Original Eagles bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner passed away last week. It wasn’t a surprise – he’d been battling physical and mental health issues, as well as alcoholism. It was as though he still carried the baggage from leaving the Eagles in their prime – his career never recovered. He released three solo albums shortly after leaving the Eagles, but the first was mainly covers, and the second, One More Song, wasn’t as interesting as his best songs for the Eagles.
I’m not sure that Meisner was my favourite Eagle – it’s hard to go past the string of records that Joe Walsh made in the 1970s with The James Gang and as a solo artist. But as a teenage Eagle fan, I was drawn to Meisner’s songs – in comparison to the slick professionalism of Glenn Frey and Don Henley, his work had a ramshackle edge, more like Neil Young or Alex Chilton.
Before the Eagles, Meisner cut his teeth in other bands. He recorded the below track with Nebraska’s Drivin’ Dynamics in 1963. He later ended up in L.A., playing with Poco, James Taylor, and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, before forming the Eagles. Meisner was an important part of the Eagles’ sound. He was an excellent bass player, and his high, screeching voice gave an edge to the harmonies of Eagles hits like ‘Witchy Woman’ and ‘One of These Nights’. While the Eagles were originally democratic, eventually the songwriting partnership of Glenn Frey and Don Henley took control, and founding members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner were squeezed out. Meisner was replaced by Timothy B Schmit, who’d earlier replaced Meisner in Poco.
Meisner wasn’t a prolific writer – here are the ten songs where Meisner took the limelight for the Eagles.
#10 Tryin’
from Eagles, 1972
The Eagles’ debut album is patchy. Outside the three top 40 singles (‘Take It Easy’, ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’, and ‘Witchy Woman’), it’s largely forgettable, not as strong as The Flying Burrito Brothers and Dillard and Clark records that it followed. Meisner’s closing tune, ‘Tryin’, is filler, a generic slice of country rock.
#9 Take the Devil
from Eagles, 1972
Jesus rock was popular in the early 1970s – ‘Take the Devil’ fits alongside Jesus Christ Superstar and ‘Spirit in the Sky’. Musically, it feels like Meisner’s aiming for a raw sound, a la Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It’s a sound that the rest of the band aren’t quite equipped to provide – drummer Don Henley’s fine at playing sedate country-rock songs, but struggles to provide the dynamism and energy needed here. Meisner’s vocal is raw and enjoyable.
#8 Most of Us are Sad
from Eagles, 1972
Frey wrote ‘Most of Us Are Sad’, but Meisner delivers the lead vocal. It almost works – it’s a slow country waltz that’s professionally delivered but doesn’t quite have a strong enough hook or memorable enough lyrics to push it over the top.
#7 Certain Kind of Fool
from Desperado, 1973
The Eagles’ second record is a concept album, with the band comparing themselves to outlaws in the old west. Henley later told Marc Elliott, “The metaphor was probably a little bullshit. We were in L.A. staying up all night, smoking dope, living the California life, and I suppose we thought it was as radical as cowboys in the old West.” Meisner wrote ‘Certain Kind of Fool’ with Frey and Henley – it plays on the outlaw theme by drawing parallels between guitar slinging and gun slinging.
Like ‘Take the Devil’, it’s a Neil Young and Crazy Horse-style song that doesn’t quite take flight with Henley drumming, but I’m a sucker for the sus4 chords. ‘Certain Kind of Fool’ was released as a single in the Netherlands.
#6 Midnight Flyer
from On the Border, 1974
My favourite Eagles era captures their transition from a country-rock outfit to a more rock-oriented sound. Meisner didn’t write the song – it comes from the pen of Memphis country writer Paul Craft, also known for ‘Dropkick Me, Jesus’. But Meisner sings lead and his bass drives it along. Bernie Leadon, an accomplished country picker, plays bluegrass banjo, while Frey plays slide guitar (the accompanying image shows Frey’s guitar face on a live version of ‘Midnight Flyer’).
