Eagles charted with “I Can’t Tell You Why”

 

I Can’t Tell You Why Eagles

Writer(s): Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey, Don Henley (see lyrics here) First Charted: February 3, 1980 Peak: 8 US, 9 CB, 4 GR, 7 HR, 4 RR, 3 AC, 2 CL, 5 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 20.4 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Timothy B. Schmit joined the Eagles as a singer and bassist in 1977 after the departure of Randy Meisner. He only appeared on the group’s final album, The Long Run, before their breakup. However, he did well for himself with just the one album appearance. He sang lead on “I Can’t Tell You Why,” the album’s third single and the group’s last top-10 hit. His “finest moment is a soulful, moody slow jam whose tension is cut by his pure high tenor.” BB Schmit had the basics of the song and the title when he brought it to Don Henley and Glenn Frey. They helped him finish it in March 1978. It was the first song completed for The Long Run. SF Henley described the song as “straight Al Green” WK and credited Frey with giving the song its R&B feel. Frey said this was one of the songs from the Eagles which he would put in a time capsule. SF Frey usually played rhythm guitar, but has the featured solo here. Billboard magazine called it “the most transportive guitar solo in Eagles’ repertoire.” BB Meanwhile, Joe Walsh played the keyboards in the studio, although the song’s original video showed Frey on electric piano. The R&B girl group Brownstone took the song to #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #27 on the R&B chart in 1995. In 2013, the Swon Brothers got to #99 with the song after appearing on NBC’s The Voice. Howard Hewett took his cover of the song to #24 on the R&B chart in 1990. Vince Gill recorded the song for the 1993 Eagles’ tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles and it reached #51 on the country charts. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Eagles BB Billboard (10/17/2017). “The Eagles’ 15 Best Songs: Critic’s Picks” by Gary Graff SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/2/2022; last updated 12/6/2022.

Eagles “Heartache Tonight” hit #1

Heartache Tonight Eagles

Writer(s): Glenn Frey, Don Henley, J.D. Souther, Bob Seger (see lyrics here) Released: September 18, 1979 First Charted: September 28, 1979 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 11 HR, 14 RR, 38 AC, 1 CL, 40 UK, 12 CN, 13 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 5.6 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Eagles formed in 1971 as a country-rock band. Thanks to rotating band members, their sound became more album-rock oriented, reaching its zenith with 1977’s Hotel California, one of the biggest albums of all time. Singer and drummer Don Henley acknowledged, “We probably peaked on Hotel California.” FB “The band was road-weary and partied out. They were snorting legendary amounts of coke. They hated each other. They didn’t want to be a band anymore.” SG However, they managed one more album – 1979’s The Long Run – before their demise. Glenn Frey said, “Everything changed for me during The Long Run. There was so much pressure that Don and I didn’t have any time to enjoy our friendship.” FB He said, “I knew the Eagles were over halfway through The Long Run.” FB While not as well-received as Hotel California, The Long Run sold well and spawned three top-10 hits. The first of those, “Heartache Tonight,” would give the Eagles their last #1 hit. It “is a breakup song, but it’s not a sad one. Singing in his usual tight harmony with Henley, Frey considers the forthcoming end of a relationship as if it’s an inevitability.” SG “Frey sounds surly and impatient, as if he would like this cataclysm to hurry up and happen. He also sounds vaguely horny…He wants the breakup, and he wants the breakup sex.” SG “The song is built around a big, rude, almost glam-rock drum-stomp…Guitars purr and snarl. Frey starts out in a high, clenched upper register and moves onto pseudo-blues shouting.” SG The song came about when Frey was listening to Sam Cooke records with J.D. Souther, a longtime friend and collaborator with the band who’d co-written their chart-topping hits “Best of My Love” and “New Kid in Town.” Frey and Souther came up with a few verses and Bob Seger, “who’d been a bit of a mentor to Frey in his pre-Eagles days, wrote the chorus…on the spot and sang it to Frey over the phone.” SG Frey and Henley finished the song later. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Eagles FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 514. SG Stereogum (2/28/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/30/2022.

Eagles’ The Long Run released

First posted 3/26/2008; updated 10/17/2020.

The Long Run Eagles

Released: September 24, 1979 Peak: 19 US, 4 UK, 15 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.10 UK, 12.10 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click for codes to singles charts. The Long Run (Don Henley/Glenn Frey) [3:42] (11/30/79, 8 US, 10 CB, 1 CL, 34 AC, 66 UK, 9 CN) I Can’t Tell You Why (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Timothy B. Schmit) [4:54] (2/3/80, 8 US, 9 CB, 2 CL, 3 AC, 5 CN) In the City (Joe Walsh/Barrry DeVorzon) [3:46] (5 CL) The Disco Strangler King of Hollywood Heartache Tonight (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Bob Seger/J.D. Southern) [4:25] (9/28/79, 11 US, 11 CB, 1 CL, 38 AC, 40 UK, 12 CN, 13 AU, gold single) Those Shoes (Don Felder/Don Henley/Glenn Frey) [4:56] (8 CL) Teenage Jail The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks The Sad Café (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Joe Walsh/J.D. Souther) [5:32] (20 CL) Total Running Time: 42:29 The Players: Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, keyboards) Don Henley (vocals, drums) Don Felder (guitar, vocals) Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals) Joe Walsh (guitar, keyboards, vocals)

Rating: 3.634 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: “Three years in the making (which was considered an eternity in the ‘70s), the Eagles’ follow-up to the massively successful, critically acclaimed Hotel California was a major disappointment, even though it sold several million copies and threw off three hit singles.” AMG “Those singles, in fact, provide some insight into the record. Heartache Tonight was an old-fashioned rock & roll song sung by Glenn Frey, while I Can’t Tell You Why was a delicate ballad by Timothy B. Schmit, the band’s newest member. Only The Long Run, a conventional pop/rock tune with a Stax Records R&B flavor, bore the stamp and vocal signature of Don Henley, who had largely taken the reins of the band on Hotel California.” AMG “Henley also dominated The Long Run, getting co-writing credits on nine of the ten songs, singing five lead vocals, and sharing another two with Frey. This time around, however, Henley’s contributions were for the most part painfully slight. Only ‘The Long Run’ and the regret-filled closing song, The Sad Café, showed any of his usual craftsmanship. The album was dominated by second-rank songs like The Disco Strangler, King of Hollywood, and Teenage Jail that sounded like they couldn’t have taken three hours much less three years to come up with.” AMG “Joe Walsh’s In the City was up to his usual standard, but it may not even have been an Eagles recording, having appeared months earlier on the soundtrack to The Warriors, where it was credited as a Walsh solo track.” AMG “Amazingly, The Long Run reportedly was planned as a double album before being truncated to a single disc. If these were the keepers, what could the rejects have sounded like?” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Eagles’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide