Ten Favorite Don Henley Guest Vocals: One More Song (#3)

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Welcome to Friday, and the “Don Henley helping out old friends” segment of this countdown featuring my favorite guest vocal appearances he’s done over the years. Three days in a row (concluding with tomorrow) where you see a deep history with Henley and who he’s backing. Case in point, today’s entry. #3: One More Song - Randy Meisner I was singing this song as the road reached along And the empty night swallowed my car I know I’ve mentioned how much I love this song. I used it in the “song songs” countdown. It was probably in the numbers countdown. If I do a “more” countdown, guess what!! It started in 1977 in Knoxville. After an Eagles show Randy Meisner, the bassist and lead vocalist on one of the Eagles’ most iconic songs, “Take It to the Limit,” and Glenn Frey got into a knock-down, drag-out that may have been training film for the Pirates and Reds. Meisner left the Eagles shortly thereafter. Timothy Schmit, on tour with Poco in support of their new Indian Summer album, was asked yet again to replace Meisner (he did so in Poco as well). The next year Meisner recorded his first solo album. While it flopped (deservedly so, IMO), it did have a Glenn Frey/JD Souther composition, “Bad Man,” on it. That song ended up on the FM soundtrack. In 1980 Meisner showed there was still lots of gas left in the tank when he released One More Song. It featured a minor hit, “Deep Inside My Heart,” with backing vocals with a then-little-known Kim Carnes. It also featured Meisner’s old bandmates, Henley and Frey, singing backing vocals on the title track. Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and co-wrote “Already Gone” (and also wrote Johnny Rivers’ hit “Slow Dancin’ [Swayin’ to the Music]”), originally wrote the song about something else. When Meisner expressed an interest in recording it, Tempchin reworked some of the lyrics to make it more of a “fond farewell” between Meisner and the band he left in anger three years earlier. The results are simply stunning. Meisner did appear with the band at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but hasn’t performed with them since. He did appear as part of the “original Poco” reunion tour after Legacy reunited the original 1968 lineup. He’s been suffering from health issues for years, and his performing days are now behind him. Oh, that he could sing “One More Song” one more time. One More Song Written by Jack Tempchin Recorded by Randy Meisner From One More Song, 1980 The faces of strangers and the voices of friends: