"Take It to the Limit" is a song 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, jus ...

from their fourth album ''

One of These Nights ''One of These Nights'' is the fourth studio album by the Eagles, released in 1975. In July that year, the record became the Eagles' first number one album on ''Billboard''s album chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: " One of These Nights", "Lyi ...

'' from which it was issued as the third single on November 15, 1975. It reached No. 4 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was also the Eagles' greatest success to that point in the UK, going to No. 12 on the charts. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1976. The song was written mostly by Eagles member

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 ...

, however members

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", "Des ...

and

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 H ...

. Meisner also played a part in the songs writing who sang lead on it, says the song began as his solo composition. As it remained unfinished when time came for the ''One of These Nights'' album to be recorded, Henley and Frey assisted Meisner in completing it. Meisner's performance of the song was popular with the audience in Eagles concerts, but disputes over his reluctance to perform it would also directly lead to Meisner's departure from the band.

Background

According to Meisner, he wrote the first few lines of the song one night while playing an acoustic guitar after returning from 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 '' trobair ...

; however he was not able to finish the song by the time they were close to recording it, and Frey and Henley then helped him with the lyrics. Meisner later said of how he would usually write songs with the Eagles: "I'd get a verse or two, and I'm done, and they would help fill in the blanks" On the meaning of the song, Meisner said in the documentary '' History of the Eagles'': "The line 'take it to the limit' was to keep trying before you reach a point in your life where you feel you've done everything and seen everything, sort of feeling, you know, part of getting old. And just to take it to the limit one more time, like every day just keep, you know, punching away at it ... That was the line, and from there the song took a different course." Meisner sings lead on "Take It to the Limit" and the song was released as the third single from the album ''

''.

Recordings

"Take It to the Limit" is unique in the canon of the band's singles, being the sole

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

on which Randy Meisner sang lead, as well as the first A-side Eagles single on which neither Henley nor Frey sang lead. It was also the last Eagles single to feature founding member

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 ...

before he was replaced by guitarist

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...

. The single version of the song is 3:48 in length, almost a minute shorter than the album version. "Take It to the Limit" is one of few Eagles' tracks written in

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

time. (Other notable waltzes performed by the Eagles are "Hollywood Waltz"; the Meisner/Henley/Frey waltz "Saturday Night" (co-written with Leadon) from the 1973 ''

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 publi ...

'' album; Frey's "Most of Us are Sad" from their self-titled debut album; Frey/Henley/JD Souther's hard-rocking "Teenage Jail" from 1979's " The Long Run" album; and Walsh's "Pretty Maids All in a Row" on the 1976 album ''

Hotel California "Hotel California" is the title track from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). Joe Walsh came ...

''.) A live performance by Meisner from 1976 was recorded at The Forum, Inglewood, California. It is included in the album ''

Eagles Live ''Eagles Live'' is the first live album by the American rock band Eagles, a two-LP set released on November 7, 1980. Although the Eagles were already in the process of breaking up, the band owed Elektra/Asylum Records one more album and fulfille ...

'', which was released in 1980 after the band had effectively broken up. A second version, recorded in 1977, was released on ‘Hotel California 40th Anniversary: Expanded Edition’ released in 2017. The song was rerecorded on Meisner's first solo album (''

'') released in 1978. The song was performed with piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment, and 1970s

teen idol A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East Asia possess ...

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

singing in the backing vocals.

Live performances

According to Frey, fans of the band loved Meisner's performance of his signature song "Take It to the Limit" at concert. As Henley puts it: "They went crazy when Randy hit those high notes". Meisner, however, was concerned about not being able to hit the high notes, but Frey was insistent that Meisner should perform the song in concert for the fans, and live performances of the song then became a source of great contention between Frey and Meisner, and would eventually become one reason for Meisner leaving the band. Meisner had been struggling to hit the crucial high notes in the song during the ''Hotel California'' tour. According to

, Meisner could perform the song, but would become nervous when told he had to sing it. By the time they had reached

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...

in June 1977, the band was feeling the strain of a long tour, with Meisner unhappy and suffering from a stomach ulcer. Meisner decided not to sing the song for an encore because he had been up late and caught the flu. Frey and Meisner then became involved in an angry physical confrontation backstage over Meisner's refusal to perform the song. After the altercation, Meisner was frozen out from the band and he decided to leave. He left the band at the end of their tour in September 1977 and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, coincidentally the same bassist who had replaced him in

Poco Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassis ...

. The song was revived for the Eagles' late 1999 shows at Los Angeles' Staples Center and at those shows, as well as the Eagles' '' Farewell 1 Tour'' in 2004 and 2005 and on subsequent tours, the song was sung by Frey. Originally in B major, the song was transposed down to G major to accommodate for Frey's vocal range. For the band's 2017 shows, lead vocals were taken by

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist ...

and was again transposed to A major.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' described "Take It to the Limit" as "a strong mid -tempo rocker" with "distinctive harmonies" that sounds like the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

at times. ''

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 onli ...

'' called it "a masterpiece of a background" with "more of the easygoing melodies and lyrics that have made he Eaglesso hot over their last several releases."

Personnel

– lead vocals, bass guitar *

– 12-string acoustic guitar, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals *

Don Felder Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 until his termination from the band in 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with th ...

– lead guitar *

– electric guitar *

Jim Ed Norman Jim Ed Norman is an American musician, multi-platinum record producer, arranger and label-head. As an arranger and producer, he was one of the principal architects of the distinctive sound of West Coast 1970s pop and country rock. He was Preside ...

– piano, conductor, string arrangements Live version from 1976: *

– lead vocals, bass guitar *

– piano, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals *

– electric guitar, backing vocals *

– 12-string acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings version

The song was covered by

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

ians

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

and

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

as the title track of their duet album, '' Take It to the Limit'', which was released in 1983.

Chart performance

Other versions

* The song was covered in 1977 by

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

for her album ''Deep in the Night''. * By

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

on his 1980’s TV Show * In 1993, Suzy Bogguss recorded the song for the album '' Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles''. * Covered by Dave Mason on his album Dave Mason, Certified Live 1976

Notes

External links

Webcom.com
{{Authority control 1975 singles 1983 singles 1993 singles 1975 songs Eagles (band) songs Willie Nelson songs Waylon Jennings songs Suzy Bogguss songs Etta James songs Songs written by Glenn Frey Songs written by Don Henley Songs written by Randy Meisner Rock ballads Asylum Records singles Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Bill Szymczyk