“Desperado”. One of Don Henley’s greatest achievements as a singer-songwriter in the Eagles. However, it turns out he can’t stand his own hit! The Eagles hitmaker delivered a gorgeous rendition of his 1973 ballad on The Howard Stern Show, going viral in the process. Before he began, Don explained to Howard the strange story of exactly what went wrong when he recorded the original song. It began when the Eagles went to the “huge” Island Studios complex in London to record the song.
Don said he was “scared s***less” when, as a 25-year-old, he had to perform the vocals in front of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Don said the pressure got to him when recording with the much older and more experienced musicians in the orchestra, who seemed “bored” and dismissive. What’s worse, Don said the band’s “English superstar producer” Glyn Johns insisted on recording the full arrangement, with vocals, in just “three or four” takes. Despite this, in The Music Man’s book, the studio version was fantastic!
When Don sang “Desperado” on The Howard Stern Show, it proved popular with fans, with 3.7 million viewers tuning in. Viewers found a lot to like, and added comments such as “He’s crazy. The original ‘Desperado’ recording is perfect. It’s enough to make you cry” and “He was really feeling the song, I noticed he was even crying towards the end of the song. No doubt one of the best vocals in the industry hands down.”
Don Henley’s vocals are an essential part of the magic of the Eagles. Arguably the greatest Eagles live cut ever came when the band played “Hotel California” at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, in 1977. Don sang the lead vocals here, while absolutely cooking with gas on the drum kit at the same time. It has to be said that the Hotel California lineup of the Eagles is up there with The Beatles in terms of absolutely legendary bands, with the chemistry in the lineup just off the charts.
The Eagles released “Desperado” as the fifth track of their 1973 album of the same name. The fact that the band issued it as a deep cut, and not as one of the album’s two singles, goes to show what an incredible collection of songs the band delivered on that album. Don noted in the Howard Stern interview that the pressure and limited number of takes he got to perform led to a vocal performance on “Desperado” that “wasn’t my best work.” No doubt Don, as the co-writer, has some insight into how the vocal might have been performed better. However, The Music Man has to say that to our ears, the studio version of “Desperado” was superb. After all, “Desperado” is a very heartfelt and emotional song. Therefore, having a vocal that was recorded in a small number of takes, that captures his instinctual take on the vocals, was just right, even if technically, it could have been more precise in a few places.
