the fast lane" on the radio before changing the station in disgust.