"I have one, yes. Does it go 185? Duh!"

June 25, 2015 11:45 AM

"One of the most terrifying things that ever happened to me is that Keith Moon decided he liked me." Life's Been Good, the Spoken Word Version, by Joe Walsh (SLYT)
posted by bondcliff (25 comments total)

Joe Walsh is one of my favorite artists. I will always love him for There I go Again.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:03 PM on June 25, 2015

I remember watching a documentary about gangs in the South Bronx in the late 70's and in one scene the gangbangers start asking whether the documentarians are rich. One kid actually said "maybe you got a mansion , forget the price..."

Odd moment.
posted by jonmc at 12:25 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I watched that gargantuan Eagles documentary that's on Netflix (great, but long, and definitely propaganda produced by the nation of Henley/Fry) and one of the main takeaways I got from it was a fondness of and warmth towards Joe Walsh. Strange.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:30 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I saw The Eagles a couple years ago and this personal one-on-one with the audience was missing. They were pure business: incredibly polished and tight to the point where I might've just stayed home and listened to a CD instead. Sometimes you want to see a band show off and let loose a bit - especially Joe.
posted by Brodiggitty at 12:55 PM on June 25, 2015

The song has a jews harp solo. A jews. harp. solo.

People say he's crazy but he has a good time.
posted by maxsparber at 1:02 PM on June 25, 2015

Back when Cleveland was the big city I could drag my scruffy teenage boondocks ass to for a concert once in a while, I worshipped the James Gang. And when they toured with the Who, that just confirmed their worthiness.

Too bad about that Eagles thing though... but I still love you, Joe.
posted by mondo dentro at 1:46 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I saw Eagles earlier this year in Houston. Amazing show. Lots like this clip - the name of the concert was "The History of Eagles", and they walked us through forming the band, and where the songs came from, and what they were thinking. Two and a half hours, I think it was? Just awesome. Watching Joe Walsh perform the 1975 and earlier songs was like watching a sports car idle. You could just tell he had so much on tap, and his hands looked to be idling the songs out on their own.
posted by Ambient Echo at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2015

One story Joe Walsh told during the concert was about writing "Rocky Mountain Way". He had quit the James Gang, and moved to Colorado. He was out mowing his lawn, and looking up at the Rockies and the great weather, and thought "Man, life's been good to me" and realized there was a song there, and ran in to write it down. The mower continued on over his neighbor's flowers without him, but he knew he had to write it down *right then* or lose it completely.
posted by Ambient Echo at 2:10 PM on June 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

Walsh is one hell of a guitarist. Cool story in the video.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:57 PM on June 25, 2015

He had quit the James Gang, and moved to Colorado. He was out mowing his lawn, and looking up at the Rockies and the great weather, and thought "Man, life's been good to me" and realized there was a song there, and ran in to write it down.

Shortly after moving to Colorado, Walsh's 2 year old daughter was killed in a car accident. I imagine playing that song hasn't always been easy for him.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:10 PM on June 25, 2015

This was genuinely amusing.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:22 PM on June 25, 2015

The man is a hell of a guitarist. I am so glad he got sober.
posted by mosk at 3:40 PM on June 25, 2015

The song has a jews harp solo. A jews. harp. solo.

Nah, it was a synth.

Walsh's friendship with The Who's Pete Townshend had sparked an interest in sequencing synthesizers, and he and Vitale programmed the simple eighth-note sequence on an ARP Odyssey, though many accounts in print and on the Internet refer to the sound as a Jew's harp. “Let's put that one to rest right now,” says Szymczyk. “There was no Jew's harp on that record. It was all done with a synthesizer.”

Like any Ordinary Average Guy.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 4:08 PM on June 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

How can you not love Joe Walsh? I remember hearing him as a phone guest on a radio show soon after the Berlin Wall came down, and I loved his comment which was something along the lines of, "You know why they're taking the wall down? So it'll be easier to get their tanks through." It cracks me up to this day.

bondcliff, thanks so much for posting this. I thoroughly loved it.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 6:35 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

"You know why they're taking the wall down? So it'll be easier to get their tanks through."

fuck.

Needs more Bon Jovi.

[I love me some Eagles.]
posted by mule98J at 7:01 PM on June 25, 2015

That was great. Now do yourself a favor and check out the ripping intro to this live (1971) version of 'Walk Away' by the James Gang.
posted by googly at 7:46 PM on June 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

Pow! Right between the eyes, nature loves her little surprises
(Never much an Eagles fan but I do love this Joe Walsh song, and now I know a lot more about the man who wrote it)
posted by Flashman at 8:08 PM on June 25, 2015

Joe Walsh shows you the secret to Whole Lotta Love.
posted by smcameron at 8:37 PM on June 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

If there's a better album for a warm summer night than Barnstorm, I've yet to find it.
posted by TDavis at 9:33 PM on June 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Eagles were due to play around our way six years ago. I even grew out my muttonchops again. Alas, the gig was cancelled, we got our money back, and we consoled ourselves with a copy of the Farewell Tour 1 DVD.

A sad occasion. I mean, the Eagles were a good band and all, but I worship at the altar of Joe Walsh. Thanks for this post.
posted by El Brendano at 5:59 AM on June 26, 2015

That was great. I often quote one of the lines he didn't get to, which is self-evidently awesome and really needs no explanation:

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do."
posted by bjrubble at 10:33 AM on June 26, 2015

bjrubble: "That was great. I often quote one of the lines he didn't get to, which is self-evidently awesome and really needs no explanation:

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.""

Can't mention that one without also mentioning:

"They say I'm lazy, but it takes all my time."

I'm big on both of those.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 2:23 PM on June 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you wear clothes you gotta pay your DOOooes, I got the ALL night LAUNdrymat bloooooes!
yeah that's another one I always liked... yeah, that's all I got...
posted by bricoleur at 7:14 PM on June 26, 2015

I've always liked this arrangement and performance of Walk Away: Joe Walsh with James Gang on Beat Club (1971).

Here's Joe at the Iridium club in 2012. He came to play with the Les Paul Trio, and someone requested Meadows. The band didn't know the tune, so Joe played it as a solo.

Here's Joe singing Desperado -- a Frey/Henley song from before his tenure with the Eagles -- on the Howard Stern Show in 1990. Joe plays the keyboard and is accompanied (more or less) by the late Sam Kineson on guitar. I don't even like this song, but for some reason I like this odd performance. This was near the end of Walsh's 'thirty year party'.
 
posted by Herodios at 8:08 PM on June 26, 2015

Also, curious that he stopped explaining right before, "I lock the doors in case I'm attacked." Maybe he figured classic, full-blown cocaine psychosis needed no explanation?
posted by ryanshepard at 8:50 PM on June 26, 2015