ACOUSTIC STORM: What was the inspiration for “Best of My Love?”
J.D. SOUTHER: Glenn found the tune; the tune I think came from a Fred Neil record. I don’t know who wrote the first lines; we wrote it in London. We were working on that album ("On the Border") and came to London. The three of us were writing it and were on deadline to get it finished. I don’t know where we got the inspiration. I can rarely tell you where I get inspiration. I’ve been making music since I was 9. When I’m writing music it’s something that’s swirling around in my head or happens to live on scraps of paper or a score paper that’s sitting on my piano. Sometimes it’s something new. Sometimes it’s something that triggers an investigative search into something that’s a little bit old. There’s something on this new album that actually started in 1972. That’s a long non-answer. I have no idea where the inspiration for that song came from.
A.S.: You have written songs with Don Henley and Glenn Frey. How does the dynamic change when three songwriters are working together, as opposed to a solo effort?
JDS: Usually all three of us are writing all lyrics and music. "New Kid in Town" is probably a bit different because I had the chorus done for almost a year before I showed it to Glenn and Don. I don’t know that we had the first line, but I think we had the bridge changed. Glenn was a real proponent and great student of Motown Records and the Philadelphia sound – Gamble and Huff records. So Glenn always had the beat. So, that was mine and Don and Glenn and I sat up a lot of nights and banged on the lyrics. They were at Criteria Studios in Florida and they called me up and said there were still a few holes in the lyrics. So I came down and we finished that and “Victim Of Love.” It’s always a joint effort. I can’t speak for them, but as much music as I had in my background, it was mostly jazz and orchestral music. I wasn’t exposed to country music until I was almost grown. I’m a much better song writer today for having written with Glenn and Don, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon. That group of people in southern California in the early ‘70s—we were working as hard as we could to become good writers.
A.S.: Where do you get your inspiration for song writing?
JDS: (Writing as a team) speeds things up a lot. When you’re writing with good writers like Jackson or Warren Zevon or Don and Glenn you’re so critical of each other that you don’t let anything pass that doesn’t feel like it’s A+. I like writing in a group. I don’t do it very often, there aren’t many groups I feel comfortable with. But with that bunch of guys, and that song that James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel and I wrote -- there have been a few others. It’s pretty rare that we’re bringing out the best in each other. We were all trying very hard to impress each other in a way, like young guys do.
Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press
