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

Happy for Randy with his chihuahuas.

Royalty statements fascinate me. I suppose it depends on his publishing deal. Does he make enough to pay for a house and not work for the rest of his life?

at this level, absolutely.

i'm a bit rusty on this, but as a very rough rule, the songwriting royalties from one song on a million selling album are roughly $70,000. so if an album is selling a million copies every freaking year, that's $70,000 every freaking year. if it's a three-way co-write and the writers are dividing the money equally (which is a big if, but only the writers and their lawyers and businesspeople can answer that), that's $23,000 per year from that one song based on sales of that one album. but that's not the only album that song is on, so you're getting royalties from all those other album sales too. and those are only mechanical royalties. if you were a member of your band, you're also getting royalties from all those album sales, separate from your publishing. and you're getting your ascap or bmi money from radio and tv play. and you're getting sync money.

and then there's all those other songs you wrote.

so yeah i'd say the eagles are making him a very good living in 2013.

so if you wrote 10 songs on a million selling album, that's $700,000?

I think that's one of the reasons U2 and R.E.M. credited every song to every band member, just to avoid songwriting problems like this.

(xp) roughly, yes.

i like to think that bands like u2 and rem, in addition to being smart in a business sense, do that because they understand that authorship is hazy at best in a band situation. and even if bono or edge or buck or whoever walks in with a perfect, fully-formed song, with all the guitar and bass and drum parts and harmonies carefully laid out before, never to be changed by anyone else, why should he get paid billions of bucks more than everybody else for the rest of his life, when everybody else is spending exactly as much time as he is in the rehearsal space, on the road, etc.? i'm sure, in the end, bono and the edge are getting more money than their rhythm section anyway, but i think songwriting credits and the accompanying opportunities for wealth are a great way for musicians to be rewarded for their work no matter who came up with the words.

I dunno if they've changed their deal, but iirc Paul McGuinness got publishing dough. That's the way did things until the early twenties. No songwriting credit, obviously, and he contributed nothing, but the generosity acknowledged his integral part.

I seem to remember Stipe crediting certain R.E.M. songs ("Driver 8" was one) entirely to Bill Berry, admitting that no one else in the band contributed. And yet they all ended up super rich and not dicks to each other.

it's where some 1980s bands had the benefit of history: they saw how much publishing, etc. became toxic for everyone from the Beatles to Creedence to the Band, and saw that they could preempt this problem at the start by crediting all songs to everyone.

remember reading in keith's book how he thought bill wyman was so dumb because he left before the big tours and that's where they made so much money and he definitely wasn't getting huge royalty checks with almost zero songwriting credits to his name.

Mick & Keith weren't exactly sticklers for proper songwriting credit, though. Just ask Billy Preson, Mick Taylor, or Wyman, who supposedly came up with the riff for "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

Woody Payne made out pretty well from "Love In Vain," though.

And the story goes that "Ruby Tuesday" was a Brian Jones melody.

What kind of falling-out did the Doors have in 1969 to begin crediting writers individually, I wonder? First coupla albums everything was just "The Doors" (or Willie Dixon or Brecht/Weill)

to his credit, Jagger has at least said he had no hand in writing tune or melody of "Ruby Tuesday."

Xpost iirc, the Doors thing was that Krieger wrote most of The Soft Parade and Jim (briefly) wanted people to know who did what.

wow that was like stringy cheez goo slopped all over a perfectly decent spare banjo/drums tune and then at 5:30 i started to kinda like it! the last minute is good!
my feelings about this song are very confused
it's better to know that there were very few eagles on it

I can't front: despite being the progenitor to rafts of pukey kitsch this album cover slays.
agree, esp how the goat head/horns looks like a uterus

album cover hints at a level of coolness that even this mostly-ok eagles album cannot possibly deliver

journey of the sorcerer is good fun; the strings are such a weird addition, almost turns it into a tv theme song

it was a tv theme!

