Each of the members has pursued a solo career, with Don Henley’s the most successful commercially and critically. In the ’90s, after what they considered a "14 year break", the band’s sound was frequently cited as an influence by young country stars, many of whom contributed tracks to the album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (#3, 1993), which won Album of the Year at the 1994 Country Music Associations's CMA Awards. That same year, the Eagles revival culminated in the band’s reunion tour and album.
The group originally coalesced from L.A.’s country-rock community. Before producer John Boylan assembled them as Linda Ronstadt’s backup band on her album Silk Purse (1970), the four original Eagles were already experienced professionals. Bernie Leadon had played in the Dillard and Clark Expedition and the Flying Burrito Brothers; Randy Meisner, with Poco and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. Glenn Frey had played with various Detroit rock bands (including Bob Seger’s) and Longbranch Pennywhistle (with J.D. Souther, a sometime songwriting partner), and Henley had been with a transplanted Texas group, Shiloh. After working with Ronstadt, Henley and Frey decided to form the Eagles, recruiting Leadon and Meisner.
Intending to take the country rock of the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers a step further toward hard rock, the Eagles recorded their first album with producer Glyn Johns in England. Take It Easy (#12, 1972), written by Frey and Jackson Browne, went gold shortly after its release, as did their debut album of the same name. (Another single, Witchy Woman, reached #9 that year.)
Desperado was a concept album with enough of a plot line to encourage rumors of a movie version. The LP yielded no major pop hits, but its title track, Desperado, a ballad penned by Henley and Frey, has become a classic rock standard covered by Linda Ronstadt among others.
With On the Border, the Eagles changed producers, bringing in Bill Szymczyk (who worked on all subsequent albums through 1982’s Greatest Hits, vol. 2) and adding Don Felder, who had recorded with Flow in Gainesville, Florida (and who once gave guitar lessons to another Gainesville native, Tom Petty), then became a session guitarist and studio engineer in New York, Boston, and L.A.
The increased emphasis on rock attracted more listeners - mid-’70s hits included Best of My Love (#1, 1975), One of These Nights (#1, 1975), Lyin’ Eyes (#2, 1975), and Take It to the Limit (#4, 1975) - but alienated Leadon. After One of These Nights, Leadon left to form the Bernie Leadon–Michael Georgiades Band, which released Natural Progressions in 1977. (Leadon went on to become a Nashville session musician, and in the ’90s formed Run-C&W, a jokester group who played a blend of country and R&B.)
Leadon was replaced by Joe Walsh, who had established himself with the James Gang and as a solo artist. His Eagles debut, Hotel California, was their third consecutive #1 album (the second was their record-breaking 1976 greatest-hits compilation). New Kid in Town (#1, 1976), the title cut Hotel California (#1, 1977), and Life in the Fast Lane (#11, 1977) spurred sales of more than 15 million copies worldwide.
Meisner left in 1977, replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who had similarly replaced him in Poco. Meisner has released two solo albums, Randy Meisner (1978) and One More Song (1980). (In 1981, he toured with the Silveradoes; later, in 1990, Meisner reemerged in the group Black Tie, alongside Billy Swan and Bread’s James Griffin.) Henley and Frey sang backup on One More Song, and in the late ’70s they also appeared on albums by Bob Seger and Randy Newman. In 1981 Henley duetted with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks on the #6 single Leather and Lace.
Between outside projects and legal entanglements, it took the Eagles two years and $1 million to make the multiplatinum LP The Long Run, their last album of all-new material. Parting hit singles included Heartache Tonight (#1, 1979), The Long Run (#8, 1980), and I Can’t Tell You Why (#8, 1980).
Walsh continued to release solo albums, though his biggest single to date has been 1978’s cheeky Life’s Been Good (#12). Felder and Schmit also put out their own albums and contributed songs to film soundtracks. Schmit’s second LP, Timothy B, included Boys Night Out (#25, 1987).
In 1982 Don Henley and Glenn Frey both embarked on solo careers. Frey charted with The One You Love (#15, 1982) and Sexy Girl (#20, 1984) before a movie proved his ticket into the Top 10: The Heat Is On, featured in Beverly Hills Cop, shot to #2 in 1985.
Frey followed this success by becoming an actor, making a guest appearance as a drug dealer on the popular TV series Miami Vice. The episode was based on a track from his album The Allnighter, Smuggler’s Blues, which consequently reached #12 (1985). Later in 1985, Frey’s You Belong to the City hit #2. While still dabbling in acting with roles in the short-lived TV series South of Sunset, the movie Jerry Maguire, and a guest spot on the Don Johnson post–Miami Vice series Nash Bridges in the ’90s, Frey also cofounded a music label, Mission Records, in 1997.
Ultimately, though, Henley was the ex-Eagle who garnered the greatest chart success, and the most critical acclaim as well. His Dirty Laundry (from his first solo effort, I Can’t Stand Still) made it to #3, but the 1985 album Building the Perfect Beast was to be his true arrival as solo hitmaker and respected singer/songwriter. The kickoff single, The Boys of Summer, went to #5 - supported by an evocative black-and-white video that fast became an MTV favourite - and earned Henley a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male; the hits All She Wants to Do Is Dance (#9, 1985) and Sunset Grill (#22, 1985) followed. A third album, The End of the Innocence, produced a #8 title track, End of the Innocence, and the additional singles The Last Worthless Evening and The Heart of the Matter, which both hit #21. The LP won Henley another Grammy, in the same category as before.
In the early ’90s, Henley sought release from his Geffen Records contract, initiating a long and bitter legal dispute. After participating in the release of a solo best-of album in 1995, Henley was freed from his contract. Five years later, he released a studio album of all-new material, Inside Job (coproduced by former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch), and embarked on a solo tour to support it. Henley had married for the first time in May 1995 and had three children before releasing Inside Job. This life-altering change for the longtime bachelour resulted in a new theme in his songwriting; several of Inside Job’s tracks were clearly about marriage and family, including the gentle ballad Taking You Home (#58 pop, #1 Adult Contemporary, 2000). Much of the rest of the album, however, still explored Henley’s cynicism toward the business world and the media.
In 1990 Henley founded the Walden Woods Project, dedicated to preserving historic lands around Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts (where Henry David Thoreau and others reflected and wrote), from corporate development. Among the singer’s various fund-raising means were holding charity concerts, featuring other top rock artists, and donating proceeds from some of his own recordings, including a reggae version of the Guys and Dolls standard “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” (1993). In 1993 the Walden Woods Project got a big boost from Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, coorganised by Henley and featuring Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, and others.
In 1994, after years of fielding off reunion rumours, Henley, Frey, Walsh, Felder, and Schmit - who had appeared together in the video for Tritt’s version of Take It Easy - hit the road for a massively successful tour, the third-highest grossing concert tour of that year. The tour went on hiatus toward the end of 1994, due to Frey’s gastrointestinal surgery, but it continued in 1995. In November 1994, the band released Hell Freezes Over, which featured four new songs, including the singles Get Over It (#31, 1994), Love Will Keep Us Alive (#1 Adult Contemporary, 1994), Learn to Be Still (#15 Adult Contemporary, 1995), and 11 of the old hits culled from the band’s 1994 live appearance on MTV. Within months the reunion LP had sold more than 10 million copies and gone to #1 on the pop album chart.
In 1998 the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven members of the band performed together for the first time at the induction ceremony. The core members of the group - the ones who had recorded and toured together in the mid-’90s - reunited again for a few concerts at the end of 1999, including a New Year’s Eve show in L.A. A four-CD retrospective set, Eagles 1972–1999: Selected Works (#109, 2000), was released in November 2000.
Don Felder was fired from the band in 2000, leaving Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit as the remaining members of the band.
In 2007 they released a double album Long Road out of Eden, logically followed by a world tour, which was, regardless of people's opinion on the new album, a guaranteed sold-out event. The base line-up on this album is Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. Also performing on the studio recording are Steuart Smith (guitar, keyboard, mandolin), Scott Crago (percussion) and Will Hollis (keyboard).
On January 18, 2016, it was announced that Glenn Frey had died at the age of 67 in New York City from complications arising from rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia.
The Sad Cafe
Eagles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The rain was softly falling
The tracks that ran down the boulevard
Had all been washed away
Out of the silver light the past came softly calling
And I remember the times we spent
Inside the Sad Cafe
Oh it seemed like a holy place
Protected by amazing grace
And we would sing right out loud
The things we could not say
We thought we could change this world
With words like "love" and "freedom"
We were part of the lonely crowd
Inside the Sad Cafe
Oh, expecting to fly,
We would meet on that shore in the
Sweet by and by
Some of their dreams came true,
Some just passed away
And some of the stayed behind
Inside the Sad Cafe.
The clouds rolled in and hid that shore
Now that Glory Train, it don't stop here no more
Now I look at the years gone by,
And wonder at the powers that be.
I don't know why fortune smiles on some
And lets the rest go free
Maybe the time has drawn the faces I recall
But things in this life change very slowly,
If they ever change at all
There's no use in asking why,
It just turned out that way
So meet me at midnight baby
Inside the Sad Cafe.
Why don't you meet me at midnight baby,
Inside the Sad Cafe.
The lyrics to the Eagles' song "The Sad Cafe" describe a memory of the past, a period when the world was full of hope, optimism, and a sense of possibility. The singer recalls meeting with a group of people at a cafe that felt like it was a holy place, protected by amazing grace. The group believed in using words like "love" and "freedom" to make a difference in the world, but time and circumstances led to dreams being crushed, with only a few remaining in the same place. The singer reflects on the past and wonders why some people are able to succeed, while others are left behind. The song's meaning is open to interpretation but can be interpreted as a lamentation of the loss of youthful idealism and hope.
The song's lyrics and musical style are indicative of a transition happening in the Eagles' career. They had previously produced a string of chart-topping hits, but "The Sad Cafe" marked a change in sound, with an emphasis on introspection and exploration of more complex themes. It was also the final single released from the band's album "The Long Run," which was released in 1979. The song reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Line by Line Meaning
Out in the shiny night
The singer sets the scene, describing a night with a certain shine to it.
The rain was softly falling
There was a light drizzle of rain.
The tracks that ran down the boulevard
Referring to the train tracks along the main road.
Had all been washed away
The rain has caused the tracks to disappear.
Out of the silver light the past came softly calling
The artist reflects on the past; the silver light perhaps represents a nostalgic feeling.
And I remember the times we spent
The singer reminisces about past experiences.
Inside the Sad Cafe
Referring to a physical space that held some sort of emotional significance for the singer.
Oh it seemed like a holy place
The artist describes the Sad Cafe as a sacred place.
Protected by amazing grace
Perhaps referring to a higher power or a feeling of security provided by the space.
And we would sing right out loud
Describing the artist's uninhibited behavior in the Sad Cafe.
The things we could not say
The singer implies that there were things they felt but couldn't express in everyday life.
We thought we could change this world
The artist and their group had grand aspirations to make a difference in society.
With words like love and freedom
Referring to the language they used to express their beliefs.
We were part of the lonely crowd
Despite their aspirations, the singer acknowledges that they were still a small minority and likely felt isolated.
Inside the Sad Cafe
Repetition of line 7; the singer wants to emphasize the importance of this space.
Oh, expecting to fly,
Referring to lofty goals or aspirations. To 'fly' could represent achieving one's dreams.
We would meet on that shore in the
Imagining a better future, where they would gather together.
Sweet by and by
Imagining a place or time where their dreams have been realized and life is good; this phrase is often associated with heaven or the afterlife.
Some of their dreams came true,
Acknowledging that while not everyone achieved their goals, some surely did.
Some just passed away
Acknowledging loss and mortality.
And some of the stayed behind
Acknowledge that some individuals remained where they were, either physically or emotionally.
Inside the Sad Cafe.
Repetition of line 7 and 14.
The clouds rolled in and hid that shore
The singer acknowledges that they have perhaps lost sight of their hopeful future.
Now that Glory Train, it don't stop here no more
The artist acknowledges that their hopes and dreams may not come to fruition.
Now I look at the years gone by,
The singer reflects on the passage of time and how it has affected them.
And wonder at the powers that be.
The singer is questioning the larger forces or entities that perhaps prevented them from achieving their goals.
I don't know why fortune smiles on some
The singer is wondering why some people seem to be luckier than others.
And lets the rest go free
This juxtaposition could imply that the artist feels trapped or stuck, while others seem to have more freedom or opportunities.
Maybe the time has drawn the faces I recall
The artist is reflecting on how time has affected their own memories.
But things in this life change very slowly,
Acknowledging that change can be slow and difficult to notice.
If they ever change at all
Acknowledging that change may not come, despite our efforts.
There's no use in asking why,
The artist acknowledges that they may never find an answer to their questions.
It just turned out that way
Perhaps resignation to their current state or the state of the world.
So meet me at midnight baby
Inviting someone to meet at a specific time and place.
Inside the Sad Cafe.
Repetition of line 7, 14, and 27.
Why don't you meet me at midnight baby,
Repetition of line 32, perhaps emphasizing the importance of the location or attempting to gain companionship in their loneliness.
Inside the Sad Cafe.
Final repetition of the Sad Cafe, emphasizing its significance and inviting the listener (baby) to join the singer there.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group
Written by: GLENN FREY, DON HENLEY, JOHN DAVID SOUTHER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind