Best Of My Love

Album

On the Border

Label

Asylum Records

Genre

Soft Rock

Composer(s)

Don Henley;Glenn Frey;J.D. Souther

Entered Chart

Nov 30, 1974

Peak Date

Mar 1, 1975

Released

November 5, 1974

Recorded

Olympic Sound Studios, London

Catalog #

Asylum 45218

B-Side

Ol' 55

"Best Of My Love" is often played at weddings and anywhere else one wants to demonstrate affection, but it's really a breakup song: "You see it your way, and I see it mine, and we both see it slipping away." No happy ending here, just a guy who gave it his best, but things didn't work out. According to Don Henley, who sings lead on the track, he, J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey wrote some of the lyrics over libations at the Los Angeles restaurant Dan Tana's, where they were regulars. There, they studied women and relationships. Henley says they were "typical, frustrated, young men" at the time. The phrase "Best Of My Love" conveys a powerful sentiment, and the title was used in 1977 for a disco song by The Emotions that also hit #1 in the US, marking the fist time that two different songs with the same title hit the top spot. This is one of several Eagles songs with a contribution from an outside writer. J.D. Souther, who also had a hand in "Heartache Tonight," "New Kid In Town," "Victim Of Love" and "James Dean," wrote it with Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Souther and Frey made an album together in 1969 and remained good friends. He wasn't Frey's only talented buddy: Jack Tempchin, who wrote the Eagles classics "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Already Gone" was another, as was Jackson Browne, who wrote "Take It Easy." This ballad was the first US #1 hit for the Eagles, but it was just the third single from the album. The first two, "Already Gone" and "James Dean," didn't do much damage on the charts, but "Best Of My Love" found a huge audience, also reaching #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. On The Border was the third Eagles album, and like their first two, they started recording it in London with producer Glyn Johns. This time, the band abandoned the sessions and recorded most of the album with Bill Szymczyk. Glyn Johns thought of the Eagles as an acoustic act, and helped them create several hits with this sound, including "Witchy Woman" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling." The band members, especially Glenn Frey, thought they should be rocking harder, and the Eagles eventually found success with rockers like "Life In The Fast Lane" and "Heartache Tonight." "Best Of My Love" was one of two that was leftover from the Glyn Johns sessions and included on On The Border. According to Glenn Frey, he came up with the guitar part on this song when attempting to work with a tuning that Joni Mitchell showed him (he and Mitchell were a couple in 1973-1974). He ended up going into a totally different tuning and coming up with the sound. The distinctive steel guitar on this track was played by Bernie Leadon, the band member most influenced by country music. On The Border came out in April 1974, but this song was not released as a single until November and didn't hit the top spot until March 1975. This helped keep the Eagles on the airwaves while they prepared their next album, One Of These Nights, which came out in June 1975. The single was edited for radio, cut to 3:25 from the 4:34 album version. An unusual cover of this song was by the trumpet player Hugh Masekela, who recorded it on his 1977 album, Melody Maker. More songs from Eagles

Every night
I'm lying in bed
Holdin' you close in my dreams
Thinkin' about all the things that we said
And comin' apart at the seams
We try to talk it over
But the words come out too rough
I know you were tryin'
To give me the best of your love

Beautiful faces
Loud empty places
Look at the way that we live
Wastin' our time
On cheap talk and wine
Left us so little to give

The same old crowd
Was like a cold dark cloud
That we could never rise above
But here in my heart
I give you the best of my love

Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love
(You get the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love
(You get the best of my love)

I'm goin' back in time
And it's a sweet dream
It was a quiet night
And I would be alright
If I could go on sleeping

But every morning'
I wake up and worry
What's gonna happen today
You see it your way
And I see it mine
But we both see it slippin' away

You know, we always had each other, baby
I guess that wasn't enough
Oh oh, but here in my heart
I give you the best of my love
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'
Every night and day
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin' (oh oh)
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love (the best of my love)
Oh, sweet darlin'