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.
Tryin' To Get To You
Eagles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Even through the valleys, too
I've been traveling night and day
I′ve been running all the way
Baby, trying to get to you
Ever since I read your letter
Where you said you loved me true
I've been traveling night and day
Baby, trying to get to you
When I read your loving letter
Then my heart began to sing
There were many miles between us
But they didn′t mean a thing
I just had to reach you, baby
In spite of all that I′ve been through
I kept traveling night and day
I kept running all the way
Baby, trying to get to you
Well if I had to do it over
That's exactly what I′d do
I would travel night and day
And I'd still run all the way
Baby, trying to get to you
Well, there′s nothing that could hold me
Or that could keep me away from you
When your loving letter told me
That you really loved me true
Lord above me knows I love you
It was He who brought me through
When my way was dark as night
He would shine His brightest light
When I was trying to get to you
The Eagles' "Tryin' To Get To You" is a song about the lengths someone is willing to go to be with the person they love. The singer has been traveling over mountains and through valleys, day and night, just to try and reach their lover. They received a letter from their beloved who expressed that they loved the singer truly, and since then they have been burning with desire to be with them, even though there were many miles between them.
The song captures the feeling of overwhelming passion that love can produce in a person. It speaks to the lengths some are willing to go to be with the person they love. The singer explains that nothing can hold them or keep them away from their lover. The lyrics also suggest that love can feel like a divine force that leads people to one another. The chorus of the song repeats the line, "Baby, trying to get to you," which becomes a kind of mantra for the singer, emphasizing the intense desire they feel.
The song is an early cover of Elvis Presley's "Tryin' To Get To You," which he recorded in 1955 but never released as a single. In the years after Presley's death in 1977, many artists began covering his songs, and The Eagles were among them. The Eagles first performed "Tryin' To Get To You" on their Long Run Tour in 1980. They later recorded a studio version of the song, which was released as part of their box set "The Studio Albums 1972-1979" in 2013.
Line by Line Meaning
I’ve been traveling over mountains
I’ve traveled over rough terrains and faced difficulties.
Even through the valleys too
I’ve passed through low points in my journey.
I’ve been traveling night and day
I’ve been moving nonstop, day and night.
I’ve been running all the way
I’ve been putting in maximum effort to keep moving forward.
Baby, trying to get to you
I’ve been trying my hardest to reach you, my beloved.
Ever since I read your letter
My journey began when I read your love letter.
Where you said you loved me true
Your letter declared your true love for me.
When I read your loving letter
Your letter contained messages of love.
Then my heart began to sing
My heart was filled with joy and happiness.
There were many miles between us
There was a long distance between us.
But they didn’t mean a thing
Nothing could stop me from reaching you.
I just had to reach you, baby
Reaching you was my top priority.
In spite of all that I’ve been through
Despite facing many challenges, I pushed forward.
Well if I had to do it over
If I had to do it again...
That’s exactly what I’d do
I’d do the same thing.
I would travel night and day
I’d continue my journey day and night.
And I’d still run all the way
I’d continue to put in maximum effort.
Well, there’s nothing that could hold me
Nothing could stop me.
Or that could keep me away from you
Nothing could keep me from reaching you.
When your loving letter told me
Your letter served as a motivation for me.
That you really loved me true
Your letter assured me of your true love.
Lord above me knows I love you
I have a deep love for you, which only God knows.
It was He who brought me through
It was God who helped me overcome challenges.
When my way was dark as night
When things got really tough for me.
He would shine His brightest light
God always provided a way for me, no matter how difficult my journey got.
When I was trying to get to you
Throughout my journey to reach you.
Writer(s): Rose Marie Mccoy, Charles Singleton
Contributed by Colin L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
LandondeeL
My favorite Elvis trivia question is "Can you name the Elvis cover originally recorded by The Eagles?" Unfourtunately, no-one I know can answer it, because they keep thinking about those other Eagles. Listening to this original, I can hear where Elvis got a lot of his influence from.....
shirley baker
I could have answered that.
LandondeeL
@shirley baker Take it easy!!!
Strictly45s
Like chris Kenner said I'm packing up! Going back to hotel, California.
goldcup11
Just heard this for the first time, wow. Elvis made a fine cover of a brilliant original. I am from the UK, and ashamed to say I had never heard of the original Eagles from 1954. Great tune.
Daniel T
lovely sax solo on the break, this has got some soul! Elvis's vocals were amazing on his, but this does has some real soul, i love both versions
Terry Harrison
This is great. I cant believe that I have never heard it before.
Tim Dodge
Excellent original version. In addition to Elvis Presley's outstanding reinterpretation (1955) and Roy Orbison's version (which I have not yet heard), some of you might want to check out R. & B. singer Anita Tucker's nice 1956 remake.
Alan F Brookes
Ricky Nelson did a version, too.
Aaron Loomis
Even better than those “other” eagles!