The Most and Least-Played Song Live Off Every Eagles Album

In 2012, Joe Walsh was asked by Classic Rock what sort of advice he’d give to his 15-year-old self.

“Work at your craft,” he replied. “You can’t be a legend in your parents’ garage. You’ve got to get out and play in front of people. Even if you stink.”

All these years later, Walsh and his fellow Eagles bandmates are professionals in terms of getting out and playing in front of people. Though they only released seven studio albums over the course of their time together, they’ve been touring the world for over 50 years and have sold millions upon millions of tickets.

“Almost every show is sold out,” Timothy B. Schmit noted in a 2022 interview, “which is pretty mind-blowing that it’s still going that way.”

With so many live shows under their belts, we thought we’d break down the numbers a bit using data from setlist.fm. Below you’ll find the Most and Least-Played Song Live Off Every Eagles Album, though to be clear: this doesn’t account for songs the band has never played live, only those that have made the set list at one point or another.

Album: Eagles (1972)Most-played: “Take It Easy”Least-played: “Take the Devil”

It’s interesting that the most and least-played song from 1972’s Eagles both start with the word “take.” The former title belongs to “Take It Easy,” which, at the time of this writing, holds the record for single most-played song live by the Eagles ever at over 1,200 plays. “Take the Devil,” written by the late Randy Meisner, has logged just three performances, two during the album’s release year and one in 1973.

Album: Desperado (1973)Most-played: “Desperado”Least-played: “Bitter Creek”

One need only say the title “Desperado” and suddenly Don Henley’s voice comes to mind. This title track from their 1973 album follows closely behind “Take It Easy” in terms of most-played Eagles songs ever — it also has over 1,200 logged performances. Meanwhile, Bernie Leadon’s “Bitter Creek” has a respectable seven plays to its name, all in 1973. This makes sense though, given Leadon was the one responsible for lead vocals on it and he left the group in 1975.

Album: On the Border (1974)Most-played: “Best of My Love”Least-played: “My Man”

There’s good reason that “Best of My Love” is the most-played song from 1974’s On the Border with over 500 renditions. Co-written between Henley, Glenn Frey and JD Souther, it was the very first Eagles song to grab the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Conversely, “My Man” got played exactly once, but we would argue it’s an equally worthy track. Leadon wrote it in tribute to his late Flying Burrito Brothers bandmate Gram Parsons, who died of an overdose when he was 26 years old.

Album: One of These Nights (1975)Most-played: “Lyin’ Eyes”Least-played: “Visions”

Don Felder joined the Eagles in 1974, but he did not contribute to the writing of a song until the following year’s One of These Nights. On that album, he helped pen “Visions,” which wound up the one snd only Eagles song Felder ever sang lead vocals on. A shame then that it got played live only once…As for the most-played, “Lyin’ Eyes” just barely wins the spot over the album’s title track.

Album: Hotel California (1976)Most-played: “Hotel California”Least-played: “Try and Love Again”

If there is one phrase synonymous with the Eagles it is “Hotel California,” which yielded lyrics like “Tiffany-twisted” and perhaps the most famous metaphor for being a prisoner of your own device: “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” This is, naturally, the most-played song from the 1976 album of the same name. However, because the Eagles have spent many-a-show playing the entire LP in full, that means its least-played song, “Try and Love Again” has gained some more traction — 97 total plays to be exact.

Album: The Long Run (1979)Most-played: “I Can’t Tell You Why”Least-played: “Teenage Jail”

“Teenage Jail” got played twice in 1979, the year The Long Road came out, just a couple days apart in North Carolina and Maryland, and then it was never touched again. “I Can’t Tell You Why” is a much different story. It first started getting played in 1979 and has basically never left the set list since — its most recent performance at the time of this writing was less than a week ago at the Eagles’ Las Vegas residency.

Album: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)Most-played: “No More Cloudy Days”Least-played: “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture”

There was a time when no one thought the Eagles would perform live together ever again — Henley himself famously said the group would reconvene when hell froze over. But low and behold, the Eagles reunited in 1994 and got back to playing live. Granted, their final studio album, Long Road Out of Eden, isn’t exactly a fan favorite, but “No More Cloudy Days” has still landed on the set list a little over 200 times. “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” managed to get one play in 2005.