- Life in the Fast Lane
Infobox Single
Name = Life in the Fast Lane
Artist =Eagles
from Album =Hotel California
B-side = "The Last Resort"
Released =May 3 ,1977
Format =vinyl record
Recorded = 1976
Genre = Rock
Length = 4:46
Label = Asylum
Writer =Joe Walsh ,Glenn Frey ,Don Henley
Producer =Bill Szymczyk
Chart position =
* #11 (USA Hot 100)
Last single = "Hotel California"
(1976)
This single = "Life in the Fast Lane"
(1977)
Next single = "Please Come Home for Christmas "
(1978)"Life in the Fast Lane" is a song written byJoe Walsh ,Glenn Frey andDon Henley and recorded by the American rock bandEagles for their 1976 studio album "Hotel California ". It was the third single released from this album, and peaked at #11 at theBillboard Hot 100 .The song has remained a staple on
Classic rock radio stations since its release, although not without some controversy due to the line, "She said, 'Listen, baby. You can hear the engine ring. We've been up and down this highway; haven't seen a goddam thing.'"The track tells of a couple that takes their excessive lifestyle ("there were lines on the mirror, lines on her face") to the edge. On "
In the Studio with Redbeard ", Glenn Frey revealed that the title came to him one day when he was riding on the freeway with a drug dealer known as "The Count". Frey asked The Count to slow down and the response was, "What do you mean? It's life in the fast lane!" In that same interview, Frey indicated that the song's centralriff was played by Joe Walsh while the band was warming up in rehearsals and Walsh was told to "keep that, it's a song".Covers and references
In 2007,
Jill Johnson covered the song on her album "Music Row".The track "Livin' It Up" on
Limp Bizkit 's album "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water " samples the phrase "life in the fast lane" throughout. Frey, Henley, and Walsh are credited in the "lyrics by" portion of the liner notes.The song's title was the inspiration for "
Life on the Fast Lane ," an episode from the first season of the TV series "The Simpsons ".The song will be used as the soundtrack for the
roller coaster "Eagles-Life in the Fast Lane", opening atHard Rock Park in May 2008.
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