Top Ten Eagles Songs: Pretty Maids All in a Row (#4)

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Home from the road trip, it's now time to finish off this current batch of top ten lists I have going. You can participate with your ten favorite songs from your favorite singer or band, too! Next up is the song in the Eagles list. #4: Pretty Maids All in a Row Joe Walsh has really gotten a bad rap, in my opinion. The word was that he was brought in to replace Bernie Leadon (who left after One of These Nights) to give the Eagles a "harder rock sound" and get them out of that "country-rock" mode. (And what was the first single from Hotel California? "New Kid in Town," which was a pop and country hit!) Walsh is a hard rock guitar guru thanks to songs like "Funk #49," "Walk Away" (both from his days with the James Gang), and "Rocky Mountain Way" (in his solo career). But there's so much more to Joe Walsh than that. He produced Dan Fogelberg's great Souvenirs album. Some of his best solo songs are ballads: "Help Me Through the Night" (which featured Henley and Frey singing backup), "Indian Summer" (no relation to the Poco song that featured Walsh's future bandmate Timothy Schmit), and the splendid "Birdcall Morning." And this is another great example. "Pretty Maids All in a Row," the only song Walsh sang lead on from Hotel California, is a gorgeous ballad. I'll be the first to admit that Walsh doesn't have a voice on the level of Frey's or Henley's, but dang! Can you imagine anyone else singing this? He delivers it perfectly. This song also contains one of my all-time favorite Eagles lines: "why do we give up our hearts to the past, and why must we grow up so fast?" Before I reveal the #1 song I'll listen songs that were also in contention, as well as songs I don't like, so you're going to hear quite a bit about this album soon. Meanwhile, just enjoy this marvelous song. Pretty Maids All in a Row Written by Joe Walsh and Joe Vitale Lead vocal: Joe Walsh From Hotel California, 1976