Desperado – Song by Eagles

About The Song

“Desperado” is a soft rock ballad by the American rock band the Eagles. The track was written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, and appeared on the 1973 album Desperado as well as numerous compilation albums. Although it was never released as a single, it became one of Eagles’ best-known songs. It ranked No. 494 on Rolling Stone‘s 2004 list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

According to Henley, “Desperado” was based on a song he started in 1968, written in the style of old songs by Stephen Foster. The song was originally about a friend named Leo and with the opening line “Leo, my God, why don’t you come to your senses…” In 1972, after they had recorded their first album, Eagles, in London, Glenn Frey and Henley decided that they should write songs together, and within a day or two after returning from London they wrote “Desperado”. They also wrote “Tequila Sunrise” in the first week of their collaboration.

In their first songwriting session at Henley’s home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, Henley played Frey the unfinished version of the song, and said: “When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It’s really a Southern Gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.” According to Henley, Frey “leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure”, and the song became “Desperado”. Henley added: “And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership … that’s when we became a team.”

This song was the last one which the band performed live. They played it as the closing number of their last concert during “History of the Eagles” tour. The show took place in Bossier City, Louisiana, on the 29th of July 2015. Glenn Frey died six months later.