Would I lose or win/
If I try and love again?

“Try and Love Again” is one of my favorite Eagles songs-written and performed by Randy Meisner. Meisner was the bands original bassist who was replaced by Timothy B Schmitt after Hotel California. The Eagles had a host of lineups. My impression is that Henley and Frey were difficult to work with. They wrote the majority of the songs, so they called the shots.

Meisner has several good songs, but this is his one great one. It is under-appreciated, and I have never heard it mentioned even amongst the greatest of the Eagles songs. The lyrics are earnest. The lyrics express a man trying to overcome feeling of doubt concerning getting back out there after a breakup. Will I be able to love again? Is it even worth it? Will I end up hurting more? These are legitimate questions.

The twangy guitar sound is unique to this song. It certainly stands out among Eagles songs and I am not sure I have heard this effect anywhere before. Meisner’s vocal is amazing, and we can hear his hesitancy and heartbreak. It is heartfelt and the backup harmonies are some of the Eagles finest.

Try and Love Again Lyrics

When you’re out there on your own
Where your memories can find you
Like a circle goes around
You were lost until you found out
What it all comes down to

One by one
The lonely feelings come
Day by day, they slowly fade away

Ooh, the look was in her eyes
You never know what might be found there
She was dancing right in time
And the moves she made so fine
Like the music that surrounds her

Should I stay or go?
I really want to know
Would I lose or win
If I try and love again?
Oh oh oh gonna try and love again
Oh oh oh I’m gonna try and love again
Oh oh oh gonna try and love

Right or wrong, what’s done is done
It’s only moments that you borrow
But the thoughts will linger on
Of the lady and her song
When the sun comes up tomorrow

Well, it might take years
To see through all these tears
Don’t let go
When you find it you will know

Oh oh oh, gonna try and love again

Songwriters: Randy Meisner

All I really really want is our love to do/
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too.

What does Joni Mitchell want? She wants an ideal love. She attempts to describe the love she is seeking on “All I Want”. The love she has isn’t bad…it is just not ideal. There is jealousy. Sometimes they don’t bring out the best in each other. Sometimes they hurt each other. But the attraction is certainly there.

On “All I Want” she wants spontaneous dancing and to write love letters to each other. She wants to knit her partner a sweater. Interestingly, she appears to go out of her way to point out that she wants this ideal love with her current (imperfect) partner. Is this searching for an idealized love harming a good love? She’s not sure.

The first thing you notice on any Joni Mitchell song is her voice. It is amazing and she always sings with passion. Also, her lyrics: they are complex, but in a way that are instantly comprehensible. She is just a good writer. The songs she writes on guitar sound a bit different due to her weird guitar tunings.

You won’t hear many people jamming Joni Mitchell songs on their guitar because alternative tunings are such a pain in the ass. This is one of the ways she achieved her unique sound. Listen to the guitar. It sounds different. This is one of the highlights of her Blue album, which is IMO a top ten album of all time.

All I Want Lyrics

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be?
Oh, I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some
Oh, I love you when I forget about me
I want to be strong, I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive
Do you want, do you want, do you want to dance with me, baby?
Do you want to take a chance
On maybe finding some sweet romance with me, baby?
Well, come on

All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you
I want to renew you again and again
Applause, applause, life is our cause
When I think of your kisses, my mind see-saws
Do you see, do you see, do you see how you hurt me, baby?
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh, the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
It’s the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
Want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free
Want to make you feel free
I want to make you feel free

written by Joni Mitchell

 time washes clean love’s wounds unseen/
That’s what someone told me but I don’t know what it means.

“Long Long Time” by Linda Rondstadt and the Stone Poneys is a fantastic song, and it is well deserving to be on this list. It would be more interesting if Linda Rondstadt wrote her songs, because the message of this song is so different from her other hit “Different Drum” some five years or so before. With Different Drum she wasn’t in the market for a boy who wanted to love only her.  In Long Long Time she is doing everything she can to try and make him love her…but she is failing.

“Long Long Time” follows the Different Drum script of backing her with an orchestra. That sounds much better than she did with just the Stone Poneys. Her voice is powerful, and it needs the full wall of orchestra sound behind her to compliment her. At this point in her career she was gigging with an interesting session band. On the drums were Don Henley and on guitar was Glen Frey. Two nobodies, at the time.

Long Long Time Lyrics

Love will abide, take things in stride,
Sounds like good advice, but there’s no one at my side.
And time washes clean, love’s wounds unseen.
That’s what someone told me, but I don’t know what it means.

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know,
to try and make you mine.
And I think I’m gonna love you,
For a long long time.

Caught in my fears.
Blinking back the tears.
I can’t say you hurt me, when you never let me near.
And I never drew, one response from you.
All the while you fell, all over girls you never knew.
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know, to try and make you mine.
And I think it’s gonna hurt me, for a long long time.

Wait for the day,
You’ll go away.
Knowing that you warned me of the price I’d have to pay.
And life’s full of flaws,
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory, of a love that never was.

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know, to try and change your mind.
And I think I’m gonna miss you, for a long long time.
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know, to try and make you mine.
And I think I’m gonna love you, for a long long time.

written by Gary White