Song of the Day 7/28: Randy Meisner, “Hearts on Fire”

Randy Meisner, founding bassist of the Eagles, died Wednesday at age 77. He’d had health problems for many years; his last live gig was in 2008.

Meisner had stints in Poco and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band before joining Linda Ronstadt’s backing band, which morphed into the Eagles in 1971. Meisner’s high harmonies helped define the group’s sound in its early days – many felt his was the best voice in the quartet – but he rarely sang lead.

The main exception was the one Eagles single he co-wrote, 1975’s “Take It to the Limit,” a No. 4 hit, that shows off his high falsetto range. It became his signature song and a concert highlight, but Meisner became reluctant to perform it live when he started having trouble duplicating the high notes. That led to friction with the band’s co-leaders, Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

One night on the “Hotel California” tour in 1977 it boiled over into the most notorious battle in the band’s fractious history. “Take It to the Limit” was supposed to be the encore, but as the band readied to return to the stage Meisner told Frey he didn’t want to sing it because he had the flu (as Henley and Frey tell it, Meisner, who battled alcoholism for years, was hung over). The two actually came to blows – Henley told alarmed security guards to stay out of it – and Meisner left soon after. His replacement was Timothy B. Schmit, the same guy who replaced him in Poco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RXEx26VAOg

Meisner continued to work as a side man and backing vocalist, and recorded three solo albums over the next several years in the same country-rock style that typified the Eagles. He managed a few minor hits. “Hearts on Fire” was the highest-charting, No. 19 in 1981.

Meisner was disappointed that Frey and Henley didn’t ask him to join the reunited band’s “Hell Freezes Over” tour in 1994. The only time he played with them again was at their induction into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1998.