Quote Originally Posted by Turf View Post
The fact of the matter is that song-writing credits are a big deal when it comes to musicians. They are official, agreed-upon, representations of work and creativity. It is a standard practice for listing order to represent the significance of contribution, as was the case with Hotel California. So, for Frey and/or Henley to rearrange the order of the credits for Hotel California on HFO, behind Felder's back, is unethical. Sorry folks, it is what it is.

I'm trying to imagine what the reaction would be like if the credit order had been Henely, Frey, and Felder and then Felder had somehow conspired to rearrange the order to Felder, Henley, and Frey. Would people be saying Henley and Frey should just "get over it?" I kinda doubt it.

As far as Frey deserving a higher position due to his suggestion of the rearrangement, that's just flat out invalid.

  • They did not rewrite the song; they rearranged it - although Felder did write a new introduction. The writing credits for the song should not change. If anything, Felder could argue that the introduction should be credited separately.
  • If I suggest you write a song and then you go write a song, do I deserve more credit for the song than you? No, I don't deserve any of the song-writing credit. Frey made the suggestion of the acoustic version, Felder did all the writing associated with the version.
  • If another band had published that version of Hotel California, would they have been justified in listing their names ahead of Felder, Henley and Frey as writers of the song? No, they would not.
  • Even if you buy into the idea that Frey's suggestion entitles him to be higher on the credit list (which, again, is invalid), there is no justification for moving Henley's name ahead of Felder's name.

As for the point that this only happened on HFO, I would like to point out that I have purchased the published music for the Hotel California album. The title song is credited as: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Don Felder.

To put it simply, writing the vast majority of the music for Hotel California is the most significant professional accomplishment in Don Felder's life (in my estimation). If, years after the fact, your co-workers conspired behind your back to change the representation of your most significant accomplishment so as to minimize your contribution, I wonder how you would react. I suspect: not well...
How was it 'behind his back'? He was in the band at the time. He presumably could have objected & didn't.

You say you have the 'published music'. What do you mean by that? I have the sheet music book. The credits for that read Felder/Henley/Frey.