Lyrics You Might Have Missed

[peneumbra]

Back in the Good Old Days (like before the electric lightbulb), it sometimes happened that the lyrics to some Eagles songs were changed during performance. Mostly, this was the work of Glenn Frey, who had a profound talent for creative mayhem. Such was the case when the band performed "Desperado" live.

Already mentioned someplace here was the "I was headed for Oklahoma, in a '56 Chevrolet," line from "Outlaw Man." But there was more:

From "Tequila Sunrise;"

"Take another shot of porridge
Wonder why the dry goods never come…"

And this, from "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night," the achingly beautiful ballad, sung by Randy Meisner:

"She said 'Tell me, oh tell me,
Did I miss my flight…' "

And there was this bit of wisdom, from "Bitter Creek:"

"An old man told me
Tryin' to scold me
'Oh, son don't wash your feet
In Bitter Creek…' "

Then to top it all, there was a deranged take on "Doolin' Dalton." I can't list the lyrics here because the vast majority of them were obscene, but here's the opening line:

"They were droolin'
Droolin' Dalton
High and stoned
They baked their brains…"

Well, I'm sure you get the idea. Being out on an extended tour can make anybody a bit crazy, which is why band members do things like throw tvs out the windows of their 11th floor hotel rooms and ride mini-bikes up and down the halls...

[tac0mao6]

creative mayhem indeed thanks for laughs peneumbra

[East Texas Girl]

They were keeping things lively, indeed!

[Brooke]

Too funny!

I can imagine how they could get tired of singing the same thing all the time and make up new lines just for fun!

[chaim]

Haha, reminds me of The Moody Blues' nicknames for their own songs, like "I know you're out there, so what?" Or Jeff Lynne singing misheard versions of ELO lyrics live (like "It's a real submarine" in Showdown or "Bruce" in Don't Bring Me Down).

[Delilah]

Very amusing! I wonder if Henley ever changed his lyrics...my guess is he wouldn’t have been a fan of it.

[East Texas Girl]

Haha, reminds me of The Moody Blues' nicknames for their own songs, like "I know you're out there, so what?" Or Jeff Lynne singing misheard versions of ELO lyrics live (like "It's a real submarine" in Showdown or "Bruce" in Don't Bring Me Down).

Lol...count me in the "Bruce" camp...

[sodascouts]

Back in the Good Old Days (like before the electric lightbulb), it sometimes happened that the lyrics to some Eagles songs were changed during performance. Mostly, this was the work of Glenn Frey, who had a profound talent for creative mayhem. Such was the case when the band performed "Desperado" live.

Already mentioned someplace here was the "I was headed for Oklahoma, in a '56 Chevrolet," line from "Outlaw Man." But there was more:

From "Tequila Sunrise;"

"Take another shot of porridge
Wonder why the dry goods never come…"

And this, from "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night," the achingly beautiful ballad, sung by Randy Meisner:

"She said 'Tell me, oh tell me,
Did I miss my flight…' "

And there was this bit of wisdom, from "Bitter Creek:"

"An old man told me
Tryin' to scold me
'Oh, son don't wash your feet
In Bitter Creek…' "

Then to top it all, there was a deranged take on "Doolin' Dalton." I can't list the lyrics here because the vast majority of them were obscene, but here's the opening line:

"They were droolin'
Droolin' Dalton
High and stoned
They baked their brains…"

Well, I'm sure you get the idea. Being out on an extended tour can make anybody a bit crazy, which is why band members do things like throw tvs out the windows of their 11th floor hotel rooms and ride mini-bikes up and down the halls...

I can see them doing those kind of joke lyrics in rehearsals and sound checks.

Trivia: The "56 Chevrolet" line was actually David Blue's original line (Blue is the songwriter). Glenn changed it to "I was ridin' night and day" to fit the Desperado cowboy theme, but I guess he decided that live he'd go back to Blue. I had no idea about this until I heard David Blue's original and he sang the line which I had previously attributed to Glenn's ingenuity.