The Eagles are a band that contains multitudes. For them, their career hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows, and their astounding success has led to some dark experiences. This doesn’t necessarily make them incredibly unique, however, that fact doesn’t make these dark experiences any less dark. In music, fame is the very thing many musicians chase, but also the very thing they can’t handle when they obtain it. The Eagles know this, and their song, “New Kid in Town,” describes the very battle they experienced.
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Like the rest of the Eagles, Glenn Frey and Don Henley are no strangers to hardships brought on by fame. That being so, when they wrote “New Kid in Town,” they had a double meaning intended for the song. On the surface, the song is about love. Underneath, the song tells the story of the caveats of fame.
The Double Meaning of the Eagles’ “New Kid in Town”
In a 2003 interview with The Uncool, Glenn Frey and Don Henley spoke transparently about the Eagles’ iconic and career-shifting album, Hotel California. In essence, Frey and Henley stated that the album marked a major tonal switch in the group’s attitude. In his words, Henley stated, “We were already chronicling our own demise.”
He added, “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.’ We were always doing that double-entendre thing, between the music business and personal relationships.” “We knew we were heading down a long and twisted corridor and just stayed with it,” he concluded.
Concerning the J.D. Souther-written track, Frey stated, “Songs from the dark side — The Eagles take a look at the seamy underbelly of L.A. — the flip side of fame and failure, love and money.” Henley added to that sentiment by divulging, “It’s about the fleeting, fickle nature of love and romance. It’s also about the fleeting nature of fame, especially in the music business.”
This Eagles classic and the album it is on certainly showed the group in a new light. However, by no means was this the marker of their demise. Matter of fact, after the release of Hotel California, one could argue that the Eagles just became more popular. Regardless, the Eagles had something to say about fame, and they said it on “New Kid in Town.”
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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