"Desperado" is a song by the American rock bandEagles. The track was written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley and appeared on the 1973 album Desperado as well as numerous compilation albums. It ranked No. 494 on Rolling Stones 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Composition
According to Henley, Desperado was based on a song he started in 1968, written in the style of old songs by Stephen Foster. The song was originally about a friend named Leo and began with "Leo, my God, why don't you come to your senses..." In 1972, after they had recorded their first album Eagles in London, Glenn Frey and Henley decided that they should write songs together. In their first songwriting session after returning from London, Henley played Frey the unfinished version of the song, and said: "When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It's really a Southern Gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western." According to Henley, Frey "leapt right on it - filled in the blanks and brought structure", and the song became "Desperado". Henley added: "And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership... that's when we became a team."
Recording
The song was recorded at Island Studios in London, with musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by Jim Ed Norman, Henley's friend from his former band Shiloh, who also wrote and arranged the strings for the song. According to Henley, he was given only four or five takes to record the song by the producer Glyn Johns who wanted to record the album quickly and economically. Henley felt intimidated by the large orchestra, and would later express regret that he did not sing as well as he could. He said: "I didn't sing my best... I wish I could have done that song again."
Reception
"Desperado" is one of Eagles' most famous songs, and it was ranked No. 494 on the Rolling Stones list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004. It was voted the No. 2 favorite Eagles song in a poll of Rolling Stone readers. In 2000 the song was listed in MOJO magazine's list of greatest songs compiled with songs nominated by songwriters such as Paul McCartney, Hal David, and Brian Wilson. Members of the Western Writers of America included it in their list of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic considered it one of Eagles' major compositions. Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone felt it was Henley's rough voice that made the song memorable. Their recording never charted on Billboard until the death of Glenn Frey, when it reached No. 20 on the Rock Digital Songs chart. After the antagonist of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 claimed that Brandy by the Looking Glass was "Earth's finest composition", the lead singer of the Looking Glass countered that Desperado should have that title.
Johnny Rodriguez's version on his 1976 album Reflecting was released as a single, and reached No. 5 on both the Country Singles charts of Billboard in the United States and RPM in Canada.
Carpenters' version on their 1975 album Horizon, choosing not to release it as a single.
Diana Krall covered the song on her 2015 album Wallflower and released as a single in September 2014. The song debuted on Billboards Jazz Digital Songs chart at No. 3.
Linda Ronstadt on her 1973 album Don't Cry Now. Henley credited Ronstadt for popularizing the song with this early cover of the song, and described her version as "poignant, and beautiful".
Kenny Rogers on his 1977 album Daytime Friends.
Chris LeDoux on his 1982 album Used to Want to Be a Cowboy.
Johnny Cash on his 2002 album . Henley sings backup on the track.
Superfly on their 2010 album Wildflower and Cover Songs: Complete Best.
Miranda Lambert performed the song at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors as a tribute to Eagles.
Kristin Chenoweth covered the song on her 2019 album For The Girls.
The original song was featured in the Seinfeld episode "The Checks." In the episode, the song's impact is poked fun at, as various characters have to pause whatever they are doing and listen to the song, often becoming somber and withdrawn when they do so. The song inspired the title of the 1987 Western TV movie, Desperado, written by Elmore Leonard. It also served as the theme music for the TV movie, and its four sequels.