Which is probably a high crime in Henleyland.

i can only imagine how many people wanted to use dirty laundry as a t.v. theme.

it WAS used in To Die For.

Henley's done surprising amount of film work (exclusive tracks in Fast Times..., Vision Quest, er, Leap of Faith). He even gets litigious when you don't want to use his music:

LAWSUIT Don Henley is suing Paramount Pictures, claiming that it reneged on a deal to pay him $1 million (and $25,000 in studio costs) to record a song for the studio's upcoming Ashley Judd/Tommy Lee Jones film ''Double Jeopardy.'' According to Variety, Henley maintains that he struck up an oral agreement with a Paramount executive in July for the tune, which was also to appear on the ex-Eagle's next solo record. However, he says that after he wrote the ballad ''Taking You Home,'' the studio opted to go with a different song and maintained that its deal with Henley wasn't final. The singer's lawsuit claims, ''Paramount is trying to avoid its obligations under the agreement because Paramount's marketing department changed the marketing plans for the movie, deciding to try to sell it as an action/adventure movie, rather than a 'relationship' movie, so that a ballad was no longer appropriate as a focus for the marketing.'' Despite Henley's verbiage, a Paramount rep had no comment.

(from a '99 EW news column--other stories include Martin Lawrence going into a coma, Oliver Stone going to rehab, the announcement of the '99 Family Values lineup, and Janine Turner signing on to a Harold Ramis comedy pilot for HBO. Ah, 1999!)

This story is trending. Was disappointed it wasn't about Glenn Frey getting aggro. Was has this thread done to me?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2013/0924/Oh-deer%21-Eagle-kills-deer-in-startling-glimpse-of-alpha-bird-behavior

don feldeer

My Eagles sighting of the week, if not the month...

My 30th high school reunion was last weekend - the first event was Friday night in downtown Claremont and as me and my gf walked through town we heard "that opening" coming out of one of the restaurant patios. Sure enough, a dude I can only describe as Parrothead Charlie Daniels was covering "Hotel California" with all of the gusto of a drunk redneck biker. I'll give him a little credit - the glop of reverb he put on his vocals and on the backing track (basic rhythm via some tablet I couldn't ID) gave it a vague Suicide-feeling, but his howling was strictly unintentional. Plus I fucking hate that snappy sound that all modern acoustics-with-built-in-mics seem to make.

I think that's one of the reasons U2 and R.E.M. credited every song to every band member, just to avoid songwriting problems like this.

Not every member gets the same songwriting royalties in U2 though do they? No matter what the songwriting credits say.

Bono and the Edge get more because they write lyrics.

Bono lets someone else write lyrics?

"Lyin' Eyes"

http://www.glennfreyonline.com/images/GFreyHCSB01.jpg

http://youtu.be/covmIKXwCeM

i feel like almost every single eagles song could be a minute or two shorter. why is this song over 6 minutes long?

oh and as far as U2 goes if i were U2's bass player i think i would be happy to work for a thousand bucks a week plus tips. i would do whatever bono told me to do without fail. and i would make bono's bed at night and get him his slippers. because i would be the luckiest man on earth. even luckier than bill wyman!

Haha, yeah, this (although I think he's a good player).

Man I'm way behind

So one of these nights right into that funky song that sounds like bad company trying to be the bee gees.... killer open! Seems like a new Eagles...urban..then that snoozy Hollywood song kills the nice

Lol this scorcerer song...goofy

Kinda cool. Would never guess it's the eagles

Bet the A&R loved that

Confession: Lyin Eyes is one of my favorites

There's a great bit in the Dixie Chicks' "Shut Up and Sing" doc where a couple of them are in the studio with I want to say Chad Smith, Red Hot Chili doofus, who was playing drums on the record (thanks Rick Rubin). They got to talking about money, and Smith says that the RHCP simply share the credits and split the money four ways, and the one or two Dixie Chicks there was like "you can do that?" Like it was a completely foreign, crazy concept.

If you want to bet on longevity, it looks like Coldplay does that, too. And Radiohead. Maybe not coincidentally, the Rubin-produced Chicks record "Taking the Long Way" is the first where they all seem to share equal credit, more or less.

Lyin' Eyes is hella long. It doesn't drag as such, it's more that at some point I find myself thinking man, I've been listening to this forever. I was pleasantly surprised to find them sticking quite well to three minutes on earlier albums, but I guess that's gone now. A lot of verses and choruses here. No telescoping is possible, there's not a word could've been omitted.

It's okay, obviously well-crafted, but kinda static. Those harmonies - and your smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile - just sit there, like blocks of Perspex.

What's the last line? 'Money can't hide your lyin' eyes?'

Coldplay's another band might suit a thread like this.

"Lyin' Eyes" is on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. It plays in the background in the diner scene when Sissy gets angry at Bud for saying "Hello" to Jerry Hall's character.

There's a great bit in the Dixie Chicks' "Shut Up and Sing" doc where a couple of them are in the studio with I want to say Chad Smith, Red Hot Chili doofus, who was playing drums on the record (thanks Rick Rubin).

Yeah, it's Smith. He should be physically barred from access to anything that produces sound. I can't think of a less swinging, less funky drummer in all of music. He makes Henley sound like a brilliant hybrid of Elvin Jones and Clyde Stubblefield.

They got to talking about money, and Smith says that the RHCP simply share the credits and split the money four ways, and the one or two Dixie Chicks there was like "you can do that?" Like it was a completely foreign, crazy concept.

Ha, the Chicks' label rep was probably making a frantic cut-off signal to Smith. Share credit?! What about the tried-and-true label practice of divide-and-conquer?

Maybe not coincidentally, the Rubin-produced Chicks record "Taking the Long Way" is the first where they all seem to share equal credit, more or less.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, September 25, 2013 9:45 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think they mostly used outside writers for their previous records, though. iirc, this was the first one where most/all (?) of the songs were written by the Dixie Chicks themselves.

yeah, was there a single edit of "Lyin' Eyes"? guess not. there's like nine verses! first chorus isn't until 1:40 in. By the time she's pouring herself a strong one, feels like the song's been playing since 1972.

the last verses, with Henley/Frey giving their lyin' girl an internal monologue, are pretty dire stuff. When Frey sings "same old girl you used to be" it sounds like he really wants to say "bitch."

more cymbal oddness: in the chorus, there's a cymbal crash for every other beat of the first line, then one crash on "and your smile" and that's it. no more cymbal for the rest of the chorus.

Maybe not coincidentally, the Rubin-produced Chicks record "Taking the Long Way" is the first where they all seem to share equal credit, more or less.

Not coincidentally, in its wake we now have Natalie Maines solo vs. Court Yard Hounds.

The single version of the song is shortened quite a bit from the album version, removing the entire second verse, the second chorus and four lines in the middle of the third verse. Top 40 Radio in 1975 didn't usually play songs longer than 4 minutes so the runtime on the 45RPM label was listed as 3:58, but the actual playing time was 4:14.

ah that makes sense (single edit). I knew this was too long a slog for mid-70s AM radio

"the cheatin' side of town" is one of H/F's sharpest lines, but I wouldn't be surprised if they nicked it from some country song.

in the to the limit book, the writer (who's a verrryyy poor stylist, despite the good shit he often unearths) says that the ladies around troub/dan tana's milieu called this song "Lyin' Guys." If not exhibit A, must be exhibit C, D. E. F or G in Don and Glenn's "do as I say, not as I do" cavalcade.

The Eagles were some proto-nice guy/MRA balladeers. City girls manipulating men with their looks, snagging rich beta men to mooch off of while they run across town to bone alpha men, but live their lives drunk, lonely, and miserable, the same old girls they used to be.

Sleep now honey, it's alright
There ain't no way to hide your lyin eyes

you are otm carl

that whole story about "not being able to get the girls they wanted" made me sick!

why is this song over 6 minutes long?

OTM, still a great song though