Desperado

"Desperado" is a song by the rock band Eagles, written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley. It first appeared on the 1973 album Desperado, and has later appeared on numerous compilation albums.

Don Henley stated in the notes written in the booklet to Eagles' 2003 "The Very Best Of" compilation, that "Desperado" was a piece of a song that he had written in 1968. He said, "It was called something else, but it was the same melody, same chords. I think it had something to do with Astrology [chuckles]."^{[citation needed]}

While this is one of the Eagles' signature songs, it was never released as a single. "Desperado" was voted #494 in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Covers

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• Cher performed the song on the "Heart of Stone Tour in Australia in 1990.
• Johnny Rodriguez - Greatest Hits CD
• Lynn Anderson on her 1992 album Cowboy's Sweetheart
• George Michael performed the song on his 1991 Cover To Cover tour.
• Linda Ronstadt - on her 1973 album Don't Cry Now
• The Carpenters - on their 1975 album Horizon
• The Langley Schools Music Project - a combination of students from Wix-Brown Elementary School in Canada and their music teacher, Hans Ferger, recorded privately in 1977 and included in the 2001 compilation album The Langley Schools Music Project
• Judy Collins - on her 1979 album Hard Times for Lovers
• Chris Ledoux - on his 1982 album Used To Want To Be A Cowboy
• Clint Black - on the 1994 tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles.
• Ken Hirai - B-side of hit single "Hitomi o Tojite"; a re-recorded version appears on his cover album "Ken's Bar II"
• Johnny Cash - on his 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around, this version features drums and backing vocals by Don Henley
• Jill Johnson - on her 2003 album Roots and Wings
• The Dead - played on their 2004 summer tour, with Warren Haynes on lead vocal. They debuted the song at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, IN. on 7.25.04. Prior to playing the song, Bob Weir dedicated this to Linda Ronstadt, who had also covered the song and had been unceremoniously cut short at a performance in Las Vegas for criticizing George W. Bush just days before.
• Third season American Idol contestant Camile Velasco, during Country week.
• Carrie Underwood - at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
• Emi Fujita on her 2006 album Camomile Classics.
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their 2006 album Love Their Country.
• Suzi Quatro Released a cover and video in 2007.
• Stephen Fox^[1]
• Joan Baez, BZN, Johnny Rodriguez, and Kenny Rogers have all covered "Desperado".
• "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded an unreleased parody of "Desperado" entitled "Avocado". The song is only a partially done as a 'Food Medley' and performed only in concerts, however.^[2]
• Sarah Bolger sang the song in the film In America.
• Power Metal band At Vance covered the song on their 2001 Album Early Works - Centers.
• Ray Wilson sang the song on his album "Live and Acoustic"
• Westlife in their 2005 album Face to Face.
• Kokia on her 2005 best album pearl~The Best Collection~.
• Superfly on her 5th single titled Hi-Five as a b-side performed live for iTunes (2008)
• Celtic Thunder member Ryan Kelly on the album Celtic Thunder (2008)
• Tori Amos covered this song for her 2003 Oxygen (TV channel) (Oxygen Custom Concert) special.
• The Jonas Brothers used Desperado as one of their intro songs to "A Little Bit Longer" during the Look Me In The Eyes Tour (2008).
• Joe Walsh infuriated Don Henley by performing Desperado on his solo tours, and on the Howard Stern Channel 9 Show [[1]]
• Murali Mohan sang this song on his India tour in 2009.
• Juwita Suwito on her 2006 album For Real.
• Tito Swing sang this song in a Shining Time Station episode called "Finders Keepers" while saxophone player named Amani Murray played the saxophone.

In popular culture

"Desperado" is prominently featured in the Seinfeld episode "The Checks", in which Elaine's new boyfriend is so moved by the song, he enters a trance-like state whenever he hears it.

References