Victim of Love [April A2Z]

I heard about you and that man
There’s just one thing I don’t understand
You say he’s a liar and he put out your fire
How come you still got his gun in your hand?

Welcome to my April A-Z! I’m exploring songs by the fabulous Eagles and today’s feature is “Victim of Love,” a track from the famous 1976 Hotel California album. It wasn’t a single, so there’s no chart info, but we can simply enjoy the lyrics, amirite?

Victim of love
I see a broken heart
You got your stories to tell
Victim of love
It’s such an easy part
And you know how to play it so well

The title track “Hotel California” took a while to arrange and splice together to create the awesome song we all know and love (welp, most of us anyway ~ glares at Professor Longhair), but “Victim of Love” was recorded in one live studio session. Lead vocals were added later ~ originally Don Felder sang lead, but he felt he wasn’t doing the song justice, so Don Henley took over lead vocals. Along with Felder and Henley, Glenn Frey (RIP) and J.D. Souther are also credited as writers of “Victim of Love.” In 1982, Henley said in an interview that the Eagles probably peaked with this album and afterward began to grow apart (source: Wikipedia).

Some people never come clean
I think you know what I mean, oh
You’re walkin’ the wire pain and desire
Looking for love in between
Tell me your secrets I’ll tell you mine
This ain’t no time to be cool
And tell all your girlfriends
You been around the world friends
That talk is for losers and fools

E-trivia: John David Souther is an interesting character in his own right. He and Frey teamed up to form Longbranch Pennywhistle and released an album in 1969, before Frey and Henley began the Eagles. Souther had 3 solo albums that were well-received, but he gave up performing for many years in order to focus on the craft of songwriting. He remained part of the Eagles inner circle though and contributed to their 2007 album Long Road out of Eden (source The Eagles, An American Band by Andrew Vaughan).

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