Ten Favorite Song Songs: One More Song (#1)

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Here's the closing song in my list of favorite songs that have the word "song" in the title. I've been all over the map with this list, as usual, but today's top song probably won't surprise anyone...even if you don't know the song. Here's my favorite. #1: One More Song - Randy Meisner Yeah, going with an Eagle for the top of the perch. Randy Meisner hasn't had the best of luck in bands. He appeared on the first Poco album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, in 1968. Depending on which account you read, he was either fired or quit rather abruptly, which resulted in his portrait on the cover of the album (it's a painting, not a photo) being removed and replaced with a dog. Then there was his tenure in the Eagles, which ended in a fist fight with Glenn Frey in Knoxville after a show. In both instances, Timothy Schmit replaced Meisner. In 1978 Meisner started a solo career, with his album Randy Meisner. It flopped (which is being kind), but it did contain a couple of good songs (including "Bad Man," a Frey/J.D. Souther composition that saw its first light of day with Meisner's recording. The song ended up in the soundtrack to FM.). In 1980 Meisner changed labels, going from Asylum (the Eagles' label) to Epic (Poco's label in the early 70s) and released his spectacular second album, One More Song. The album featured the moderate hit "Deep Inside My Heart," which had Kim Carnes singing background, and a lesser single, "Hearts on Fire." There were also two songs written by Jack Tempchin, the man responsible for "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Already Gone." One was "White Shoes," which Emmylou Harris eventually recorded as the title track to one of her albums. The other was "One More Song." The song wasn't originally the story of Meisner's departure from the Eagles; however, Tempchin reworked the song to give it a much more personal meaning for Meisner. Some of Tempchin's original personality is in the song (the opening line about "singing in a bar in San Diego," which is where Tempchin was based for many years), and it's not explicitly a song that says, "Hi, I'm Randy, here's a song about my leaving the Eagles." The subtleties are there, though: "Me and my buddies, we were known as the Silveradoes" (note the similarity to desperado in that name?) and the band answering an old man's request where "we sang him a sad and a sweet one, and we sang it so soft and so high." And oh, the final line in the song before the last chorus: I was singing this song as the road reached along And the empty night swallowed my car Dang. Oh, the punch line to all of this? The harmonies in the song were provided by Don Henley and Glenn Frey. One more song, indeed. Thanks for reading. One More Song Written by Jack Tempchin Recorded by Randy Meisner From One More Song, 1980 One more song for the times to come: