The title and idea for the song came when Glenn Frey and Don Henley were in their favorite Los Angeles restaurant/bar Dan Tana's which was frequented by many beautiful women, and they started talking about beautiful women who were cheating on their husbands. They saw a beautiful young woman with a fat and much older wealthy man, and Frey said: "She can't even hide those lyin' eyes." According to Henley, Frey was the main writer of the song, although he had some input with the verses and the music. The song was written when Frey and Henley were sharing a house in Trousdale, Beverly Hills. Frey said of the writing of the song: "...the story had always been there. I don’t want to say it wrote itself, but once we started working on it, there were no sticking points. Lyrics just kept coming out, and that’s not always the way songs get written." During the Eagles 2013 concert tour, Frey stated it was written in just two evenings. "Lyin' Eyes" is the only song in the One of These Nights album that Frey sang solo lead on. The song was released as the second single from One of These Nights, and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind “Island Girl” by Elton John. "Lyin' Eyes' also crossed over to the Country chart where it reached No. 8, their first on that chart and a feat few rock bands could have achieved at that time. The single version of the song is shortened considerably from the album version, removing the entire second verse, the second chorus and four lines in the middle of the third verse.
Reception
Billboard described the song as "a country flavored story of a girl who drives across town daily to meet someone a bit more suited to her than the one she lives with," and praised the instrumentals and harmony vocals.
Covers
Among the many covers of "Lyin' Eyes" are Lynn Anderson's 1976 recording and Kenny Rankin's 1980 version on his After The Roses album. Diamond Rio also covered the song on the 1993 compilation .Dolly Parton has long cited the song as a personal favorite; she performed it on her 1976 variety show Dolly! "Lyin' Eyes" is included on Urban Cowboy's soundtrack. It plays in the background in the diner scene when Sissy gets angry at Bud for saying "Hello" to Jerry Hall's character. The political-satire group The Capitol Steps used the song on more than one occasion. They sang about an airline that made heavy people buy two seats, and they parodied Joe Biden with "You Can't Hide This Biden Guy."
Personnel
Glenn Frey – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Don Henley – drums, percussion, harmony and backing vocals
