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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy \/ Showtime)<\/p>\n
Sun 23 November 2025 20:35, UK <\/p>\n
Before the Eagles had even started, Don Henley<\/a> always had a vision for the group. Although they may have been able to sell out different shows whenever they played live, Henley knew it was all about the power of the songs, finding that perfect marriage of lyrics and melody to create magic in the studio. While Henley may have overseen the main ideas behind every Eagles project, he admitted that one of his contemporaries wasn\u2019t a fan of one of their biggest bombs.<\/p>\n As the band first got their feet wet in the California rock scene, no one had to worry about their credentials. Bringing together the biggest fixtures of the country-rock scene, Henley and guitarist Glenn Frey would become the two co-captains of the group, constantly pushing each other to find more songs or to write their original material.<\/p>\n Although Henley would claim that his time as a songwriter began with the single \u2018Witchy Woman\u2019, Frey would be responsible for the lion\u2019s share of the hits from this era, singing the Jack Tempchin-penned \u2018Peaceful Easy Feeling\u2019 and helping songwriter Jackson Browne finish off the lyrics to the song \u2018Take It Easy\u2019. <\/p>\n By the time they had turned in their road miles on their first tour, Henley had the idea of making a concept album centred around different gunslingers from history entitled Desperado. Since the band already had a country twang to many of their songs, it only made sense for them to adopt a country persona for the rest, with Henley and Frey collaborating on some of their first co-writes like \u2018Tequila Sunrise\u2019.<\/p>\n Around the time that the band had started looking at conceptual pieces, Steely Dan were also finishing up their first records. Being more at home in the studio than on the road, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker would be responsible for pushing the boundaries for what could be done on tape, making songs that pushed the genre forward sonically and musically on The Royal Scam and Aja.<\/p>\n Although Fagen would claim to have a professional relationship with the Eagles, he did make a few tongue-in-cheek jabs at them in song. Despite throwing in lines about hating the group in a handful of Steely Dan songs<\/a>, Henley remembered a conversation with Fagen when he slagged off Desperado.<\/p>\n