#5 Saturday Night
from Desperado, 1973
‘Saturday Night’ was a group composition, but Meisner sings the chorus and originated the concept. As he told Rolling Stone: “I was sitting there one night, and I came up with the line ‘What ever happened to Saturday night?'” Meisner later remembered. “When I was younger, I would be out partying and with girls and having fun. And that’s what it was about: Whatever happened to it? And the answer was, ‘You’re older now.'” It’s strong – the best song on Desperado after ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and the title track.
#4 Try and Love Again
from Hotel California, 1976
Hotel California was a blockbuster album, but the hits are all clustered on its first side, leaving the second half as a collection of seldom-heard deep cuts. Meisner’s ‘Try and Love Again’ is arguably the highlight of the second side, adding a likeable country twang. It emphasises the Eagles’ strengths – their harmonies and array of excellent guitarists. Glenn Frey plays the tuneful solo here.
#3 Take It To The Limit
from One of These Nights, 1975
‘Take It To The Limit’ is Meisner’s signature song with the Eagles – his only a-side (outside of The Netherlands…), it became a top 5 single in the US. It also precipitated his departure from the Eagles – Meisner was unwilling to perform it live, worried about missing the climatic high notes in the coda. It has a solid case to rank at the top of this list – it has a soulful feel that the Eagles probably should have explored more. ‘Take it to the Limit’ is Meisner’s signature song, but repeat plays have stripped its charm. The tempo is a little plodding and the long coda drags.
#2 Is It True?
from On The Border, 1974
On The Border is my favourite Eagles album – it’s their most consistent, notwithstanding the presence of the awkward single ‘James Dean’. ‘Is It True?’ sounds akin to the power-pop of The Raspberries and Big Star from the same era. Like those bands, it’s inspired by the mid-1960s sound of The Beatles and The Byrds – Glenn Frey plays a George Harrison-like slide part.
#1 Too Many Hands
from One of These Nights, 1975
‘Too Many Hands’ was co-written by Meisner and guitarist Don Felder. It’s a terrific Felder riff, with layers of propulsive guitars. Meisner’s lyrics are more ambitious than usual, even if they’re not a complete success – he’s comparing the mistreatment of a woman with the mistreatment of the environment. But it’s great musically – Henley’s on tabla, allowing the guitars and Meisner’s bass to drive the rhythm. Lots of Eagles songs suffer from drawn-out codas – think ‘Take It To The Limit’ or ‘New Kid In Town’, but Meisner’s “AAH-aah-aah-AAH-aah-aah-AAH” coda here is terrific.
What’s your favourite Meisner song for the Eagles?
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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Great list and a fitting tribute to Randy. My fave is “Take It To the Limit” and I agree, “Try and Love Again” is too good to be ignored.
That opening guitar lick is great. I wonder if it could have been a hit if there was no New Kid in Town on the album.
Loved the original four version of the Eagles, plus Felder, but once they drove Bernie and Randy out, I lost interest, and remember being most crushingly disappointed on first spin of the long awaited “Long Run” when it came out. My fave Randy song is actually probably one of my two or three fave Eagles songs, period: “Certain Kind of Fool.” (“Desperado” is my fave Eagles album, and I’m also deeply partial to Bernie’s “Bitter Creek” as a fave deep cut).As you note about “Fool,” I also love the sus4 bits . . . and I can’t find it now, darnit, but there used to be a great Youtube video of the original four playing that one live, and Bernie and Randy were to the fore, Henley and Frey not much featured. It was a wonderful clip. When the Eagles did that long TV autobiography some years back (maybe 2014ish?), one thing seemingly screamingly clear to me after watching it all: Meisner, Leadon and Felder were all victims of Frey being a musical and personal bully, with Henley as his quiet enabler and enforcer. Sad, but true.
I agree that The Long Run was disappointing – even though it’s arguable cutting Randy out kind of robbed them of their soul, Schmit’s ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ is actually my favourite Eagles’ song. But generally, getting rid of all the country made them sterile.
