(Credits: Alamy)
Mon 27 October 2025 0:00, UK
The Eagles are proper pros. If you’re lucky enough to catch them live, their blend of country-rock and melodic songwriting really shines – even more than it does on record. It’s the kind of music that, somehow, manages to sound even better in the flesh.
Yet, even Achilles had a weakness. There was one song in particular that caused a great deal of fuss for the American rock band as a result of the high-pitched vocal line. The tune hailed from their 1976 album, One of These Nights.
There are a lot of deep afflictions at the core of ‘Take It to the Limit’. The single, written by Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey, included Randy Meisner on the main vocal line, a somewhat rare occurrence for their line-up. In fact, this was one of only three US top 40 Eagles songs not sung by Henley or Frey. However, Henly admitted that fans “went crazy when Randy hit those high notes”.
Meisner explained the philosophy at the heart of the popular song, saying, ostensibly, that the only way out was through: “The line ‘take it to the limit’ was to keep trying. You reach a point in your life where you feel you’ve done everything and seen everything – it’s part of getting old. And just to take it to the limit one more time, like every day just keep punching away at it. That was the line, and from there the song took a different course.”
Meisner hits an incredible high note at the end of the song, the culmination of his isolation and yearning. It was this that made fans go “crazy”, experiencing the trembling note in the flesh. And that’s all well and good, but it was bloody difficult for him to do. He could just about nail it in the studio. But the conditions there, consisting of enough hot tea to fuel a small British army, were different from the pressure and the lights of the stage.
Meisner was always the most nervous member of the Eagles. He told Rolling Stone in 1977 this much, when he described himself as “shy and nervous about putting myself on the line”. This song eventually became a symbol of just that for him: the nerves and anxiety catching up to him, the lifestyle turning sour.
Meisner wanted it removed from the set list, but the rest of the band weren’t having it. Meisner had no choice but to double down on his resistance; at one particular show, ‘Take It To The Limit’ was planned as the encore, but Meisner put his foot down. No. He wouldn’t even attempt it. There was a limit, and the band was crossing it.
Glenn Frey took it to heart more than the others. They ended up having a right old squabble backstage, a squabble which Don Henley ensured the venue’s security did not intervene in, so everything could settle in the way that it must.
Alas, the ending wasn’t in Meisner’s favour. Shortly after, he left the band and was replaced by Timothy B Schmit, who also had a tremendously high vocal range and ability to smash high notes like the one that kept Meisner up at night. Bad luck.
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