The five best Eagles songs written by JD Souther
Every Eagles classic has felt like it’s been doused in sunshine before it was pressed onto vinyl. Regardless of how many times Glenn Frey and Don Henley sat down to write, whatever came out of them represented the height of what California rock was supposed to be, all with dashes of country, soul, and everything else they could think of thrown into the mix. They couldn’t have become superstars alone, though, and some of the best lines they ever wrote came courtesy of JD Souther.
After all, Souther had been friends with Frey since having a duo together called Longbranch Pennywhistle, so even if their first sting wasn’t going to work, they may as well try to give him a few writing credits where they could. Despite not wanting that kind of limelight for himself, the royalty checks probably didn’t hurt when Souther got featured on some of their deep cuts.
If anything, some of his lines were enough to launch entire songs into the stratosphere. As much as Henley gets credit for having an intellectual bent to his lyrics, hearing Souther’s choice lines was enough to leave the drummer in the dust, especially when talking about the greater problems in the music industry.
But even if you turn your brain off, some of Souther’s material is among the best influences ever rubbed off on Frey and Henley during their tenure. Whether it’s romantic, existential, or just plain relatable, Souther was the one who helped bring the heart back into these iconic hits.
JD Souther’s best songs for the Eagles:
5. ‘Doolin-Dalton’ – Desperado
When making a concept album, bands will need all the help they can get. Since the Eagles were going back into the studio after their first major success, the idea of making a cowboy-tinged record about outlaws was bound to be a hard sell. Although Desperado ended up sinking without a trace on the charts, Souther could at least say that he was in on setting the scene of the record.
He and the Eagles had been fascinated with this book on gunslingers, so using the Doolin-Dalton gang as a backdrop for their album was almost too perfect. The song only has only a handful of chords, but listening to Henley sing words about laying down guns and outlaws up to no good is like the opening scene in some western tragedy. Souther had his own career to look out for, but this was how he could inhabit a character in an Eagles song.
4. ‘How Long’ – Long Road Out of Eden
There was almost an unwritten code between Souther and the Eagles about which songs they could use on record. As long as Sotuher didn’t want to record it himself for his solo career, it was fair game, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t play some of his tunes in a live setting if they thought highly enough of it. So, when career conflicts didn’t matter anymore in the 2000s, the group gave ‘How Long’ a new lease on life by dusting it off for their comeback record.
Coming from Souther’s debut, this rocker was enough to prove why he deserved to have his name on rockers like ‘Heartache Tonight’ in the group’s catalogue. But his version is missing something, and that is something in those harmonies stacked on top of each other, especially towards the end when the group harmonise about a woman rocking herself to sleep. It was flying just fine in Souther’s version, but it took the band to make it soar.
3. ‘Best of My Love’ – On the Border
For as eclectic as the Eagles could be, their love songs were always a bit more coy. There had been a lot of topics about romance in the country-rock genre before, but Henley and Frey looked to unpack what love meant, just like Joni Mitchell had on her own albums. And while Frey came up with the strange guitar lick that kicks off ‘Best of My Love’, Souther helped flesh out the arrangement just a little bit.
Since the entire band is subdued on this version, that lets the lyrics float up to the top a little bit more. And instead of being bitter about a love gone sour, Henley sings the lines like he’s happy to have someone like his old flame come into his life at all. The production may have been a bit over-the-top for the band’s taste, but it’s no surprise why Glyn Johns wanted this kind of lush backdrop for such an emotionally potent song.
2. ‘The Sad Cafe’ – The Long Run
Souther had always been right there alongside the group as they saw the greatest heights anyone else had touched. It’s one thing to have a successful group, but when you start to reach the levels that only The Beatles had hit before you, that’s when it becomes a full-fledged phenomenon. That means losing innocence along the way, though, and ‘The Sad Cafe’ is Souther and the group eulogising their old hangout spots.
While the true identity of the cafe has never been confirmed by anyone, it almost doesn’t need to. There had been countless nights that the group partied until the early morning, but now that they were superstars, they realised that they couldn’t go back to their own stomping grounds anymore and act normal. All of the tables and the lights were the same, but there was just something in the air that made everything feel different.
1. ‘New Kid in Town’ – Hotel California
All of Souther’s lyrics have had a broader look at what it means to be a musician. There’s a lot of fun that comes with seeing the world and going to places no one else would have dreamed of, but there’s also a ticking clock in the background when everything could be over. And before the other shoe dropped for the Eagles, Souther helped frame the next generation on ‘New Kid in Town’.
Despite Frey helping draft the concept, Souther was the one who really breathed life into the song, writing about all of those replacements that will one day make them look like bitter old men by comparison. What’s even more tragic is that no one realised how important this song would be for anyone in the music industry, especially when they saw themselves going under for the new flavour of the day. And now, with an artist’s momentum coming and going even faster, Souther may have hit the nail on the head better than he had realised.
