Steady on, ladies.
7. Randy Meisner
There's a game I like to play whenever I listen to an Eagles song: I try to guess who's doing lead vocals. Henley or Frey? I'm aware that occasionally it might be Joe Walsh, but rarely do I expect it to be Randy Meisner.
Mesiner came to the Eagles from the band that paved the way for them, Poco. He quit that band in the late 60s before their first album was released and was replaced on the album cover by a dog. He was a founding member of the Eagles along with Henley, Frey and Bernie Leadon, and co-wrote songs for each of their first five albums, most notably the one below on which he also sang lead vocals (the first Eagles hit not to feature Henley or Frey on lead).
Randy was described by other members of the band as a sweet, shy guy who didn't like being in the spotlight and the degree of fame the Eagles achieved in the mid-70s was too much for him... hell, when you read the stories, it must have been too much for any of them. He was replaced by the bloke who replaced him in Poco: Timothy B. Schmidt.
Poor old Randy's had a bit of a tough time of it in recent years. The Eagles as individuals are a rum old bunch to say the least, but my heart was warmed somewhat to read that Meisner's former bandmates stumped up for his medical bills during a period of ill health a few years back.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought about writing about his recent troubles but figured I'd let him go out on a high. On the one hand, I actually feel bad for the way the excesses of being in such a big band affected every member... On the other hand, I think: yeah, but they could have quit while they were ahead. Like Randy did, I guess.
DeleteI know nothing about this Randy but the description of him being sweet, shy and not liking being in the spotlight have warmed me to him completely. He looks rather nice in that top pic too (oh how shallow).
ReplyDeleteHe does sound like a nice guy: that may be one of the few things the rest of the Eagles ever agreed on.
DeleteAs to the pic... at least I know where my missing door mat went now.
Well, when I hear both this song and anything by Randy Crawford I get a nice warm glow as happy memories flood back so not sure now who my Top Randy is going to be. The Eagles of the mid-70s formed a large part of my teenage years so sad to hear what became of Randy M after he left the band. Ironically my favourite Eagles song at the moment however is I Can't Tell You Why which was written by his replacement Timothy S.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this series - I started with 8 Randies then found another 2. So far you have covered 5 of them so am now really interested to see who is yet to be featured.
I'm pretty curious to see who's on your list too, Alyson, as from the options I have remaining, I can only see three potential crossovers...
DeleteHave just been prompted to read up about Randy Meisner following this post and comments, so thank you for piquing my interest. But oh, so sad to know the troubled lives some people lead.
ReplyDelete