Glenn Frey wasn’t the most prolific of Eagles. In fact, long-time partner Don Henley almost matched Frey’s total number of lead vocals in the ’70s alone.
Despite being acknowledged as the group’s leader, Frey somehow only had one such turn on 1976’s Hotel California and then only one again on 1979’s The Long Run. Frey sure made them count, though: “New Kid in Town” and “Heartache Tonight” both rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Similarly, Frey only had two prominent vocals on 1975’s One of These Nights – but one of them was the No. 2 smash “Lyin’ Eyes.”
READ MORE: Ranking Every Eagles Solo Album
The following ranking of every Glenn Frey Eagles song avoids the numerous tracks where he served as co-writer but was not featured as a singer. Material where Frey was a noteworthy duet partner made the cut, yet exploring it all still wasn’t a herculean task – not in terms of numbers, anyway.
The difficulty with deciding instead often relates to Frey’s remarkable consistency. The best of his songs are as well-made as they were popular.
25. “I Love to Watch a Woman Dance”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
This mawkish Larry John McNally track had been floating about since the Eagles first got together before 1994’s Hell Freezes Over. By the time they finally got around to recording it, however, Henley had already released a cover of McNally’s “For My Wedding” on his 2000 solo album Inside Job. That made it quite clear that “I Love to Watch a Woman Dance” was really just a rewrite of the same tune. (McNally also composed Rod Stewart‘s Top 10 1990 hit “The Motown Song,” which thankfully sounds like neither.)
24. “Chug All Night”
From: Eagles (1972)
Glenn Frey once told Cameron Crowe that “the only difference between boring and laid-back is a million dollars.” At this point, unfortunately, Eagles were only thousand-aires. In keeping, “Chug All Night” features a snoozy riff to go with an even snoozier theme. “And I’ve been meaning to tell you, baby,” Frey sings, “that it makes no sense.” He has a point.
23. “Outlaw Man”
From: Desperado (1973)
This David Blue cover represents the moment where they took this LP’s rather dubious cowboy link a boot length too far. Henley subsequently admitted that “the metaphor was probably a little bullshit.” After all, “we were in L.A. staying up all night, smoking dope, living the California life.”
22. “I Dreamed There Was No War”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
A gorgeous interlude from Frey, but still … really only an interlude.
21. “What Do I Do with My Heart”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
Frey could do this kind of quasi-R&B ballad in his sleep – and, in this case, he might actually have.
20. “It’s Your World Now”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
The sentiment became sadly appropriate in the wake of Frey’s death, but its impact will always be governed by anyone’s willingness to endure a musical setting best described as “family-restaurant mariachi band.”
19. “You Are Not Alone”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
The pretty, orchestrated “You Are Not Alone” presupposed Frey’s similarly lightweight songbook turn on 2012’s After Hours.
18. “Somebody”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
Jack Tempchin co-composes another showcase for Glenn Frey, but “Somebody” has neither the rootsy gravitas of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” nor the rumbling attitude of “Already Gone.”
17. “The Girl From Yesterday”
From: Hell Freezes Over (1994)
On the other hand, Frey and Tempchin’s “Girl From Yesterday” manages a passable approximation of the clip-clop country lament from “Lyin’ Eyes,” updated for the jet-set era.
16. “Good Day in Hell”
From: On the Border (1974)
A key moment in Eagles history arrives, as Don Felder is asked to become a session guest on slide guitar for this Frey-sung album cut. After this sizzling, Allman Brothers-inspired performance – in fact, the very next day – Eagles asked Felder to join the band.
15. “Out of Control”
From: Desperado (1973)
The Eagles’ shift away from their country influences didn’t come out of the blue. The rocked-out “Out of Control” comes smashing through the saloon doors just three songs into Desperado, even though this album defined their rootsy first era.
14. “King of Hollywood”
From: The Long Run (1979)
There’s a welcome echo of Steely Dan‘s Walter Becker here, both in the low-voiced foreboding and the track’s Los Angeles environs – but without the perverse sense of humor, of course. It all devolves into another great guitar workout.
13. “Get You in the Mood”
From: “Take It Easy” B-side (1972)
A scorching cry of love from Frey, with this menacingly dark groove. Which is why “Get You in the Mood” ended up as a B-side on their debut single rather than on the track listing of their country-rocking debut.
12. “Ol’ ’55”
From: On the Border (1974)
Sure, the Eagles polish the edges off the opening track from Tom Waits‘ 1973 debut album Closing Time. But they also uncover a heart-filling chorus buried amid his scuffed-up vagabond sensibility.
11. “No More Cloudy Days”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
With Frey gone so long, there’s just something indescribably sad about “No More Cloudy Days.”
