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.
Visions
Eagles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Visions, that will never grow old
Sweet baby I had some visions of you
If I can't have it all just a taste will do
Go ahead and live all your fantasies
(Don't you ever think about the other side)
Helps you get from where you are to where you want to be
You do the best you can and you make your mistakes
(If you don't like it, you can say that you tried)
'Cause all I have to give is whatever it takes
Play on, El Chingadero,
Play on
Play on, El Chingadero
Dance angel dance, till you wear out your blues
(Only thing that's gonna save you now)
Take another chance, you got nothing to lose
(The boy didn't love you anyhow)
Girl, you drive me wild when you do what you do
(Something makes me want to take you down)
If I can't have it all, just a taste will do
Just a taste of you
The Eagles’ song Visions is about various themes including fantasy, love, and the journey towards success. The lyrics talk about the power that fantasy and visions can have over one's soul, emphasizing how they can propel one towards their aspirations. The opening lyrics, "Visions, that keep stirring my soul, Visions, that will never grow old," indicate how strong the hold of these visions is on the singer. The next stanza, "Sweet baby I had some visions of you, If I can't have it all just a taste will do" speaks of unrequited love and the desire to attain even a small part of it. This theme of unattainable love may be interpreted as the singer's aspiration or dream that will forever remain out of reach, but they still persist in chasing it.
The song also touches upon the importance of taking risks and making mistakes, as the singer advises the listener to "do the best you can and make your mistakes." This emphasis on trial and error as a path towards success, portrayal of success as a journey rather than a destination, and the idea of living out one’s fantasies, is all an expression of a liberating and rejuvenating message.
Ultimately, the song is about pursuing one's dreams with courage and resilience, and how focusing on personal fulfillment is more important than worrying about the opinions of others.
Line by Line Meaning
Visions, that keep stirring my soul
The songwriter experiences ongoing mental images that deeply affect him
Visions, that will never grow old
The mental images he experiences will always remain fresh to him
Sweet baby I had some visions of you
The songwriter has had powerful imaginings about a particular person
If I can't have it all just a taste will do
The songwriter would not mind settling for a limited experience with the person he desires
Go ahead and live all your fantasies
The persona advises someone to pursue all their desired experiences to its fullest extent
(Don't you ever think about the other side)
The persona is reminding this person to not consider negative possibilities as they chase their dreams
Helps you get from where you are to where you want to be
Pursuing personal interests will allow someone to move towards their desired endpoint
(You and me oughta be taking a ride)
The writer thinks he and the person he desires should be partners on this journey
You do the best you can and you make your mistakes
Everyone should strive to perform at their best, but are bound to make occasional errors
(If you don't like it, you can say that you tried)
Even if they fail, they can be proud they attempted it
'Cause all I have to give is whatever it takes
The songwriter is committed to giving everything he can to achieve his goals
Play on, El Chingadero,
A shoutout to the guitar player El Chingadero to keep playing
Play on
A general exhortation to keep playing music
Dance angel dance, till you wear out your blues
A call to dance until your sadness has dissipated
(Only thing that's gonna save you now)
This will be an effective means of combating sadness
Take another chance, you got nothing to lose
The persona wants someone to take risks as they have nothing to lose
(The boy didn't love you anyhow)
The writer is dismissing the possibility that the person will be worse off without someone unsupportive
Girl, you drive me wild when you do what you do
The writer is admitting to being excited by the person's behavior
(Something makes me want to take you down)
The writer feels the urge to possess the person and have complete physical intimacy with them
If I can't have it all, just a taste will do
The writer would be content with a limited physical experience with the person he desires
Just a taste of you
The limited physical experience with the person he desires that the writer would be satisfied with
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Cass County Music / Wisteria Music / Privet Music
Written by: DON HENLEY, DON FELDER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind