"Best of My Love" is a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

written by

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don ...

, and

J. D. Souther John David "J. D." Souther (born November 2, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. Souther is probably best known for his songwriting abilities, especi ...

. It was originally recorded by the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

(with Henley singing lead vocals), and included on their 1974 album ''

On the Border ''On the Border'' is the third studio album by American rock group the Eagles, released in 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 c ...

''. The song was released as the third single from the album, and it became the band's first ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 1 single in March 1975. The song also topped the

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

(adult contemporary) chart for one week a month earlier. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the number 12 song for 1975.

Background

Composition

In 2009, J.D. Souther said of the writing of "Best of My Love": "Glenn found the tune; the tune I think came from a

Fred Neil Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material&n ...

record... We were working on that album (''On the Border'') and came to London. The three of us were writing it and were on deadline to get it finished. I don't know where we got the inspiration." Glenn Frey recalled: "I was playing acoustic guitar one afternoon in

Laurel Canyon Laurel Canyon is a mountainous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills region of the Santa Monica Mountains, within the Hollywood Hills West district of Los Angeles, California. The main thoroughfare of Laurel Canyon Boulevard connects the neighb ...

, and I was trying to figure out a tuning that

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

had shown me a couple of days earlier. I got lost and ended up with the guitar tuning for what would later turn out to be 'The Best of My Love.'" According to Henley, most of the lyrics were written while in a booth in

Dan Tana Dan Tana (born 1935 as Dobrivoje Tanasijević; ) is a Serbian and American restaurateur, actor, football administrator/executive, and former professional footballer. Tana is best known as the proprietor of an eponymous restaurant, Dan Tana's, in ...

's Restaurant close to the

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

. The

maître d' ''Maître'' (spelled ''Maitre'' according to post-1990 spelling rules) is a commonly used honorific for lawyers, judicial officers and notaries in France, Belgium, Switzerland and French-speaking parts of Canada. It is often written in its abbrev ...

of Dan Tana, Guido, was thanked in the liner notes of the album. The lyrics were inspired in part by Henley's break up with his then girlfriend Suzannah Martin.

Recording

"Best of My Love" was recorded at

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The Eagles had begun working on ''On the Border'' with producer

Glyn Johns Glyn Thomas Johns (born 15 February 1942) is an English musician, recording engineer and record producer. Biography Early history Johns was born in Epsom, Surrey, England. He had three siblings, two older sisters and a younger brother, Andy ...

who had helmed their ''

'' debut album and the follow-up ''

Desperado Desperado may refer to: * Outlaw, particularly in the American Old West Books * ''Desperadoes'' (comics), a comic book series * ''Desperadoes'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Ron Hansen * Desperado Publishing, an American independent comic book publ ...

'' album. Despite the success of their debut album the Eagles (Frey specifically) were unhappy over Johns' preference for

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

and toning down their own rock aspirations, and their dissatisfaction with Johns was reinforced by the similarly honed ''Desperado'' album which was a comparative failure and Johns' no-drug policy during the recording. After six weeks in London—which yielded "Best of My Love" and one other usable track, "You Never Cry Like a Lover"—the Eagles discontinued working with Johns, then spending eight weeks touring in Europe and the USA and completing the recording of ''On the Border'' at the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

in their hometown of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with

Bill Szymczyk William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of th ...

producing. "Best of My Love" was remixed by Szymczyk.

Single release

Frey was reluctant to release "Best of My Love" as a single and held off its release for some time. The release of the Eagles' "Best of My Love" as a single has been attributed to the track's airplay at

WKMI WKMI (1360 AM) is a radio station licensed to Kalamazoo, Michigan broadcasting a news-talk format. WKMI is an affiliate of the Grand Valley State Laker football radio network. WKMI, which began broadcasting in 1947, was a highly rated Top 40 m ...

-AM in Kalamazoo MI, where

radio dj A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

Jim Higgs - also station music & program director - began playing the track off its parent album ''On the Border'' soon after that album's release in the spring of 1974, favoring "Best of My Love" over the official single releases " Already Gone" and "

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

". Advised by Higgs of the strong positive response of WKMI's listeners to "Best of My Love",

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

gave the track a limited single release of 1000 copies available only in the Kalamazoo area, with reaction to this test-release securing the full release of "Best of My Love" as a single on November 5, 1974. However, when the single was finally released, Asylum Records had truncated the song so that it would be more radio-friendly, but had done so without the band's knowledge or approval. It caused considerable anger in the band, and Henley demanded that the single be pulled from stores. The song however would become the most successful of their singles released so far, giving the band their first number 1 single. When the song was judged to have sold a million copies, the Eagles' manager,

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been chai ...

, sent to Asylum Records a gold record with a piece cut out, mounted on a plaque with a caption that said "The Golden Hacksaw Award". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "a very pretty country flavored ballad" and said "the harmonies are of the usual Eagle excellence and the instrumentation is mild and acoustic."

Personnel

– lead vocals, brushed drums *

– double-tracked 12-string acoustic guitar, background vocals *

Bernie Leadon Bernie Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member ...

– pedal steel guitar, background vocals *

Randy Meisner Randall Herman Meisner (born March 8, 1946) is a retired 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 vocal ...

– bass, background vocals

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Prior to the release of the Eagles version as a single, John Lees released his version of "Best of My Love" as a single in 1974. The 5th Dimension sang a cover on their 1974 ''Soul and Inspiration'' album. The song was also covered by

Yvonne Elliman Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved ...

on her 1975 album, ''Rising Sun''. South African trumpeter

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

covered the song in his 1976 album ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''. Rod Stewart included the song on his "covers" album ''Still the Same...''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best Of My Love (Eagles song) 1974 singles 1993 songs Eagles (band) songs Brooks & Dunn songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Glenn Frey Songs written by Don Henley Songs written by J. D. Souther Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Asylum Records singles 1974 songs