The Eagles' "New Kid in Town": Song About Life 2

by

Arden Lambert

Updated

March 22, 2018

Updated

March 22, 2018

Updated

March 22, 2018

Written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and J.D. Souther, “New Kid in Town” is a song by the Eagles from their 1976 studio album Hotel California. Released as the first single from the album, the song became a number one hit in the US, and number 20 in the UK.

The single’s version has an earlier fade-out than the album version. The song features Glenn Frey singing the lead vocals, with Don Henley singing main harmony vocals. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices.

The Eagles' "New Kid in Town": Song About Life 3

The Eagles/oocities.org

Behind the creation of the song

J.D. Souther initially wrote the chorus for the song. According to Souther, the band thought it sounded like a hit. However, he did not know what to do with it. About a year later, he, Frey and Henley gathered together for the writing of Hotel California where he played the song for them. And then, the three then finished the song together.

Souther would later say that the song came about as a result of their “fascination with gunfire as an analogy.” Also, he added,

“At some point, some kid would come riding into town that was much faster than you and he’d say so, and then he’d prove it.”

Similarly, Henley discussed the song’s meaning in the liner notes of The Very Best Of:

“It’s about the fleeting, fickle nature of love and romance. It’s also about the fleeting nature of fame, especially in the music business. We were basically saying, ‘Look, we know we’re red hot right now but we also know that somebody’s going to come along and replace us — both in music and in love.”

In addition, Souther said, We were just writing about our replacements.”

Eagles’ biographer Marc Eliot would also state that “New Kid in Town” captures “a precise and spectacular moment immediately familiar to any guy who’s ever felt the pain, jealousy, insecurity, rage, and heartbreak of the moment he discovers his girlfriend likes someone better and has moved on.”

Moreover, he suggests that it captures a more abstract theme of “the fickle nature of both the muse and the masses.”

On Henley’s first solo album, I Can’t Stand Still, he references the song by singing the line, “there’s a new kid in town” over the ride out of “Johnny Can’t Read.”

Watch The Eagles perform one of their hit songs, “New Kid in Town” live in 1977.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR_Ii0hXLEk

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Tags

Don Henley, Eagles, Glenn Frey, J.D. Souther


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