‘Life’s Been Good’: The songs that Joe Walsh sang for the Eagles
It is difficult to neatly or succinctly encapsulate the entire career and history of the Eagles. Their legend still looms large over the landscape of American rock to this day, given their position as one of the most successful groups of all time, having penned a vast array of timeless and beloved classic rock anthems. Aside from their material, though, the band were just as notable for the rich history of conflict, ego battles, and in-fighting that dominated proceedings for the vast majority of the band’s time together.
Initially, the Eagles came together as a result of collaborations between Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Throughout that early period, both musicians regularly contributed to songwriting efforts, imbuing the band’s material with their own unique voices and ambitions. However, if the group was to continue in their quest for world domination, the pair would have to recruit a crack team of musicians capable of matching their talents. Enter Joe Walsh.
Walsh had been earning his stripes as a rock songwriter and guitarist since the mid-1960s, performing with various rock bands, like The Measles or James Gang, in Ohio. By the time he came to join the Eagles in 1975, therefore, he was already a seasoned performer and songwriter. Walsh was drafted in as a replacement for Bernie Leadon, who had been with the band since their formation but had left the group due to musical differences.
Reportedly, Walsh was treated with trepidation during those early days, with Don Henley viewing him as too wild or rock-orientated for the Eagles, who tended to favour middle-of-the-road soft rock than the garage rock Walsh had started out creating. Nevertheless, the intense success witnessed by the band with the Kansas guitarist onboard quickly put an end to those doubts. In fact, his very first project with the Eagles was Hotel California, arguably the band’s defining record.
As Walsh progressed with the band, he began to cement himself as an essential aspect of their sound, regularly contributing to songwriting efforts and inspiring a variety of the Eagles’ most popular tracks. Although every member of the Eagles contributed lead vocals to a song at one point or another, Walsh was rarely afforded that luxury, which is particularly odd given the fact that he was known as a lead singer prior to joining the band.
There were, of course, a few notable exceptions to this rule. In total, Walsh performed lead vocals on six different Eagles tracks, ranging from deep cuts to fan favourites. Interestingly, most of these songs were originally penned and released as Joe Walsh’s solo efforts before being adopted by the Eagles, usually through featuring in their live performances. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the song ‘All Night Long,’ originally released by Walsh in 1980, before featuring on releases like Eagles Live that very same year.
Another example of a Walsh solo song being adopted by the Eagles comes in the form of 1979’s ‘In the City.’ Initially featured on the soundtrack album to The Warriors, the songwriter’s bandmates took an instant liking to the song, and a re-recorded version – still featuring Walsh on lead vocals and guitar – eventually featured on their studio album The Long Run.
Ultimately, the Eagles tracks that Walsh featured on as a lead vocalist were not their finest or most commercially successful efforts. However, Walsh was utterly essential to the songwriting and construction of some of their all-time greatest hits, even if somebody else ended up singing on those tracks. His initial run with the band might have only lasted five years when the group disbanded in 1980, but he certainly left his mark on one of the most successful rock bands of all time.
