0[

I
haoe a mnsion, forget the price Ain't neaer been there, they tell rc it's nice I liae in hotels, tear out the ualls . I hate accountants pag for it all, Walsh, "Life's Been Gmd" So

ffirl
I got
the

rc

an office, gold recar^ on

"All Night Long"-which is reprised

uall

lust leaae a rcssage, maybe I'll call.

its clamor-and, ffnally, The

"Get Back."

couple oftimes as the audience continues

Beatles'

-"Life's -who and then

Been Good"

-Joe n the Road with Joe W*lsh"

sounds like an assignment fraught

with danger and ripe with stimulating possibilities. Walsh, one

who recorded Ravel's "Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty" and curies a chainsaw on the road with him in case he feels like doing some late-night remodeling of his hotel room. The cabbie driving me from the airport into Chicago recounts a rirmor that Walsh once did S20,000 worth of dmage to a room in one of the city's finest hotels. "Just because a guy's talentd, that doesn't mean he's a great person," says the driver. "If you're giftid, there's nothing you can do about it. Babe Ruth was
great, but he ate and drank too much and he screwed women all the time." "Are you going to see Joe Walsh to-

ofthe '70s, is one ofrock's larger-thanlife chu{cters. a mass of @ntradictions ofthe biggest
stars

Even getting an interview with Walsh came to fame with the James Cmg subsequently put a successful solo career on hold to join the Eagles-is unusual. His manager, lruing Azoff, represents the kind of musicims who "don't need" publicity, and the Eagles are * reclusive as a bmd can getr they're either too busy recordingor too busyon the road or too busy taking time of to do interuiews. But Walsh, on the road to support There Goes the Neighborhoodlhis semnd solo album since joining the Eagles-hm agreed to talk with me. The show begins with two older songs, "Meadows" and "Over and "Over." Walsh livens things up with "In ihe City," from the Ea{es' The Inng Run, The
sound is loud, lean and energeticr Walsh's is ihe onl1, gultar, supported by Mike Murphy on keyboards, George "Choco-

I go to parties, sowtircs until four It's hard to leaxe when ym can't find
the doon

It's tough to handle, this fortune and Exerybody's so

changbd.

fo*

dffirent,

hawn't

*"Life's

Been Cood"

Aniving bv plane in Detroit, I realize that I've been with the Neighborhood
Tour for a dav and two nights now (not necessarily in ihat order), and haven't been within 30 feet of my quury, I'm not sure he even knows lm ;rlong. I have, however, met the Real Jerw Aldini. Remember that character Bill Murrav played on Saturdny Night Liae, thL

late" Perry on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums, and longtime Walsh rosociate
Joe Vitale on a little ofeverything, fronr drums to flute to keyboards. Walsh's attention doesn't seem to drift out past the edge ofthe stage very much. It's not that he doesn't care about the audience, but rather it seems that he's keeping eye contact with his players and evaluating the perfonnance as it progresses. Cryptic glances and quick smiles pass hetween Walsh and Vitale. The audience responds to each song enthusiasiically.

promo man for "Polv Sutra Records" whose mmtra is "let's take a meeting"P He is about as deep as the groove on a 45, though he obviously fim enough

real heart to be a great guy if

f,e

been to one sncert. I hate the way people behave at concerts, I like the
rowdiest music, and that brings out the
rowdiest people." An omen?

night?" I uk. "Hell, no," he replies. "I've only ever

Walking into the Poplu Creek Music Theatre in the Chicago suburbs, one of my companions points and gtggles at a

;;:t:,ii;::,:1

teenager who is having some difficulty staying on his feet. "Don't laugh," scolds another member ofour party, "He's wearing a leg brace,"

During "Funk #49,"

drummers

Kunkel and Vitale toss sticks back and forth during a dual solo, It's a trick they
inverrted spontaneously n couple ofshows back, and it's a huge hit with the fansand with Walsh, who grins appreciatively. After two more songs from the new album, Walsh launches into his msterpiece, "Life's Been Cood," then leaves the stage to thunderous applause. The encores are "Rocky Mountain Way,"

"He's trying to smuggle

pant leg."