Frey certainly seems like he was a bully. He had a point in so far as that he and Henley were the songwriting team at the centre of the commercial success, but he could have kept the others on side. Leadon, Felder, and Meisner were all assets. As you note, ‘Bitter Creek’ is a great song.
Schmit by all accounts is a great dude. I appreciated that at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, in the few seconds he was given to say his thanks, he chose to thank Randy Meisner. And he’s a fine writer and beautiful singer, and I also really like a lot of Joe Walsh’s ’70s work with James Gang and on his own. But I think it’s case of chemistry . . . there was a certain spark of the original four-plus-one, that (for me) just wasn’t there without Leadon and Meisner. The other thing, of course, about “The Long Run” is that you can almost hear the sizzle of cocaine oozing out of its over-worked and over-wrought production . . .
It’s tricky to balance – it’s a bit like Pink Floyd around the same time, where (at least IMO) they were better when Waters started asserting control over the lyrics, but not so much when he controlled everything. I like early Floyd too, but DSOTM-WYWH is their most consistent era for my money.
Nice playlist. Frankly, he wasn’t aware Meisner had written so many tunes for the Eagles!
I’m pretty sure he sung more lead vocals for the Eagles than anyone else outside of Frey and Henley. I like him – his voice is pretty unique.
Is It True. One of my favorites period. Largely due to Frey’s killer slide playing.(Glenn was a much underated guitarist.) Gotta be my favorite slide song of all-time. I think Randy’s best vocals are Try and Love Again though. Best song on Hotel California imo.
Thanks for writing in! The Eagles were amazingly well-endowed with guitar players – I think I like Felder and Walsh even more, but Frey had some great guitar moments. His solo on ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ is amazing too.
I like the country of Midnight Flyer…and I like Try and Love Again… and without a doubt Take It To The Limit is not only my favorite Meisner tune…but my favorite Eagles song. You had some on here I’ve never heard. They are really good. I do like their pre-Walsh period a lot.
As you know…I’m not a big fan but I always liked Meisner. He seemed like a true midwest guy through and through.
I’m pretty good separating the art from the artist…although it becomes really hard with them…or two of them…but I do respect their talent…can’t say anything against that.
The Eagles are fascinating, because they had a lot of talented people pass through, and lots of different personalities shine through. And they’re a mega-selling band, but their catalogue is a bit flawed. It’s weird that Henley and Frey were so domineering and focused on quality control, but didn’t address the band’s biggest weakness IMO – the drummer.
The Beach Boys are kind of similar too, where’s there’s a lot of talent and an asshole or two, and it’s all a bit flawed.
With the Eagles music…I will say everything from Hotel California on I’m absolutley worn out on…those songs got the Stairway treatment where I live.
Their earlier songs…with the ones you posted…I do like some of those even if the jerks are singing them. To me Despardo is a great piece of work…the song…not sure about the album.
You mentioned the drummer a while back and I started to listen…well…you are right.
Henley’s fine on mellow country stuff – he’s pretty low key. But some of those Meisner tunes need a tougher sound. The band sounds better when she’s on tabla. It’s weird he pursued drumming when he’s obviously a talented singer – could have just stuck him on acoustic guitar and grabbed another singer.
He probably is the best singer in the band. In the Glyn Johns book… Henley told him he wanted to sound like John Bonham. He wanted Johns to record him to sound like that. Johns told him…no you will have to drum that hard…there are no tricks to Bonham.
Now that I think about it I never really knew who wrote which of their songs. But Take It to the Limit might be my favorite Eagles record. I don’t know why. One time I saw Cher sing it on TV and even that was great. I agree about Joe Walsh though. The Smoker You Drink is one of my top 50 albums of all time. I’m not sure he was nearly as great with Eagles though. Except In the City which I totally love.
Walsh only really wrote a couple of songs for the Eagles in the 1970s – although he also came up with the riff for Life in the Fast Lane.
Randy Meisner released 3 solo albums.