After last week’s shock news of the death of David Bowie, I had hoped it would be some time before the blog would end up being about the death of another ’70s rock legend but here we are again. Woke up this morning to the news that Glenn Frey from The Eagles had died yesterday aged 67.
Got me thinking that we are maybe at the tipping point, where our post-war baby boomers who entered the music industry in the ’60s and ’70s and by their own admission lived a hedonistic drug-fuelled lifestyle, are now maybe running out of luck. I don’t know the details of his death and don’t really want to delve into all that, but a pattern is definitely emerging here. Again, as with Bowie, I am really sorry for his family and friends who will no longer be able to spend time with him but for the rest of us, we will always have those fantastic songs.
I have decided therefore to make today’s featured song Lyin’ Eyes from 1975 as it was one of The Eagles’ early ones where Frey performed lead vocals. If this blog is supposed to reflect the soundtrack to my life, Lyin’ Eyes definitely played a large part in forming the soundtrack to the mid ’70s. I was still at school, and not really old enough for pubs and clubs, but local bands were regularly booked to play the town and village halls in our area. Their repertoire of choice tended to be cover versions of songs by soft rock bands such as The Eagles, and Lyin’ Eyes (all 6 minutes of it) was most definitely a favourite. If a boy you weren’t too keen on asked you to dance, but you were far too polite to refuse, it was a very long song.
Lyin’ Eyes by The Eagles:
By the time we got to 6th year at school, everyone owned their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 album and many an evening was spent hanging out with friends listening to it. I have just double-checked but already knew that Lyin’ Eyes was track number 3 on side 1. I miss that nowadays with digital downloads – we knew exactly where our favourite tracks lay on every piece of vinyl. The technology of the day didn’t involve touchscreens or keyboards, you simply had to pick up the arm of the record-player and place it gently on the record and if you had good control and eyesight you could seamlessly jump straight to the song of choice, and in my case it was often Lyin’ Eyes. RIP Glenn.
Lyin’ Eyes Lyrics
(Song by Don Henley/Glenn Frey)
City girls just seem to find out early
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man
And she won’t have to worry
She’ll dress up all in lace and go in style
Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is
Only given to a man with hands as cold as ice
So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend who’s feelin’ down
But he knows where she’s goin’ as she’s leavin’
She is headed for the cheatin’ side of town
You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin eyes
On the other side of town a boy is waiting
with fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal
She drives on through the night anticipating
‘Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel
She rushes to his arms,
They fall together
She whispers that it’s only for awhile
She swears that soon she’ll be comin’ back forever
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile
You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide you lyin’ eyes
She gets up and pours herself a strong one
And stares out at the stars up in the sky
Another night, it’s gonna be a long one
She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry
She wonders how it ever got this crazy
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
She’s so far gone she feels just like a fool
My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things
You set it up so well, so carefully
Ain’t it funny how your new life didn’t change things
You’re still the same old girl you used to be
You can’t hide your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
Honey, you can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
What's It All About? 
Lovely wee trip down memory lane
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Yes – that was the sound of my teenage years in Aberdeenshire where there were no tequila sunrises (except in tall glasses) or dark desert highways but we loved all that music anyway!
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Reblogged this on What's It All About, Alfie? and commented:
It seems I am to be without my computer for yet another few days and yes CC, the Blogging DTs are setting in! It is a First World problem however, and not life threatening, so I will be patient with the lovely man in the computer shop whose wife is apparently turning 30 tomorrow, so he is having a couple of days off – I tried to be all enthusiastic about their trip to London to see Phontom Of The Opera but all I was really thinking was, “That’s another few days with no posts!”.
No matter, in the meantime here is the post from this day last year which was also the day that we found out that Glenn Frey from the Eagles had passed away. It was to be an oft repeated pattern as the year went on but thankfully, last January, we just didn’t know that yet.
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Sorry to hear your computerless days continue. I was a big fan of the Eagles, though I’m also a big fan of The Big Lebowski, and The Dude hates them. Quite a quandary for me. I was always more of a Henley fan, but Glenn Frey made some great post-Eagles records too (not JUST The Heat Is On). I didn’t have the time this time last year to eulogise him the way I wanted (I hadn’t started doing the shorter posts back then) and I regret not giving him the same send off I managed for others last year.
Take it easy, Glenn…
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I was new to blogging when I wrote this but managed to do a short post about him. Was still reeling from the fact that I was only 9 days into my blog and had already done 3 tributes! I have nothing but love for the Eagles’ music and it did feature heavily in my teenage years – I think perhaps because I lived in a more rural setting, the bands that played for us were all really into their Eagles’ cover versions. Don’t know if you saw the comment on the reblogged post at the top of the Homepage, but Rich Kamerman left a link to an Eagles post on his blog – It got 106 comments and sparked a lively debate!
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I love the little details you constantly remind me of in your posts which capture so succinctly and evocatively the way things were. Your remark about knowing exactly where, on each piece of vinyl, our favourite tracks were, is spot on. We became skilled at positioning the needle in that opening groove, and what about those occasional moments when your hand clumsily slipped or you came down too hard making the needle skid across, making an awful noise (I can hear it perfectly right now) and the dread that followed of finding that horrible scratch?!
Also love your comment about Lyin’ Eyes being an awfully long song in certain situations. Not one I experienced with that particular song but still a familiar scenario!
I’m not an Eagles fan but in 1976 I really loved Hotel California, I thought it was fantastic, and so it was one of the first singles I ever bought – I was 13 and it seemed terribly grown-up at the time!
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As it turns out the Eagles are as about as American as you get so very relevant for today – But hey, we don’t do politics here, it’s music, so glad you liked this post. Yes the place on each record you jumped to with the needle – I was an expert although latterly I needed to place a 10p piece on the arm just above the needle to save it from skimming across the record. Probably ruined them all but got maximum enjoyment of them at the time. Don’t start me on cassette tapes though – What a faff that was trying to find just the right place for a particular track but got quite good at it in the end from looking at the little rectangular window in the middle. How would the youngsters of today cope?
And yes the long song – I would never have refused to dance with someone who had been brave enough to ask (at age 15) but if it went on too long it was sometimes hard to keep up the faux pretence that I was just having the best time ever! Sadly the other side to that scenario is that the boy you did want to dance with might be at the other side of the hall with your best friend. Hotel California was definitely one for listening to and not for dancing to however so with that great song, the dancing problem never arose!
This post above was at the start of my blogging exploits by the way when I posted every day! meant the posts were a lot shorter compared with some of the ones I do now – Once I get my computer back I’m going to try and keep them shorter and maybe spread the topic over a few posts. Am remembering about Fog on the Tyne by the way – Soon. Have a good weekend.
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I have a different take on this song than most, but I think it makes the most sense and brings a more poignant meaning.
My take – the story is about an attractive woman who married for riches instead of love and how it led her to a life of sadness and deception. The boy she was thinking about when she was in school is the narrator of the song. He was her true love in high school, but she broke his heart by leaving him to marry a much older man for his wealth many years before.
There are three repeats of the Chorus “You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes…” The first chorus is from the viewpoint of her rich husband after she lied to him. The second chorus is from the viewpoint of the boy “on the cheatin’ side of town” after she lied to him about intending to leave her rich husband in the future. The last chorus is from the viewpoint of the narrator. That’s why he calls her “Honey” in the last verse. The “you set it up so well…” lyrics refer to her original overall plan to leave him for a richer life and how she has never changed her deceptive ways.
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Hi Dale and thanks for dropping by this post from over five years ago – Where has the time gone!
I’ve just had a look at the lyrics again and see what you mean. You’ve really thought this through haven’t you and I can see how the lyrics could be interpreted the way you say. The songwriters said it was based on seeing all those rich woman appearing in LA bars with their older, rich husbands and not even trying to “hide their lyin’ eyes”.
Not listened to the song for a long time so thanks for prompting me to do so today. I still have a massive fondness for their songs from this era – Takes me back to my teenage years.
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