By Randal C. Hill
“We saw a lot of beautiful women around Hollywood who were married to wealthy, successful men,” Eagle Glenn Frey once said. “We wondered if they were unhappy.” He later recalled being out with some of the band members when an incident occurred that would unexpectedly benefit the country-rockers’ career. “One night, we were drinking at a bar when I spotted this stunning young woman with a much older, fat, rich guy. One of the guys commented, ‘Look at her. She can’t even hide those lyin’ eyes.’ Immediately, we all began grabbing for cocktail napkins to write down lyrics to go with that great observation.”
Within two nights, Frey and fellow Eagle Don Henley had the music and the lyrics stitched together. As the second Asylum Records single from the group’s million-selling “One of These Nights” album, the infectious 45 shot to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. (Elton John’s “Island Girl” kept it from the coveted top spot.) The Eagles’ masterpiece earned the band a Grammy a year later, and country superstars Dolly Parton, Buck Owens and Lynn Anderson all released cover versions. “Lyin’ Eyes” also appeared on the soundtrack of the 1980 hit movie “Urban Cowboy.”
You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
Related: Music Flashback: “You Are So Beautiful”
In the story, a woman slips away from her husband after telling him that she’s going out to visit a friend “who’s feeling down.”
She drives on through the night, anticipating
Because he makes her feel the way she used to feel
The brief moments she enjoys with her lover include a promise that will never be kept.
She swears that soon she’ll be coming back forever
She goes away and leaves him with a smile
At the story’s end, she sadly realizes that her affair will never restore the life she once enjoyed.
She wonders how it ever got this crazy
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
She’s so far gone she feels just like a fool
