The Eagles song that freed them from their producer: “That’s me being happier”
Almost every rock band that has ever existed can probably tell you that they’ve signed one or two bad deals in the past. It’s hard enough trying to wrap one’s head around contracts and managerial duties when just starting out, so some of the biggest acts figured they would take care of their business behind the scenes, only to find themselves limping along trying to figure out who screwed them over. The Eagles were already being treated badly enough by Glyn Johns, but Glenn Frey said that the tune ‘Already Gone’ was a cathartic way for them to break free from their old producer.
Then again, Johns wasn’t necessarily impressed when he first heard the California rockers. They had all the qualities of a rock and roll band, but there wasn’t nearly enough punch for them to compete with the Led Zeppelins and The Whos of the world. Once he heard those heavenly harmonies, Johns knew what he had: a pop-rock act with a country twang.
And when listening to the albums he worked on, that was precisely what he designed them to sound like. ‘Take It Easy’ is pure country-pop bliss, and while they still had some rock credentials, ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ wasn’t endearing them to the same crowds that The Rolling Stones played for.
After the conceptual masterpiece Desperado fell through, though, Frey knew that a change needed to be made. Artists like Joe Walsh were making the records that he wanted to sound like, but Johns wasn’t interested in that, with Frey telling History of the Eagles, “Glyn Johns was basically a school marm. He pushed, pushed, pushed, and then he would say, ‘That’s it. That’s good enough. We’re moving on. You’re not a rock and roll band. The Who is a rock and roll band, and you’re not that.’”
Once the group got together with Bill Szymczyk for On the Border, they knew they had found their guy from the minute ‘Already Gone’ started. Johns had worked up ‘Best of My Love’, but now that they had better control over the mix, they could throw down much better than they could with Johns.
When talking to Cameron Crowe about the tune, Frey thought it was his way of freeing himself from Johns, saying, “I was always afraid to be forthright and tell [Johns] what I thought. The great thing for me about this song and record is that I left England behind and had a much more positive energy in the recording studio. I was much more comfortable in the studio with Bill, and he was more than willing to let everyone stretch a bit. ‘Already Gone’ — that’s me being happier; that’s me being free.”
For a producer who worked as an engineer for Led Zeppelin and The Who, it’s almost ironic that Johns couldn’t see the potential in this tune, either. From the minute that the guitars started, the Eagles were in full flight, taking the same basic approach to rock and roll as Chuck Berry and Little Richard did and running it through a little bit more distortion.
The real highlights of their rock and roll side would come when Walsh entered the fold, but ‘Already Gone’ is about more than just a catchy tune. It was about the group finally coming into their own as seasoned veterans of rock and roll.