10. “How Long”
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
“How Long” was perhaps the closest this LP got to replicating the heft and feel of the best earlier Eagles stuff. Frey and Henley welcome back songwriter J.D. Souther, one of the first people Frey met after he left Detroit for California, then take turns on the lead vocal. Suddenly, everything old starts to feel new again. But not too old: They keep the band’s harder-edged Felder-era attitude, years after he left the lineup.
9. “After the Thrill Is Gone”
From: One of These Nights (1975)
Taking a rueful look back at the wreckage of a lost relationship was already becoming old hat for Frey and Henley, even this early on, and that’s likely why “After the Thrill Is Gone” hasn’t gained wider attention. This tucked-away gem is made complete by Felder’s solo, which adds a touch of simmering anger.
8. “James Dean”
From: On the Border (1974)
Eagles originally worked up an early version of “James Dean” during sessions for Desperado before fully committing to a cowboy narrative. Held over for the follow-up, “James Dean” helped introduce fans to their muscular new frame of mind. But only after driving a wedge between the band and longtime producer Glyn Johns, who liked their country-rock vibe just fine. They fired Johns, bringing in the more amenable Bill Szymczyk – and he oversaw three more chart-topping Eagles albums.
7. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
From: Eagles (1972)
Eagles had been together just a little more than a week when Frey brought in this song from buddy Jack Tempchin. Written off and on while Tempchin was girl-watching around his hometown of San Diego, the third single from their debut is brought to life through sunlit backing vocals from early members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Its timeless message about fate did the rest: “Part of the idea is when you give up looking for something,” Tempchin later mused, “a lot of times that’s when you find it.”
6. “Tequila Sunrise”
From: Desperado (1973)
One of the first songs Henley ever wrote with Frey almost didn’t happen. Seems Frey “thought that it was a bit too obvious or too much of a cliche because of the drink that was so popular then,” Henley recalled in The Very Best Of liner notes. “I said, ‘No, look at it from a different point of view. You’ve been drinking straight tequila all night and the sun is coming up!’ It turned out to be a really great song.” The phrase “shot of courage” came from real life: They’d often have a couple of drinks to work up the nerve to approach women.
5. “New Kid in Town”
From: Hotel California (1976)
“New Kid in Town” began as a discussion on aging, but ended up revealing deeper worries. “We were already chronicling our own demise,” Henley admitted to Cameron Crowe. “We were basically saying, ‘Look, we know we’re red hot now, but we also know that somebody’s going to come along and replace us – both in music and in love.'” Frey and Henley helped complete an idea brought to the band by J.D. Souther. When they were finished, the Eagles had their third chart-topping smash.
4. “Lyin’ Eyes”
From: One of These Nights (1975)
This crossover hit was written in a rush of inspiration over just two days. Yet, every element of its wry narrative about a gold digger’s empty life unfolds with a writerly knack for detail. Frey shifts points of view, never wasting a word, as he fills in the blanks around a real-life encounter he had while with Henley at their favorite ’70s-era watering hole, Dan Tana’s. They rushed back home, worked to get every word just right then headed directly into the studio, where the Eagles displayed a similar meticulousness: Nailing the vocal on the song’s deeply resonant opening line – “city girls just seem to find out early” – took six tries.
3. “Already Gone”
From: On the Border (1974)
You could partly blame “Locomotive Breath” for the split with Glyn Johns while recording this album. “We’re taking a beating opening for Jethro Tull,” Frey said in 1973: Rock at the Crossroads, “and our feeling was, ‘We gotta have some kick-ass songs.'” Eagles started with “Already Gone,” as the band and new producer Bill Szymczyk shifted to the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Newly added guitarist Don Felder then brought a sharp edge to the session. “The great thing for me about [“Already Gone”] is that I left England behind,” Frey told Cameron Crowe, “and had a much more positive energy in the studio.”
2. “Heartache Tonight”
From: The Long Run (1979)
This took forever to finish, like everything else on The Long Run. Frey’s initial inspiration was a straightforward love of old Sam Cooke records, played out as a loose jam with J.D. Souther. But then Frey got stuck. He ran it by mentor Bob Seger, who’d originally taken Frey under his wing as a teen. Henley was involved, too. Together, they’d begun piecing together a fun-sounding Grammy-winning song. Something, however, was still missing. That’s when Seger blurted out the title line. “Heartache Tonight” went on to become the Eagles’ final No. 1 single.
1. “Take It Easy”
From: Eagles (1972)
The opening track on the Eagles’ first album perfectly sums up their early country-rock aesthetic, so much so that Glenn Frey said its first few jangly guitar strums “felt like an announcement, ‘And now … the Eagles.'” The impetus for “Take It Easy,” however, came from elsewhere: Jackson Browne, a then-unknown singer-songwriter who lived next door to Frey, couldn’t finish a new song. “Take It Easy” kept stopping cold on the second verse after “Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.” Then Frey had an idea. Today, you’ll find a statue commemorating the next line in Winslow, paired with a painting of a girl in a flatbed Ford.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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