Glen Frey, RIP Playlist

Even though he didn’t sing lead on it, I haven’t been able to get “Pretty Maids All in a Row” out of my head since learning of Glenn Frey’s passing. Whatever the reason, I loved their ballads best.  (Maybe it was just me, but it always seemed that they were trying too hard on the rockers.)

Anyway, here’s a Top 10 Eagles playlist.

Off Desperado (1973)
1. “Saturday Night” – “Whatever happened to Saturday night?”

Off On the Border (1974)
2. “Ol’ 55” – Once after playing this Tom Waits cover during a live show, Frey said to the audience, “We heard Tom didn’t like our version of his song. And then… he got the check.”… “The sun’s coming up, I’m ridin’ with Lady Luck.”

Off One of These Nights (1975)
3. “Lyin’ Eyes”… “City girls just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a smile.”  (I read that Frey was such a perfectionist that he took two full days in the studio before he was satisfied with his pronunciation of just the opening word: “City.”)

4. “Hollywood Waltz”… “Southern California will see one more day.”

Off Hotel California (1976)
5. “Pretty Maids All in a Row”… Don and Glenn cede the vocal mic over to Joe Walsh: “Hey, there, how are ya?”… The harmonies are positively Beach Boys-esque.

6. “New Kid in Town”… “They will never forget you ’til somebody new comes around.” Again, those harmonies!

7. “Wasted Time”… “You’re afraid it’s all been wasted time.”

8. “The Last Resort”… Their ode to the environment…. “She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island.”

Off The Long Run (1979)
9. “The Sad Cafe”… Push come to shove: My favorite Eagles song… “We thought we could save this world with words like ‘love’ and ‘freedom.’ We were part of the lonely crowd inside the Sad Cafe.”… David Sanborn’s concluding sax solo is outstanding!

Off the Christmas “album” (1978)

10. “Please Come Home for Christmas” (1978). Although you wouldn’t exactly call it a carol, it’s one of my favorite songs of the holiday season.

In conclusion, I won’t try to improve upon the words of Frey’s band mate Don Henley: “Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some.”

Onward,  Malcolm Gauld