'"Leg brace, hell," replies the first.

a

beer can in his

make hit records, my fans theg can't

aait

Theg write

letters,

tellw

I'm great

only knew how. He arrives at the Northfield Hilton wearing a turquoise bowling shirt with someone else s first name stitched over the pockit, ud he has two attractive women-in tow. The band hro stopped playing and the bar is nealy emptyr but our party is just beginning.. The Real Jerry Aldini regales us wiih hilarious off-color jokes and says things like. "l'm talking serioas buman being here. ' I'm not the"only one who cm't keei a straight face while looking him in the eye, but the professionals among us admire this guy's devotion and effectiveness at his job, which is essentially to party with radio and record store people and make them want to sell Elektrai Asylum product. Walsh and the band view a video tape of this evening's show, the lirst of'two^at the Pine Knob Theatre outside Detroit. while we wait downstairs in the bar, Then Walsh retires and the band members join us. We adjourn to a room well-stocked with Heinekens and wine, and talk until dawn, The most outrageous antic that

t8

JUtY17,t981IBAM

-you So I
then

should have seen us runl took some heliopteriessons, and

thought, "Wait a minute--livhai

am I doingPl Why would I want to do t}is?

What

else

horseshoes-l just work with wrought

iron. It's really firn.

I'm hn

do

gou do for fun? apprentice blacksmith. Not

fru 1fLngn, or- chop one off. Well, I don't want to be a

pussy just

ause I play the guitar.

When did gou slarl plaging the guiturP I wu about 17. I started not really play,.ing, but trying to tute up. It took me two ye4rs to leain how to tune up. And just , working out chords and stuff I was tremendously influenced by The Beatles. Really, that ivas.what did it*I 'srrw them on Ed Silllian.and I said, "Hey, those guys are cool."

Did

you

moe

around a

lot

when you

uere a kid?
Yeah. My dad was in the insurance bus-

iness.

junior high schml, and then New

while. then Chicago, and cventually ended up living in New YQik City for
Jersey

I lived in

Columbus. Ohio. for

for high school. So I kind ofhave trareling

in my blood, just from living for threel year periods in diferent prts of the
country. I ended up being kind ofa loner. It's hard on any kid*yorr make friends, and then you leare them. I w{s cautious about maldng friends, because I kuew we'd prcbably be moving, J had a lot of time. and I was really
musical. I played clarinet, and I errded up

Photo: Jim Shea happens all night is foe Vitale launching a couple of bottle rcckets from the tenace ofhis rcom while we watch fiom ours. The

playing first oboe in high.schml, mostly because I got io get out of homeroom" i played trombone for a while, t@, md I 'always ended up hating whatever instrument I was playing at the time because I had to stay in ahd practice every day.

myth withers,

Luckg l'm sane after alJ I'oe

through

been

Louie" or "Twist and Shout." Can you imaglne singing "Twist md Shout" et

Until everybody bought everything. I would have chmged the national anthem to, probably, "Life's Been Gmd," I'm tired of that other one, Or mavbe

"louie,

did that I d prebably be in a lotofrouble, I'm not a fatalist, you know, and.I'm not eying the world's going to eome to on end. But you can't go up against Westinghouse. Making gmd music-that's my job.

Guita wasjust something that I decided I wanted to play, so I kind oftaugfrt myself. At the end qf high,school, I went to Kent State Universtty. I wanted to
a

stay

-'LiG's

Eeen Gmd"

tickets read "rain or shine." Forty-erght houm after picking up thd tour, I am sitting in tG Walsh's hotel room with my tape recotder rclling. Not a stick of fumiture is out of olace,

He clucks with mncem at graphics flashed on the screen indicatilng'that tomado watches are up for the area, hoping it won't iain on his,fans, whose

Fae to hce, joe Walsh ls anything but bloodthirsty..At fint, it's had to keep his attention u his eyes repeatedly tum to a television set whose sound is tumed ofr.

ball game? I also think everybody should have his own nucler remtor, so you ould tum up your amp ro loud as you want and everybody's fiont yud would lmk better because they're wouldn't be any power lines. Makes sense t(r me
a

It

sags

in your bio that

helicopters. Is that true?

gou flg

iis"{k#,#ffi#
What s*ape do gou wppose the cruntry would be in if gou had won gour wckbid

whether the Republicans do Demmrats do it.

Seriouslg, hou do gou feel about the nuclear reactor near gour hm in Santa Barbara? Are you planning to do angthing about it? Yeah, move. It's a shme. They're going to build nuclear reactors whether we wmt them or not" We get to vote on

about fif" teen hours ofinstructlon. I thought may. be it would be fun, but my dad wu hlled in theAirForceinaplanecrmh, mdljust don't really enjoy planes that much. And Joe Vitale and I have been in two plme

I'm not certlffed, but I tmk

I majored in English, minored in music, and took a lot of electronies murses. I didn't go to clms very much, though, I got in a band at a bu domwmn'l doing well in
town, and I never really went home after that. My parents were kind ofupset that I
school, but

band I'd gotten together during my senior yetr. bit my parents really fought me about il. In retrcspect, the best thing my ptrents ever did wm make me go to ollege.

home and be in

crashes-one in a twin-engine

Cessna

playing four sets a night, four nights.a

week, doing the Top 20. In those days, ifyou knew Beatles and Rolling Stones songs, you could play mywhere. I played lead, md I tried to spy what George Harison had played, pretty much note-for-note. I lemed how to fix things-when the amp blew up. I had to get tnside md fix it, beeause nobody else was going to.do it and we had to play. In the daytime, I prrcticed and worked on

was

it or

the

for the Presidzncg tn 1980? Probably much better shape than it is in. There tre some things I woirld have done immediately, such asfree money for
everybody. Give all the poor people a bunch of money. and they rcn't be pmr

we

anymore. That'd take cre ofthat problem everybody'd have lots of rnoney, and ould biry everything we want, right?

For a uhile , anvuav

doing anything about it. I cm't understand why mankind would let that happen. It's almost to the point where technology is one ofour worst enemies. Hell, I don'tknowwhatto do about it. I suplmse I sbould get real active, but if I

There's no such thing as a safe nucler reactor. What if the terrcrists get into it? It's.all over. But.what are you gonna do? Thatls why I'm very zen about it- there'j nothing you can do, One ofthe rexons my songs have satirical mntent is that I'm really fieaked. I can't.believe that we're fuchng up the plmet like we ue. We're going to screw up the life-support system, dnd wd're not

draulic system. It wro the main takeof engine, so they muldn't get the landing gear dom, had no steering of the front wheBl, and no brakes. We were about 1000 feet of the ground, md we had to circle around and mme down with no
wheels. We buely made the
was pretty

and the other on a mmmercial flight. The ommercial one wro in Denver. Blew an engne on takeofl blew out the hydraulic systim md, the bmkup hy-

biffie.

runway-it

go. He chose not to t*e ofi because we muldn't have landed, He shut it

In the Cessna, it wu snowing and the plane was towed out to the runway. The tow was hmked up wrong, md it sheared the pin off the &ont wheel. Right when we were taking oS the pilot felt the wheel
except we ran out of runway [slight

-you Eventually, after leaming all lot of diferent

my equipment. I really lemed how to hotwite guitm md soup up amps. I cm't comprehend guitar players who don't understand how their stufrworks. lfyou play electric guittr. my God. that's put of it should be able to mver your ss.
those

dom,

leads, I decided itwro all right to change it a little bit here md there-to improvise. I was studyingClapton, Page, Beck, uda
playe_rs, learning their songs note for note. Thatt really the way

laugh]. We ended up pointing straight down, with the plane smoking and gu
dripping everyrvhere. Boy, we moved frot

to leam guitar-study

everybody md

Jl,JtYt7,1981l8AM t9

has.

great

meanings

music and

rck md

roll.

know, "Funk #49"

in his songs. But you

isn't that

This may sound weird, but I'm not interested in writing hit songs. I do that

ouf strength-it's truly

gjroup. .

intellec-

tual, word-wise. I
was always more interested in the textures, in the way the words fit in. I'nr really proud of this new album, though,

with the Eagles*mmmercial

potenable

tial, you know? I just enjoy being

rhylhms. I enjo) music and tcxturer and how they fit together and how they don't. much more than trying lo write a
hit single.

contrsting things, work with

to do whatever I want, and I like to have

strange

of flat-picking,
mandolin

How d.id you join up uith The Eagles? Well. the guls in The Euqlei r.ere getting stereotyped * ''ieans and Tshirts, sons of the desert" because of "Peaceful Ersy Feeling," "Tequila Sunrise." and ronqs like lhose. Benie ltcadon l-was great. lrrrt he c kind o{ a purist

acoustic guitaj and stuff Hc *ar liqhting the

becnuse it's got real good words.

