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Robert Lindner
Eagles, other Byrds, and the Hotel California
Eagles are birds of prey
That soared in the skies and along the way
Found a new meaning in
Symbols that would begin
A nation that has been
A symbol of eagle’s strength since that day.
But eagles flew into
Human symbolism long before they flew
As symbols of our land.
And eagles still fly and
The Eagles were a band
And in the seventies they were a new
Rock band. “Take it easy.”
Their hit single was a style called “Country
Rock.” Eagles was their name.
The Hopi had the same
Symbol, and when they came
To the Mohave Desert to party,
The name drifted into
Their minds. Minds that were doing what minds do
In the Tequila and
Peyote haze the band
Found round Mohave sand.
And some may say that’s when the Eagles flew,
And Tequila Sunrise
Got its name. A song of when morning skies
Found a lonely hired hand
In the dreams, he planned,
Hoping for loving and
Never finding the right words as he tries.
And then the Eagles flew
To the Hotel California to do
Time. “Such a lovely place
With such a lovely face
In which, without a trace
You could disappear. The Eagles were new
In the seventies. But
In the sixties, I was there and learned what
California had to
Offer. I had to do
Things there, but I got through.
I flew before the hotel doors got shut,
Like a Byrd because they
Were the rock band that was there in L.A.
The Byrds’ songs came before.
In Nineteen-sixty-four,
They brought folk to rock or
Was it the other way round. But they’d play
In California too
And they performed their old sound that was new,
Bringing rock to Dylan.
“Mister Tambourine Man”
Was where they began.
Then they would “Turn, Turn, turn” as seasons do.
The Byrds like Eagles flew
“Eight Miles High” when they were on their way to
London and wrote their song.
But we thought, all along,
They got high with a bong.
Too high for a plane, so we thought we knew.
But they came down when they
Landed in London town with tunes to play.
They were not treated well
But had a song to tell
Their story and they’d sell
It, but found that London was not L.A
So the Byrds moved back there
I was there too, but soon I would be where
I started from and when
Eagles flew, I was then
Where Eagles fly again,
In Minnesota, where some folks take care.
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