The Eagles have earned their fair share of hits across their tenure, but according to the members of the band, the goal of writing a hit wasn’t always on their mind while in the studio. In fact, there was one song in particular that changed their mindset entirely. Find out which song that is, below.
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The First Time the Eagles Meant to Write a Hit and Succeeded
All alone at the end of the evening
And the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking ’bout a woman who might have
Loved me and I never knew
You know I’ve always been a dreamer
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
“Take It To The Limit” was the first Eagles song to go gold. Written primarily by Randy Meisner, the song was an undisputed hit. A fact, neither Glenn Frey or Don Henley (who typically wrote the band’s songs) were upset about. Frey once recalled being happy for Meisner in his feat.
“We had tried, unsuccessfully, to get a piece of material for him — or from him — that might be a hit single, or turn into one,” Frey once said. “I don’t think we ever consciously tried to make a hit single. We finally succeeded with Take It To The Limit’.”
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“That’s the first Eagles single to sell a million copies,” he added. “It was our first gold single, maybe our only gold single. People always tended to buy our albums instead. We still had hit records, but they wouldn’t sell through as 45s much. We had a lot of number ones, but I know that ‘Take It To The Limit’ was our first gold single.”
Unfortunately, the band’s history with the song would become sullied. “Take It To The Limit” would take center stage in a conflict between Meisner and his bandmates, due to the soaring high note at the end of the song. Read more about that, HERE.
Revisit the song, below.
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
And when you’re looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can’t find the door
(Can’t find it anywhere)
When there’s nothing to believe in
Still you’re coming back, you’re running back,
you’re coming back for more
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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