The Eagles – Life in the Fast Lane

“Life in the Fast Lane” – Single by the Eagles from the album Hotel California. B-side “The Last Resort”. Released on May 3, 1977.
Charted No. 11 in US

This song describes a man and woman who had everything but lost it because of their lifestyles. Hotel California was the Eagles’ first album with their new guitarist Joe Walsh, who helped write this song with Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

The famous guitar riff for this song started off as a warm-up exercise Joe Walsh was doing before a rehearsal. When the band heard it, they made him play it again and decided to develop it into a song.

Walsh replaced original Eagle Bernie Leadon when he joined them for this album. In addition to his guitar work and writing contributions on this song, Walsh also composed the track “Pretty Maids All In A Row.”

This song was rumored to be about Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame. They were a couple who broke up when they became famous, although Lindsey was not physically abusive to Stevie. Nicks dated Henley after she broke up with Buckingham.

Cash Box said that “with the influence of six-stringer Joe Walsh, the Eagles are harder and funkier than ever here.” Record World said that it’s “the album’s most hard-edged rocker, dominated by a Walsh-signature guitar line.” In 2016, the editors of Rolling Stone rated “Life in the Fast Lane” as the Eagles’ eighth-greatest song. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number four on their list of the 15 greatest Eagles songs, and in 2019, Rolling Stone ranked the song number eight on their list of the 40 greatest Eagles songs.

Note: The top of the page track is the live recording from 07/27/1980 at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA

Lyrics
He was a hard-headed man
He was brutally handsome, and she was terminally pretty
She held him up, and he held her for ransom
In the heart of the cold, cold city
He had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude
They said he was ruthless, they said he was crude
They had one thing in common
They were good in bed, she’d say
“Faster, faster, the lights are turnin’ red”
surely make you lose your mind
(Life in the fast lane) yeah
Are you with me so far?
Eager for action and hot for the game
The coming attraction, the drop of a name
They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills
They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills
There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face
She pretended not to notice, she was caught up in the race
Out every evening, until it was light
He was too tired to make it, she was too tired to fight about it
surely make you lose your mind
(Life in the fast lane) yeah
(Life in the fast lane) everything, all the time
(Life in the fast lane) a-ha