Wos gour

tar electric or stiel

first

gui-

The retord company is excited ahorrt lhis alhum. and rhev suv. 'What do you llrirrk lhe sinsle i.: an.l I sav Fic1. guys, I don't even care." I don't uonl r

ucou-

numlrcr one single-look what

hap-

r Kav, and still had it.

Ilou

My lirst guitar rvas tu Serrs & Roebuck Silvertone acolrstic that cost alnut $28. My first electric was

wish I

pened to Peter Frampton. Ile got huge singles. then that got more imp')rt,6t and nohodv listened to his albums thal mut h. T wrnt to be knom lbr cn jrryrrlrle ulbums. .njoyuble rnusi<.. I dorrlt'want to be the top ofthe industry. Theres indrrst4 prcssure to gel another Eagles rJlrrm out. They don t c arq what's on it*thev just want product.

long ufter you carc tlltat's on it? ) eah. very mrrrir. We rlidn t want to do another album just because the contract sayti it's time, W9 have a big enough power base so we don't have to, and we all just said, "Now wait a nri,
ggugs

picked. up the at:oustic dil you get a4 electric? A corq;le of vears. I alwal,s wrn tetl an electric, but nry par-

direction The Eagles were going in* those guys wanted to rock out a little mole. Ilallads are riicc, but you kind of . get killed in a live situation. So thc Fagle. qs1,' looking lhr rorneone wlro would gire them thc rbilitt to rock out ;t little more onstage. tr wac kind of hrrrned orrt ,rn a rulo crrreer. lt (.An wcirr yrru rloun-lhere are a lot ol non musi<al thirrgs invo[cd in being the lcader. hiring and liring, decision'. fhe creu. keeping on top o[ the stuff in tlrc o$ice, ltr Js() Lind of lonelv. lrecarrsr. you're nol one of the h-o1s*y,,n're the lrrss. I urs singing

l)o you

ents dicln't have

lot ofmonev. I work-

ed all sunimer
monev.

ancl

saved, which taught

me the vnlue
It
trating, hsving

nute!" So right now we're trking the 'Oh. rcrt of the year ,rff to be at horne, to rulirre. join

all the songs, witing everything, ani showing the guys the parts. I wanted to get into a situation where I avs one of lhc guys, wht re I could sinf hrrnronv and t,rke ordcrs rtnd hrrve ies. t,, dl uith the rrorrrnrrricrl things. So it rrrrkerl orrl pt.r{tr tly- I r.plrted lleinie. I rcmernber cvcnl,odr.

of wrs frus,
$2.4

of the year, we're going to get

read, to write, to think, Toward the etrd

back

and nddiag thret' dollirs to it everu

until I could get some equipweeks

week, counting the

and played and pl.ryed and played.

Did the guitar
Photo: PauI NatkinlPhoto Reseree learn every song you cm note for note.
be-

soundetl hrrrrible, but it was the baresl necessities, and I really buckled dorvn

wns a Wollensak tape recorder. It

ment, My {irst amp

core Vour nlissi,on in

life?
l'eah. risht uound I decided that's what I wanted to do, and to this dav I feel that my purpnse on this planet is to write songs and muke music and play guitar for people live and on reords, as long u people enjov it.

and hid in a hasement. axJ oul ol, put oul good music and (ontinue to that came Hotel Culifornid, which' make statements*not just more Eagles turned out lo lr r realll speciid recrrrd firr us and ererlbodu. And we wenl on songs. with songs like 'Liles Been I mirs playing live, and because the the road 'Walk Awav.' "ln the City." Eagles are a more structured musical Cood." "Rocky Mountairr Way.l' It reaily situation * it's not exactly note ftrr note, and helped the Eagles' line sho--*and j but there's less rmm to improvise, s'rs in a barrd! and you can't turn up that loud Lc"ru." I've gotten great vor.al rcaching from the focus is on the vocals * I decided to Flenley and Frey over a peiiod ofyears, tour. T said, 'What the hcck, l ll iust go out and turn it up and I worr't tJe and I've watched how thev structure anolher guitar player, just improvise songwriting. They're really gifted guys. I hke the old days." It's very healthy for just love playing guitar whcn F)on everybody in the Eagles to be able to Henley's singing. It's a privilege-the play with other people. because other- guy s got u mazing voice, Felder md I wise you get to be like The Who or the got inlo double leads, stuffI d never been

