When Bob Dylan began writing his own songs without concern for the prevailing norms of songwriting at the time, he set in motion a change that would redefine music forever. He demonstrated to musicians that they could create their own material, sing about any subject they wished and still connect with audiences who appreciated their work. This became a fundamental inspiration for The Beatles, among many others who followed. In the music business for more than six decades, Dylan watched the evolution of what he had helped to initiate. He often shared his opinions on various groups, including The Eagles, one of the most successful bands of all time. What is Bob Dylan's opinion on The Eagles Bob Dylan is a longtime fan of The Eagles and the classic members of the group. Talking with The New York Times in 2020, he even revealed which are some of his favorite songs by them. “'New Kid in Town', 'Life in the Fast Lane', 'Pretty Maids All in a Row'". That could be one of the best songs ever." He mentioned those tracks when asked about his tribute to Glenn Frey and Don Henley on his song "Murder Most Foul", which was part of his album "Rough and Rowdy Ways" (2020). "Play Don Henley, play Glenn Frey. Take it to the limit and let it go by," the lyrics say. Curiously, a couple of decades before, Dylan praised the band but said that every note from their albums were predictable."A lot of records you hear it's all filled up. Every note is already there for you. Have you ever listened to an Eagles record? One thing about The Eagles, the song are good and all that but when you listen to The Eagles, every note is predictable. You know exactly what it's going to be before it's even there, you know." He continued: "I started to sense some of that on (my album) 'Infidels'. I didn't like it, because that's not my kind of record. So I decided to re-do some of the vocals. Because I knew how they were gonna sound before they came out," Bob Dylan explained to Martha Quinn in 1984 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). All the three songs mentioned by Dylan as some of his favorite tracks by them are from "Hotel California", their best-selling studio album. Released in 1976, more than 32 million copies were sold worldwide. It was their first album to feature the guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. The line-up also had Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Don Felder. Bob Dylan also likes "Witchy Woman" In his 2022 book "Philosophy of a Modern Song", Bob Dylan analyzed many songs that he likes and one of them was The Eagles' "Witchy Woman", song written by Don Henley and Bernie Leadon, being featured on their self-titled debut album (1972). When talking about the song, he recalled that Bob Luman wrote and recorded a song called "Twitchy Woman" in 1954. "Eighteen years later, Bernie Leadon and Don Henley removed the first letter from the title and launched Henley’s songwriting career with lyrics describing a hallucinogenic amalgamation of succubus and thaumaturge, equal parts troubadour temptress and Jazz Age casualty, conjured up partially by reading the Nancy Milford biography of Zelda Fitzgerald in the throes of a flu-driven fever dream. I wonder why no one has ever removed one more letter and recorded a song about an itchy woman," Bob Dylan said in his book. "Witchy Woman" was the second single released by The Eagles. At the time peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Pop singles chart. Leadon started writing the track when he was still a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. Bob Dylan already covered Don Henley's "End of Innocence" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auILWTtpM7k&list=RDauILWTtpM7k&start_radio=1 During his career, Bob Dylan has written more than 600 songs and released 40 studio albums so far. Although he has this vast catalog to choose from when building his live setlists, he often surprises audiences with curious cover songs. One of them was “The End of the Innocence”, one of Don Henley’s biggest solo hits. The track was released on the 1989 album of the same name. According to Setlist.fm, Dylan covered the song in his live concerts back in 2002. It was featured in the shows at Kingston, Philadelphia, New York, Indianapolis, St. Paul, Ames, Bernalillo, Los Angeles and Sacramento. His version was obviously a little bit different from the original track by Henley. Besides covers, Dylan also usually plays his own songs with a different arrangement during the shows. Henly is a fan of Bob Dylan and already saw his concerts a couple of times. In 2017, fans said the musician acknowledged Henley at the audience. "We were trying to get Don Henley up here tonight but we couldn't find him". Interestingly, the Eagles’ career is similar to The Band’s trajectory, which worked for a while as Bob Dylan’s backup group. The Eagles were, for a time, Linda Ronstadt’s touring band in the early 1970s.. After working with her, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner created the band in 1971 and released their acclaimed debut album in 1972. The Eagles are one of the best-selling bands of all time, with estimated sales of more than 200 million records worldwide. Their compilation "Greatest Hits (1971–1975)" is the best-selling album in United States history, with 38 million copies sold.The post Bob Dylan’s opinion on The Eagles appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.