Life's Been Good One Day At A Time For Joe Walsh (Undercover)
Link: Life's Been Good One Day At A Time For Joe Walsh.
The Eagles Farewell I tour is not only about their evergreen classic rock moments from the 70s, Farewell I also gives each member the chance to shine solo. For long-time fans of guitarist Joe Walsh it is a treasure trove of some of his best solo work. In the current set he performs 'Life's Been Good', 'Walk Away', 'Rocky Mountain Way' and 'Funk 49" as well as 'In The City', a song that started out as a solo recording and later became an Eagles song.
"It's my turn in the barrel when my songs are up" Walsh tells Undercover News. "I'm sure Don (Henley) feels the same with 'Sunset Grill' and 'Dirty Laundry'. I think The Eagles do a nice translation of my stuff. The thing with The Eagles is that we are trying to make places in the set where people can improvise. We are really good at making it sound like the record, that's our craft. But I think live is important to improvise".
Walsh's solo career was happening before, during and after The Eagles. His biggest selling solo album But Seriously Folks was released in 1978 after Hotel California and before The Long Run. "That was really good timing" he says. "But Seriously Folks just so happened when I was in a really, really creative phase. (Bill) Szymczyk was rolling tape and got my brains on tape. I think for all of us, this time is to have The Eagles be the mother ship and we can run out a little bit and do solo projects but always come back to The Eagles. It is important that we all have our own little scene too. It makes the band stronger".
Szymczyk has produced Walsh since the James Gang days back in 1969. He became The Eagles producer from their third album 'On The Border'. Although Walsh wasn't to join the band for some years to come, he was responsible for the teaming. "The Eagles were kind of painting themselves in the corner as a county rock band" he says. "Glenn was from Detroit and had a huge R&B influence that finally surfaced. I asked Bill to produce The Eagles and he said "what would I want to do that for, they are country". I said "No Bill, they like R&B".
Joe Walsh joined The Eagles in 1976 at the peak of a successful solo career because it took the pressure of running the business off him. At the same time, The Eagles could use someone with his sound. "I had a pretty good solo career" he says. "I had a couple of hit records and was headlining a lot. There is a lot of non musical stuff that comes along with being solo, like hiring and firing and it becomes easy to feel alone. I had a good taste of a solo career but I really wanted to be in a band again. I satisfied my ego as a solo artist. Don (Henley) and Glenn (Frey) are two amazing singers with amazing stuff that was screaming for guitar parts".
The first song he wrote for The Eagles was 'Pretty Maids All In A Row', featured on Hotel California. "I had a bunch of songs that are in various stages of being finished" he says. "The way The Eagles usually work is we bring in bits and pieces and put them in a pile like a jigsaw puzzle. Don and Glenn then run with it. They thought that could turn into a pretty good Eagles song. Some of the stuff isn't cut out to be an Eagles song. Some of the stuff Don and Glenn write also isn't cut out to be an Eagles song".
On The Long Run, he contributed 'In The City'. The song was never a single but is a big part of the setlist today. "It was never a single. It was a movie project" Joe says. "The movie was The Warriors. It was an underground favourite. It was about gangs in New York. I put together the music for the soundtrack. Don and Glenn heard it and thought it would be a great Eagles song".
The current tour features a new Walsh song, the autobiographical 'One Day At A Time', written about his battle with alcohol. "I wrote it over the last three or four years" he says. "I did some soul searching because anonymity is a big part of recovery but most of the planet knew I was a drunk so it's not a surprise. I was a good drunk too".
It's not the first time Joe has used himself as the basis for a song. "A lot of songs are just about my experience in life" he says. "For example 'Life's Been Good'. That was satire. I got sober and started messing around with chords. My recovery had a lot of one liners and that came out. It is the new way I operate, one day at a time. It is meant to be a message of hope for the people in trouble".
After a 14 year break-up, The Eagles became an active force after the Hell Freezes Over project. What started out as a laid-back unplugged session for a television network has gone on to become the biggest selling music DVD of all time. "In retrospect we did a pretty good job" Joe says. "At the time we didn't really know exactly what we were doing. But gosh, when I hear it and see it, we were right on track. DVD at that time was uncharted waters".
Don Henley came up with the line Hell Freezes Over. At a point during the break-up when asked when the band would get back together he told an interview "When hell freezes over". Joe doesn't remember hearing the original quote. "Not only were none of us talking at the time but none of us were listening either. I was probably drunk. We get along great, just not with each other. No, we get along fine".
So what's next? "I think we have another Eagles album" he admits. "I think at this point we have realised we are not going to get it done the way we have been doing it. The way we have been doing it is in LA so we can be with our families and there are too many distractions to us all. We need to be a band and go somewhere like the old days. We are still looking for the right environment. I'm pretty close to having a solo album ready but with the DVD I am going to be an Eagle for a while. When it is time one or the other will come out".
So now the tour continues. US dates for 2005 have already been announced. "We never dreamed we would effect as many people on the planet as we have" he says. "It is like we are playing for a bunch of friends everywhere we go".
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