I’d heard a little bit of The Eagles’ music when I was growing up, but I didn’t really start listening to them until I was in my 20’s. When I heard today that Glenn Frey, the legendary band’s co-founder, passed away, I was rightfully dismayed. Then I pulled up his song-writing credits and realized how many milestones in my life – the best of times and some tough ones too – have had at least one Eagles song penned by Frey in their soundtracks. The Eagles make for excellent travel music, especially if you are traveling solo either literally or metaphorically. Here are a few that I am playing on repeat today.
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences; open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late.
Early 20’s, and I was camping in western Colorado… and someone around the campfire started singing and strumming “Desperado,” written by Frey and Don Henley. The song reminds me of a grown-up version of “Don’t Fence Me In” which I’d sung in a fourth-grade musical about pioneers. In fourth grade, I was more concerned with my frontier-woman costume than the meaning of the latter song, but by college, “Desperado” struck a chord (sorry, pun intended). It was the first time I really thought about what it would be like to travel far and travel alone, imagining a cowgirl galloping across the open plains with nothing but her horse and a full moon above.
It was also the first time I was cognizant of the fact that, maybe I am not supposed to want that solitude. According to the song, “Freedom, oh freedom, well that’s just some people talkin’/Your prison is walking through this world all alone,” so apparently my little fantasy about solitude and wide-open spaces is exactly the opposite of “Desperado’s” intended message! But it gave me a bit of solace as I tried to make peace with what I was “supposed” to be doing in college (having the time of my life while earning a bachelor’s degree in four years and a fiancé in six) and what I was actually doing (feeling terribly stifled by college, my city and societal expectations).
I still grapple across this chasm on a regular basis, but somehow the song continues to give me that solace when I think of all the people in history who weren’t afraid to travel alone, to go it alone, who are not (as in the song) driven home by their pain and their hunger. Maybe that’s just how some of us live and love.
You know I’ve always been a dreamer
(spent my life running ’round)
And it’s so hard to change
(Can’t seem to settle down)
But the dreams I’ve seen lately
Keep on turning out and burning out
And turning out the same
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
Mid-20’s, and I was driving the farthest I’d ever driven by myself. There’s roadtripping alone, and then there’s roadtripping across marginally-populated Wyoming alone. Talk about solitude. That’s good though, having some time alone with my thoughts was exactly why I volunteered to make this trek for work. I needed to get out of town because there were two men there about whom I cared very much, and I had to decide which one would “be mine.” Winding through Wind River Canyon near Thermopolis, the lyrics of Randy Meisner, Don Henley and Glenn Frey voicing the same haunting concerns in “Take It to the Limit” that I’d already spent five driving hours pondering myself.
Turns out, I didn’t choose between the two men while on that roadtrip. I did, however, make a decision about life in general that has stayed by me through thousands of miles since. The second verse goes, “You can spend all your time making money/You can spend all your love making time/If it all fell to pieces tomorrow/Would you still be mine?”
Singing those words (singing alone in the car is much safer than onstage in Las Vegas), I realized, boyfriends or not, if it did indeed all fall to pieces tomorrow, “Would you still be mine?” was the question I’d ask myself about myself, not about a love or lover. I’ve written before about being grateful when life falls apart, and I maintain that belief more staunchly than ever. I try to live so that when life falls apart, as it has and will again, that at least I know I spent my money, time and love the way I believe is right. Time and money spent on the experience of travel is never wasted, even if (sometimes especially if) you are solo.
And then there are the trips when you’re not alone at all…
Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl my Lord in a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
[My version] Well, we’re a singin’ with a band in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Such a silly sight to see
It’s best friends my dear, and my tone-deaf ears
This day will live forever to me.
Later-20’s, and I was all about sun and fun with a gaggle of friends, specifically two of my nearest and dearest. What a time we had that afternoon at Trader Vic’s, sharing “rum kegs” on the patio while Bellagio fountains danced across the street. Then the cover band asked if we wanted to sing with them. I rarely sing publically and sober, but I made an exception on the publicity (it IS Vegas after all) and sobriety (it IS Vegas after all). Our third Musketeer was on hand to take pics.
The band offered us lyrics, but I didn’t need them. I’d been rocking out to “Take It Easy” written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, for several years at this point. Although this song might not initially have the same depth of The Eagles’ ballads, its simplicity is a lot of why I love it. After all, what better advice about life is there than “Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy” or the rest of those humble lyrics: “Lighten up while you still can/Don’t even try to understand/Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy.”
Getting to sing with the cover band like that was an ideal vacation experience in and of itself, but the real reason that day will forever live to me is because of the time I had with my friends. It was the kind of experience you know you’ll never have again. “We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again,” like the song goes, “So open up, I’m climbin’ in. Take it easy.” I think of everything our friendships have made it through since that Spring Break trip years ago, some tough losses but some grand wins too, and although we’ll never be THERE again, we are still HERE for each other, and that Vegas afternoon will always be in our hearts. (And just in case, we bought one of the “rum kegs” and we share a drink from it whenever the three of us happen to be in the same state.)
Aren’t those glories of music and travel? It’s amazing how just a few notes can take you back a decade, or three, or fling you into a Novembered canyon, or bring a dear friend close to your heart even when you’re far apart. The music of The Eagles has been there for me through many remarkable trips, the lyrics offer many memorable tips. When it comes to seeing more of this world, I don’t exactly know how I’m going to afford it or when I will again have the chance to travel long-term, but when the time is right, I am definitely going to hit the highway and “Take It to the Limit.”
Your voice matters!