together and tlecide what direction we want the next Eagles statement to be in, The nnly uay the Eagles cal stay together and enioy it and lbel valid is i{ we

gonna the .Eagles," and that it:d never work out because I didn't fit in, IJrrt we d plal,cd some (1,nr.ert\ tG g<'ther. and w. kneq euch ,riher so ue

lhris rtrrpitl. \\,*i"h ;

uay

knew

it uould uork. So $e

lust riln

I started writing very

primitivell

the end of high schml

Rolling Stones. Those guys

have

arcund 1968. Over the yeus. I've really gotten mature and mnfident. It's just a long, long progression. My mother is a trained musician-a pianist for the Nw York Citv Balletand she has prfect pitch. $he can read any piea of music, md she's like Victor Borge-she cm tum the music upside

played together for like fifteen yeus, md. they're all to the point where they
can'! play with anyone else. I do wut to stress that doing this solo altruriir:and tour dioesn't mean that I've quit the Eagles or that we've broken

able to do before, because rhythm players that I'd played with wuld'move over, Felder wmn't afraid of me at all:he can get right up there.

up-we're
Whet kind of
music

iust on sabbatical. kind

of

Did yn coin Inne"? Henley.

the

phrue " Life in thc F6t

Not really. That wu mostly

down and play

it backwards-bui

she

house uhen you were a kidP

plaVine in Uour

',,., d.o gou choose uhlch of gour songs will go in Eaglcs albuns and which you'll keep lor gour solo LPP There are five of us. When we get ready to do an album, everybody brings

brought

in the

Don

basic song

Hou

can't comprehend writinq. She can read anything. but she can't write music. I'm on the other end-I cm read music, but not like her, not like real good session

Ijust never had to, I can hear asong about three times. and I know it.
g-uys.

music. Some songs, I get the music jl done ord then I start on the words, md on some sngs I get halfthe wonds. I've always put less focus on the memings. For emple, jmkmn Bmwe

l ll heu a whole song Lufo* I'u. written it, I don't know what the words are. but I hear'em in mv head. I kind of know what it's going to be. Some songs, I get the words before I have mv

gn nuts when the guys gou were-pl4Ying with did.n't pick things up u quickly rc gou? Yeah, and it dms to this dav.
Did it drine

rice Ravel is probably one of my favorite @mlnsers. Rock and rcll is a limiting medium in the ovemll penpective of music, when you think of opera, classical, jez, Etrtem, and Oriental. You're limited to a ouple of broic rhythms, blues progressions. like that. It really brcadens your perspectives to listen to other kinds of musie. I did Ravel's "Pavme" on So WAirt, _using synthesizers. It's really fun to do that stufl I've been reet interisted in bridging the gap between cl*sical

"Bolero'-l've been doing that for ten yem. Ever since ihe movie J0 made it, "Bolero" hu resurfaced. MauRavel's

My mom, again, played a lot of clusical music on the piano, ud she would put on albums.and stuff That's kind of why I've tried to interfaa some of that wth_.my mrrsic. The James Gang did

ideas, and we throw them around. The songs end up being a merging, like "Fast lane." I brcught in the guitaripart, md Henley and Frey said, "Ahi, we heu some stuf on that," so they'll tale it and run with it. Everybody brings in idex and halfsongs. md we kind of pick through it. and it ends up being the best ofthe five
of us.

in their

Eoer any hassles ooar that? Sometimes. But if three guys in the Eagles tell me I'm wrong, l'd better dig it, you know? No matter how strongly we feel, if three guys are in agreement then that's the band decision- That's

Seger's. "Sad Cafe" was ano+her idea that I brought in. Henley rea.lly liked it, so he took it and made a ballad out of it. I'm kind ofa specialist with The Eagles. It's their bmd, so there's no ego thing about me wanting to be the leader. In the studio, I'll play keyboards, like on "New Kid in Town." I didn't play guitr at all on that one. and on Timmy Schmit's song. 'I

structure. The guitar lick wro going over and overjn my head, and I didn? really hear rnuch ofa singing ptrt on it. Henlev and Frey loved it, so they ru wjth it. It: truly a band when you can do that. We key of of each other and co-write a lot of stuff On "T}e tong Run.' I played a threepart slide guitar.'We tried to simulate a horn section. baritone saes and stufr A lot of that wu also Glenn-he's an avid R&B fan and m old-time buddv of Bob

