Late Eagles icon Glenn Frey played in pretty much every role he could possibly have in the band since he was the founding member, the co-lead singer, and the songwriter. Moreover, Frey played guitar and keyboards in some of the band’s songs and sang lead vocals. The rocker co-wrote most of the band’s material with his fellow bandmate Don Henley until his tragic passing on January 18, 2016, at 67.
Before his devastating death, Frey continued putting so much into his band’s music with his songwriting that he was the reason Eagles fans got to listen to their all-time hits. One of these tracks is ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ which has one of the most surprising backgrounds in terms of its inspiration. Today, we’re here to take a deeper look into Frey’s whimsical way of creating the song’s title, which started its first creation.
What’s The Story Of ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ By The Eagles?
The Eagles released ‘Life in the Fast Lane‘ as the third single from their fifth studio album entitled ‘Hotel California’ on May 3, 1977. The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, and it is currently regarded as one of the Eagles’ greatest songs of all time. Though Joe Walsh and Don Henley were also credited as songwriters of the track, Glenn Frey initially came up with the idea of the song.
The founding member detailed the story behind the song in the 2013 Eagles documentary ‘History of the Eagles’ and stated that he was inspired by a statement his drug dealer told him while driving together. Since his dealer was going quite fast, Frey told him to slow down, to which the dealer replied, ‘Life in the fast lane.’ That was when Frey realized it would make such a good song title.
In the documentary, Frey said:
“I was riding shotgun in a Corvette with a drug dealer on the way to a poker game. The next thing I know, we’re doing 90. Holding! Big time! I say, ‘Hey man!’ He grins and goes, ‘Life in the fast lane!’ I thought, ‘Now there’s a song title.“‘
Following his scary experience, the Eagles started writing a song that tells the story of a couple who take their excessive lifestyle to the edge. Joe Walsh played the track’s main riff, and Don Henly and Glenn Frey wrote the lyrics for ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ as they were the primary lyricists for the band. As a result, the group came up with one of their most popular songs to this date, thanks to Frey’s dangerous experience with his drug dealer.
You can listen to ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ below.
