As a lifelong music fan, I’m always interested to learn the inspirations and process in the writing of well known songs in pop, rock and country. If you don’t already know the stories behind these songs, you will now.
“WITCHY WOMAN”- The Eagles- It’s no secret I’m a lifelong Eagles fan and this 1972 hit single has a fun story behind it. Guitarist Bernie Leadon came to band mate Don Henley with a low key music riff that had a tribal feel to it. Henley penned the words ‘witchy woman’ not as a nod to the occult but to a woman who is enchanting and seductive. At the time, the Eagles drummer was reading a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald and pictured her to be a muse in his writing. It’s been speculated the lyric, “She drove herself to madness with the silver spoon” was a reference to Zelda’s time in a mental institution. The ‘silver spoon’ was used to dissolve sugar cubes with absinthe, a popular 1920s alcoholic drink distilled from the wormwood tree and called “the green fairy” for sometimes inducing hallucinations. Pretty heady stuff for 1920’s Hollywood.
One more note on “Witchy Woman”, it was featured on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ as Elaine tried to get her boyfriend to adopt that tune as their song. She tried to do the same with “Desperado” but that song was his own. That song was also on an episode of ‘Dharma & Greg” as Dharma’s mother noted she once dated Don Henley and was certain she was the inspiration for “Witchy Woman.”
“LYIN’ EYES”- The Eagles- The story behind writing this 1975 hit is documented in “The History of the Eagles” documentary. Glenn Frey and Don Henley were hanging at the L.A. restaurant Dan Tana’s. The place was a hub for lots of beautiful women and the two Eagles talked about the stunning lasses who were out cheating on their husbands. They spotted one very hot young woman with a fat, wealthy man who was much older than her. Frey commented, “She can’t even hide her lyin’ eyes.” There was the groundwork for a great song. Glenn and Don were living together at the time and put the words and music together in pretty quick order with Frey carrying most of the freight.
One side story on Glenn Frey; he was a slob when living with Henley. Glenn would take the butts of burned out cigarettes and leave hundreds of them standing on end all over the house. Don Henley said the leftover butts looked like little buildings in a city. Frey also earned the nickname ‘Roach’ for leaving the tiny remnants of smoked marijuana joints all over the same house.
“THE VALLEY ROAD”- Bruce Hornsby- This brightly played track came out in 1988 off Hornsby’s sophomore album “Songs from the Southside.” The original music video showed a bunch of local folks marching around playing instruments; but this belies the real message of the song. It’s about the daughter of a wealthy land owner. The girl takes up with a poor country boy working on the farm. That country boy shows her what they do down the long valley road and a pregnancy happens. The song’s story unfolds with the lyrics; “Out in the holler they were talking in a whisper, everybody noticed she was gone awhile. Somebody said she’s gone to her sister’s. Everybody knew what they were talking about.” Yes, this young girl got an abortion then came back around “like nothing really happened.” As for the poor country boy he was “Good enough to hire, not good enough to marry, when it all happens nobody wins.”
A quick side note on Bruce Hornsby— In my radio days I had the opportunity to hang with the piano playing song man on three different occasions, once as his personal escort/tour guide when he came to Chicago for a radio station event. I’m happy to report Bruce Hornsby was one of the most affable, normal acting music stars I’ve ever met and a total class act!
NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Some more great opening song lyrics.