The Long Run by Eagles Song Info
"The Long Run" is a song written by American musicians Don Henley and Glenn Frey and recorded by Eagles as the title track of their album "The Long Run". Released as a single in November 1979, the song reached No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1980. The sound of the song is viewed as a tribute to the Stax / Memphis rhythm and blues sound. According to Don Henley, "The Long Run" was written in part as a response to press articles that said Eagles were "passé" as disco was then dominant and punk emerging, inspiring lines such as "Who is gonna make it/ We'll find out in the long run". Henley also said that irony was part of the inspiration, as the song is about longevity and posterity while the group "was breaking apart, imploding under the pressure of trying to deliver a worthy follow-up to Hotel California". In his book "The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made", music critic Dave Marsh called the song a complete ripoff of the 1972 R&B record "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" written by Larry Williams and originally popularized by American soul singer Otis Clay.