Can't Tell You Why;';

keyboards,

plaved alt"ihe

20

JUIYt7,t98JISAM

\\'h',r dirl

\rho urites on kcrlroard:, The

reallr tunre out diffi'rent

piaved, I srite differentlr'. It's the dillerence ben.eerr L.rl Zepp.lirr. rlhere ert,rything is c, rncoir ed {)n tlte (rit.rr. and Elton John.
songs

I hrd

pia:ro le.sonq, and mv

U,ry

,!rn

platJin* kpubourds?

mom enjov kevboards, because you

lhing r orr knutr votr'r* irr sorne rnotel and thcre c nothirrg olr tclevisirrl Irccause all the stations lrave gone o$, and theri:'s no room sen.ice. Yqr're Du;:ed, mentally hl(h. -an,l r'thins to do with drrrqs or anythirrg--bccurrse !ou get feejLack fr,,rn.the orrerq ol getrinq thlt muny people i;n their leet yellin'and scrermini.
rvakes vorr up, So I'll be sitting in i hotel room wicle awirke, buzzin'with thr energy ofthe con-

Do gort exer try an.l cross tlrcse icleas in your head. like thinking araeggio then

rnd it

blay thb:guW,r:'
r good example ofthat. I rr. 'te h:rlf.rl Thiirgr' ,rr keybrrarrl and -l lr ,lt,'r, fuitnr hrrt i r trrrr ong. I lr.rd thrrt all qrrrked orrt. brrt I had no idea ofwhat
is
I'iJl,

: ',,

'

\cighborltoodl

't".u n hol,Irngt p1tiIur, r,r lrtitartoiLi!t,:\ thile wu're at tlrc pianol \1e11. "Tbirgs" lon Thera Coes the

l,: . .:..r.tr. l';i:t':,r,.:r 1,-,,-,.,r,.,, : .': '.

{lo- \o I w,,rrlrl hi"al< thirrgs and smrrrlr tLinq. 11,,y.., *r, ,t tinrl kirrd ol blowing off:l{ irni v, I r',rl rr.l,rr ,rnrl gtr t,r slet,p.
Johnson's. whv not bre.rk everything? 'l'heyire all cheap, anyvu1,. A1d it'i fi,n *Keilh \hnr, .crrJk t:rrrght mr. lrrrrv to cl,, th,tl. lle rv,,r .r m.lslcr Jt it. fhc Jirrn.s
n

cert, thinkin', "lle,v, where'd ivtrybd-v

it. lf I'nr irr .r H,rlid.rv lnrr ,,r ;r llowrrd

]'(nr ought to tia it some time.

\rrd^l

11"t

nr.,rl ur .omctirrr,,,

jrrrt ,.nj,r

to urite aborrt. So I got a legal pad and rl rt up $ilh .il1 kind\ rrlthings thar I corrld urite about, and it still didn't get me anwrherc I was really kind oflost, ancl tlien I lookt'cl at n'hirt I'd writtcn do*n ancl thought. "Holy snokes, dicl \1)rl r.\'er think horv many flings there are: I qotta *,rite alnut all tire things!" So I tried to put it in rhvme, and l. ded up uith .rlrrrrt 5{l rnnr,. lhinqr th,rir *trr.rlll n,iilie il nn thc rrcorrl. lf I dn arrrrther solu albun. I'think I'll have "Things, part 2."

(lang did

uirv|

rrre

h'r!rnr.rllrrl

tour with'I'he Who and Keith

hrer&inU

hitren t

1l,1pp

it in.r whrlr.

tlriilg:

'ut
Yoti rctorking up to itP
Yr:rh.

Irrr

Iou think gou'll tltt thut before the entl of

lhB

Do
tlo"

t1r,t1

44lq reu,rr!

t,nr-

thc u.uV ThL. Eaglet

rllrnv rr hl;ttarrt gool on certirirr.ong\ iIan overirll take has the magic.

