Top Ten Eagles Songs: Saturday Night (#10)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (61901)
United States
April 25, 2016 6:56pm CST
What Talking Heads were to the 80s the Eagles were in the 70s: my favorite band. They were quite instrumental in my transition from a die-hard country music fan to enjoying rock and roll. Given that some of their songs had a decided country flavor to them, it was easy to find a refuge if the Alice Cooper or Bachman-Turner Overdrive was "too loud" for me. (Hey, I'm talking 1975! 
)
Alongside the look at my ten favorite Talking Heads songs I'm also counting down the top ten Eagles tunes in my world.
#10: Saturday Night
Just too many songs named "Saturday Night" or some variation! There was the Earth, Wind, and Fire song (spelled "nite"), the Bay City Rollers song, and the hard-driving song from Elton John that advised us that it was "alright for fighting."
From their exceptional concept album Desperado (which remains my favorite Eagles album, even after all these decades), "Saturday Night" is a quiet song that, like all of the songs on the album, compares the life of the 19th century outlaw (several songs on this album were based on the real-life Dalton outlaw gang, who met their match in a botched bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892) and compares it to the life of the 1970s touring musician. In this particular song Don Henley's beautiful lead vocals speaks of losing a love who "passes the time at another man's side while I pass the time with my pride."
In the bridge the four Eagles sing one of their great lines: "Someone show me how to tell the dancer from the dance."
You'll notice my affection for songs Henley sings lead on as we go through this list (seven of the ten songs feature him exclusively on lead vocals). Here he shines, showing how well he can handle a soft, country-flavored ballad. Bernie Leadon's mandolin is also excellent, providing reflective background music without turning it into a bluegrass song similar to "Twenty One" earlier in the album.
"Saturday Night," besides being a terrific song, is the only song in the Eagles' discography that is credited to all members of the band as songwriters. It's a shining star in their history, and it's good that all four of them combined for the creation of this classic song.
Saturday Night
Written by Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon
Lead Vocals: Don Henley
From Desperado, 1973
)
Alongside the look at my ten favorite Talking Heads songs I'm also counting down the top ten Eagles tunes in my world.
#10: Saturday Night
Just too many songs named "Saturday Night" or some variation! There was the Earth, Wind, and Fire song (spelled "nite"), the Bay City Rollers song, and the hard-driving song from Elton John that advised us that it was "alright for fighting."
From their exceptional concept album Desperado (which remains my favorite Eagles album, even after all these decades), "Saturday Night" is a quiet song that, like all of the songs on the album, compares the life of the 19th century outlaw (several songs on this album were based on the real-life Dalton outlaw gang, who met their match in a botched bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892) and compares it to the life of the 1970s touring musician. In this particular song Don Henley's beautiful lead vocals speaks of losing a love who "passes the time at another man's side while I pass the time with my pride."
In the bridge the four Eagles sing one of their great lines: "Someone show me how to tell the dancer from the dance."
You'll notice my affection for songs Henley sings lead on as we go through this list (seven of the ten songs feature him exclusively on lead vocals). Here he shines, showing how well he can handle a soft, country-flavored ballad. Bernie Leadon's mandolin is also excellent, providing reflective background music without turning it into a bluegrass song similar to "Twenty One" earlier in the album.
"Saturday Night," besides being a terrific song, is the only song in the Eagles' discography that is credited to all members of the band as songwriters. It's a shining star in their history, and it's good that all four of them combined for the creation of this classic song.
Saturday Night
Written by Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon
Lead Vocals: Don Henley
From Desperado, 1973
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3 people like this
2 responses
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
26 Apr 16
Right off hand, the only other instance where the entire band received a credit is the early Mission. Wayne Hussey wrote the lyrics, but all four of them get credit. That's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61901)
• United States
26 Apr 16
The songwriter credit for "Too Shy" was credited to the entire band Kajagoogoo (in fact, the songwriter credit says "Kajagoogoo" instead of listing the band members individually).
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
26 Apr 16
@FourWalls - I did not know that. That was about the only song of theirs I liked. I just assumed Limahl (sp?) wrote it.
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
26 Apr 16
I am surprised it took you so long to do The Eagles. I am not familiar with this song.
1 person likes this
