"Take It to the Limit" is a song by the Eagles from their fourth album One of These Nights from which it was issued as the third single on November 15, 1975. It reached No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was also the Eagles' greatest success to that point in the UK, going to No. 12 on the charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1976.[1]
The song was written mostly by Eagles members Randy Meisner, Don Henley and Glenn Frey. Meisner, who sang lead on it, says the song began as his solo composition. As it remained unfinished when time came for the One of These Nights album to be recorded, Henley and Frey assisted Meisner in completing it. Meisner's performance of the song was popular with the audience in Eagles concerts, but disputes over his reluctance to perform it would also directly lead to Meisner's departure from the band.
Composition
According to Meisner, he wrote the first few lines of the song one night while playing an acoustic guitar after returning from the Troubadour; however he was not able to finish the song by the time they were close to recording it, and Frey and Henley then helped him with the lyrics.[2] Meisner later said of how he would usually write songs with the Eagles: "I'd get a verse or two, and I'm done, and they would help fill in the blanks."[3] Frey and Henley finished the song in a house they were sharing in Beverly Hills, together with many of the tracks for the album One of These Nights.[4]
On the meaning of the song, Meisner said in the documentary History of the Eagles: "The line 'take it to the limit' was to keep trying before you reach a point in your life where you feel you've done everything and seen everything, sort of feeling, you know, part of getting old. And just to take it to the limit one more time, like every day just keep, you know, punching away at it ... That was the line, and from there the song took a different course."[5]
"Take It to the Limit" is one of few Eagles' tracks written in waltz time. (Other notable waltzes performed by the Eagles are "Hollywood Waltz" from One of These Nights; the Meisner/Henley/Frey waltz "Saturday Night" (co-written with Leadon) from the 1973 Desperado album; Frey's "Most of Us are Sad" from their self-titled debut album; Frey/Henley/JD Souther's hard-rocking "Teenage Jail" from 1979's "The Long Run" album; and Walsh's "Pretty Maids All in a Row" on the 1976 album Hotel California.)[6]
Recordings
"Take It to the Limit" is unique in the canon of the band's singles, being the sole A-side on which Randy Meisner sang lead, as well as the first A-side Eagles single on which neither Henley nor Frey sang lead. It was also the last Eagles single to feature founding member Bernie Leadon before he was replaced by guitarist Joe Walsh. The single version of the song is 3:48 in length, almost a minute shorter than the album version.[6]
A live performance by Meisner from 1976 was recorded at The Forum, Inglewood, California. It is included in the album Eagles Live, which was released in 1980 after the band had effectively broken up. A second version, recorded in 1977, was released on 'Hotel California 40th Anniversary: Expanded Edition' released in 2017.
The song was rerecorded on Meisner's first solo album (Randy Meisner) released in 1978. The song was performed with piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment, and 1970s teen idolDavid Cassidy singing in the backing vocals.[7]
The climax of the song as performed by Randy Meisner at a concert in 1976 (from Eagles Live). Meisner was concerned about not hitting the high notes (F♯5), which generated rapturous applause when he succeeded in doing so. His reluctance to sing the song led to disputes and eventually his departure from the band.
Per Setlist.FM, the song has been performed live by the band over 870 times across their career – making it one of their top 20 most-performed songs.[8] According to Frey, fans of the band loved Meisner's performance of "Take It to the Limit" at their concerts, and came to consider it his signature song within the band. Henley, too, noted that fans "went crazy when Randy hit those high notes".[9] Meisner, however, was concerned about not being able to hit the high notes. Frey was insistent that Meisner should perform the song in concert, and live performances of the song then became a source of great contention between Frey and Meisner – eventually becoming one reason for Meisner's departure from the band.
Meisner had been struggling to hit the crucial high notes in the song during the Hotel California tour. According to Joe Walsh, Meisner could perform the song, but would become nervous when told he had to sing it.[9] By the time they had reached Knoxville, Tennessee in June 1977, the band was feeling the strain of a long tour, with Meisner unhappy and suffering from a stomach ulcer.[10] Meisner decided not to sing the song for an encore because he had been up late and caught the flu.[11] Frey and Meisner then became involved in an angry physical confrontation backstage over Meisner's refusal to perform the song.[9] After the altercation, Meisner was frozen out from the band and he decided to leave.[10] He left the band at the end of their tour in September 1977[12] and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit – coincidentally, the same bassist who had replaced him in Poco.[13]
The song was only played sporadically by the band following Meisner's departure, with Frey taking over on lead vocals. Originally in B major, the song was transposed down to G major to accommodate for Frey's vocal range. Prior to the band's reunion, its last performance by the band came as part of The Long Run tour in Oklahoma City on February 14, 1980.[14] Frey did, however, perform the song as part of his solo tour in 1986, as documented on the posthumous 2021 live albumFeelin' the Heat. The song was ultimately revived for the Eagles' late 1999 shows at Los Angeles' Staples Center, with the song again sung by Frey. For the band's 2017 shows onwards, lead vocals were taken by Vince Gill and was again transposed to A major.
In 2016, both Joe Walsh and Don Felder performed the song as part of their respective solo tours.[15][16]
Reception
Billboard described "Take It to the Limit" as "a strong mid -tempo rocker" with "distinctive harmonies" that sounds like the Beach Boys at times.[17]Cash Box called it "a masterpiece of a background" with "more of the easygoing melodies and lyrics that have made [the Eagles] so hot over their last several releases."[18]Record World said that "The group's harmony sound grows more attractive with each successive listening on this irresistible ballad."[19]
1 2 Marcus, Greil (2007). Stranded: Rock and roll for a desert island (2nd Da Capo Pressed.). New York: Da Capo Press (Perseus Books Group). p.87. ISBN978-0-306-80682-7.
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America and are one of the world's best-selling bands, having sold more than 200million records worldwide, including 100million sold in the US alone. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and were ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Founding members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner were recruited by Linda Ronstadt as band members, some touring with her, and all playing on her third solo album, before venturing out on their own on David Geffen's new Asylum Records label.
The Long Run is the sixth studio album by American rock group the Eagles. It was released in 1979 by Asylum Records in the United States and the United Kingdom. This was the first Eagles album to feature bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who had replaced founding member Randy Meisner, and the last full studio album to feature Don Felder before his termination from the band in 2001.
"Hotel California" is a song by American rock band Eagles, released as the second single of their album of the same name on February 22, 1977. Songwriting credits go to Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). The Eagles' original recording of the song features Henley singing lead vocals and concludes with an iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson Les Paul Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with a Fender Telecaster, in which they take turns of playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out.
Eagles is the debut studio album by American rock band the Eagles. The album was recorded at London's Olympic Studios with producer Glyn Johns and released on June 1, 1972. It was an immediate success for the then-new band, reaching No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and achieving a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Three singles were released from the album, each reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100: "Take It Easy", "Witchy Woman", and "Peaceful Easy Feeling". The band, starting with this album, played a major role in popularizing the country rock sound.
On the Border is the third studio album by American rock band the Eagles, released on March 22, 1974. Apart from two songs produced by Glyn Johns, it was produced by Bill Szymczyk because the group wanted a more rock‑oriented sound instead of the country-rock feel of the first two albums. It is the first Eagles album to feature guitarist Don Felder. On the Border reached number 17 on the Billboard album chart and has sold two million copies.
One of These Nights is the fourth studio album by American rock band the Eagles, released on June 10, 1975. The album was the band's commercial breakthrough, transforming them into international superstars. In July that year, the record became the Eagles' first number one album on Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes" and "Take It to the Limit". Its title song is the group's second number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The album sold four million copies and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. A single from the album, "Lyin' Eyes", was also nominated for Record of the Year, and won the Eagles' first Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards in 1976. The band embarked on the worldwide One of These Nights tour to promote the album.
Eagles Live is the first live album by the American rock band Eagles, a two-LP set released on November 7, 1980. Although the Eagles were already in the process of breaking up, the band owed Elektra/Asylum Records one more album and fulfilled that contractual obligation with a release of performances from the Hotel California and The Long Run tours.
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"I Can't Tell You Why" is a song by the American rock band Eagles that appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. It was written by band members Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Recorded in March 1978, it was the first song finished for the album and the first Eagles song to feature Schmit on lead vocals. Released as a single in February 1980, it became a Billboard top 10 hit in April, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was the group's last top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Randall Herman Meisner was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and founding member of the Eagles. Throughout his professional musical career, Meisner's main role was that of bassist and backing high-harmony vocalist as a group member and session musician. He co-wrote and provided lead vocals on the Eagles hit song "Take It to the Limit".
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"One of These Nights" is a song by the American rock band Eagles, written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey. The title track from their 1975 One of These Nights album, the song became their second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart after "Best of My Love" and also helped propel the album to number one. The single version was shortened from the album version of the song, removing most of the song's intro and most of its fade-out, as well. Henley is lead vocalist on the verses, while Randy Meisner sings high harmony on the refrain. The song features a guitar solo by Don Felder that is "composed of blues-based licks and sustained string bends using an unusually meaty distortion tone."
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