\r,t leirllr. rrr. l{r,nlev ir a rell perIerltdllist . it r_lrives him cruzr iI llrirrgs aren't just right, I think Irn willirg t0 rarri{lre tr.thnicrl prtcisiorr- TIJ ercn

tilleous. cnd o[

Oh. I'm sure I will. Just kind ofspon-

Hou long did it take to rmkeThere Coes

the Neiqhborhood?

sir( in n0 hrrrry
tunes

yt,tr- in hehveen

It took rraybe ten weeks -three months-lrut it was over u period of a

Eagles commitments. I

ud

I d get a rcuple of - into we'd go the studio for a

wonder{ul. Are

Tlre hert 'rrl wuq irr Clrjcrgrr. lt w.rs the :r lurrr rnd I wa. mad J{ the r{.(ord company. A vicc-president hacl cone orrt. so I trashed his whole srrite. It had rvallpaper like this lgestures to the foil-{hed, tackv wail of his suite], nrrd I couldn't stand it. so I turl< all the pictures down, tore all tlre wrllpaper ol1, then hung the paintings brck up. I said, "Hc"y, it isn't mv room-I didn't do nothing," He had to ;heck out with a lawyer. He was crying and shit-it was

brnd

gowork rrn orerdrrbs. tt's reallythebestof lrolh worlds. hecau.e I don t get burned out on a solo project*I c{n wait until I hur e s,rmelhing kr sry, and I c.an he in u
to,r.

u eek or so and track them down, then I d

qn

\lm-hmm. l/s s rlrt. I gr)t mv

ucrosr. veult.

still on that labelr

point

Being in the [agles haS aliowed me a lot rlf time to rvrite snine new ild interesting stuff. A iot ofsolo people have contractua'i ohligrtions with the retord company to deliver un alhum. und maybe they don t har e ,rnvthing new to say but it's time for them to deliver an rlbum, so the result is like "here's an album ofsome more songs thr{ sound just like tbe other ones. that corrld have heen on the album before.' I-m rea) lucky. because I had time. The whole.album was kind oflike u side proj-

Su Lile s B,'en Crxrd lil"ilule.

I jLrst thouqht

i.s

purodg uf gour

',rmehod1 it. A lot offans think that we're fast cars lnd money and drugs rnd *u."n onJ

ihould cop to

ect, almost a hobby, in betwi:e" Iiagie commitmenfs. And I got to wait until I
had some new stuff

I like it because it shows progression. I wanted to make it good music---I think that's really importrnt. Therels a lot of noise out no$. I think you'd have to agree. I don't want to name anybody, but there's a lot of new young bands; kids who are interested in a lot of energ1r. Some ofthe
enerey. With a lot of prrnk bands, that s part ofthe concept. I'm not dom on it- I jtrsl choose not to be a part ofthat.
musical content will get sacrificed lor the

times. and people say. "How'd you,like Puris?' Hell. I neversaw Prrris-l sawthe airport. and a rent-a-car, a hofel and the gig. I have a nice horrse in Califo-rnia. but hell, Im only there between huo and three months out of the vear-mv old lady lir es therer I just go and "Lifei "isit. Been Good" is kind of mild satire. It $ d humbling song. and thats what people like

stuff and our lilbstyle is retlly.stupidr It's nof as glorious as it seents. I've been arorrnd the world a muple of

Could tc tulk about Aour repurailon? Considering uhat I'xe heard, It's surprLsing,to find out hou calm things are. a round nerz I used to do things..I still do, sometimes. l'm at peuce with myself-not that

their perspective and get into the material things,.the royalty checks. And that's the end of their music. ,Mozart wrote all this incredible stuff, and it was all he could do to support his kids, and he died poor. Then somebody lorrnd r tnrnk oi his rymphonies 30 years luter, and they didn't even know where he was buried.
He never got a royalty check. We re in kind of a unique positi(,n in this day rnd age, where music is in fact an industry, and you realize material benefits in your lifetime. Through history, most creative people didn't. All I want to do is go down as being a valid creutive person li)r the generation I represent. That's my job onlhe planet. f-i

I;m trying to keep mv perspective. Monevs nice, but lve seen u lot of people- rnd good fiiends, tm-lose

ior-l
10.

I wasn t back then you go and play -but m not trying to impress you_b,

or

15 thousand people, and the next