Lyin' Eyes

Good idea for a song and well-performed, but it goes on a least a minute too long. Ditto 'Hotel California.'

I'm a big Eagles fan and this one is definitely my favorite. I don't know why, because I have not been through a similar life situation it describes, but the refined lyrics and tuneful melody always strike me deeply, and its glamour never fade out after countless times of listening...I think I can truly understand the situation and feel the complicated emotions of the people inside the story. Anyway, its a genius work in my eyes.

Nothing says it quite like this song. A true classic!

First line bothers me.

"City girls just seem to find out early
how to open doors with just a smile"

I've always heard it as "city girls," checking the lyrics it's "city girls," but wouldn't "pretty girls" make more sense?

Jay nailed it, she's lying to her husband, she's lying to her lover, but most of all she's lying to herself, and fooling no one.

Ken is right, "the boy she knew in school" is not her lover. May be her lost love, definitely is the road not taken.

Stephen ask "When they sing "she pulls away and leaves him with a smile" - who has the smile? Him or her??" Both. After they make love, she opens the door "with just a smile" to go back to her husband. "She swears that soon she'll be comin' back forever," and her lover smiles because he knows she's lying. (But that's OK with him, he's happy with things as they are, and doesn't want a long term relationship, or at least not with her.)

My 2nd favorite song of all time; only one to beat it is the #1 rock & roll song of all time - "Satisfaction" by The rolling Stones!

I've never been a big Eagles fan, even tho they were so popular when I was a teen. To me, this song is boring, and I wouldn't hesitate to change the channel when it comes on the car radio.

My dad told me once, that he saw one of the members of the Eagles later solo after the band split up. And right before he starts singing this song, he leans in close to the mike, and goes "This one's for my first wife, BITCH!

Great song. Henley and Frey got the inspiration of this song from the gold-digging women @ Dan Tana's restuaraunt next store to the Troubador(in West Hollywood). That is where these women would go with their sugar daddies and party. Great restuaraunt still..

Love this song! really clever lyrics and fantastic composition! :-)

The most important thing about this song is how only a certain someone can put you out there over the stars, I mean its really has alot of meaning if you ever have any kind of relationship that you know the woman is hot and is not getting the attention she needs. But how did it ever get this crazy? She's cryin, thinkin oh God please help me! Its a "baby come home now song'. And it not about a bad woman or whore its about the women who have had just 1 or 2 men in their lives , secure women, who missed true love. I lived it it's beautiful , I 'll never forget those memories, This song is a fav ad it will be for some of you sooner or later.

It's the ultimate cheating song. And the woman is lying to everyone - especially herself. Her husband knows precisely what she is doing but she's fooling herself that he hasn't a clue

Here's how I see this song. Most men don't like to admit they could be attracted to "bad" women, but this song almost forces the male listener to "feel sorry" for the bad girl described in the song to the point of wanting to "rescue" her. This song tugs at the heart of a man! Guys can't help feeling "strangely" attracted to this imaginary woman. Why? Because instead of making a song about an attractive scheming "bitch" who got what she deserved, Henley & Frey, instead chose to create this "romanticized" vision of an attractive fallen woman whose poor choices caused her life to "tragically" fall apart. This way, male listeners will empathize and want to help her from her plight... Rescuing an attractive woman from herself... The ULTIMATE IMAGINARY MALE FANTASY!!..Simply put, Henley and Frey's musical brilliance created for me the greatest emotional manipulation of the male psyche in country/pop/rock history!!

This, in my estimation, is the greatest country song ever. Simply winning a grammy award was not enough - that's an understatement. It doesn't get any better than this when it comes to a full country song which is a package of melody, guitar, good vocals/ lyrics and a theme which still hits you with a feel-good factor though its about something bad.

Good song, but no way did it need to be so long. It was a 4-minute song padded to 6-and-a-half.

ROFL....Your parents used "Lyin Eyes" as their wedding song? O.K.

If you live long enough you will probably live each part of this song, or be tempted to. I have the first 2 parts down.

While working our boss would practice playing and singing this song, he noted that the Eagles songs were all hard to play even though they sound easy. I worked at Gerogetown Dental Lab.

The album version was 6 mins. & 22 secs. in length while the 45 RPM version was 3 mins. & 58 secs. I always assumed that this was because AM stations in the 1970s were reluctant to play anything that was over four minutes long. Love the final line: "HONEY, you can't hide your lyin' eyes"!!! {Also enjoyed reading all the posted comments}

i think its tells the about a lot of people

@Bo, when you listen to that line at a fairly low level, it does sound like "whore", but when you turn it up, it sounds like both say "girl".

for thirty years every single time i have heard this song it has always reminded me of a girl i had an across town relationship with while i had a girl friend. just reverse all the he and she's around and most of it fits. her name was nola. i havn't seen her in thirty years, but i remember her like it was yesterday. out of no where she contacted me yesterday. now i can't sleep and i'm playing this song.

He does say it

I read what Bo said and sure enough no lie thats whats he says.

This song is great it reminds me of my wife when she kept going out to the clubs and did not come home until the next morning and she played stupid when i asked her where she was and what she was doing

the story goes that glenn wrote this about his first wife who cheated on him...you cant hid your lyin eyes.there must have been another boy waiting for her at the other side of town with firey eyes and dreams no one could steal

I love this song,too. It was on the Urban Cowboy Soundtrack and It was on Lying Eyes,the movie about the cheerleader and the cheating attorney.

I think this songs about an unhappy woman whos made some poor choices and how her husband can see shes cheating on him, THERE AINT NO WAY TO HIDE YOUR LYIN EYES...

love the music and harmonies..cant get enuff

One of the local radio stations here in Cleveland play this song quite a bit, but they play an edited version of it... It goes from "She gets up and pours herself a strong one and stares out at the stars up in the sky... My oh my you sure know how to arrange things" ect..ect..ect. I feel leaving out the rest of that last verse takes away the part of her life that she can only look back at at realize that she had lead a carefree life not really knowing how much she lost until it was too late, and without the whole verse it dosen't give the song a true closure.

There's three men in the song: The rich old man, the lover on the cheatin' side of town, and the boy she knew in school. The old man and the lover get nothing but lies. The boy she knew in school was her true love; but she, the schemer, left him to choose this lazy, crazy, "easy" life so she could "dress up all in lace and go in style." The boy she knew in school offered her true love, but not big money. He's watched her life since then and is the narrator, singer, of the song.

There seem to be several things the girl in the song is lying about. The final lie in the last chorus may be that she murdered her rich older husband in order to escape a loveless marriage and re-join her old boy friend and that she is is now lying to him about the murder. But the old boy friend knows it's a lie because he says "funny, you can't hide your lyin' eyes".

I don't think "the boy she knew in school" and the guy she's running to is the same guy. The guy she's cheating on her husband with sounds much younger.

"Lyin' Eyes" is about how the commen misconception that people that are rich are well off. There is a woman who is living the life of a lie. She is married to a man that has "hands as cold as ice". She finds herself night after night all alone in a mansion, drinking hard alcohol. One night she decides to go to the "cheatin' side of town" to meet an old "friend" but its an old boyfriend from school. She tells him that she'll be coming back to him, but he knows that she's lyin' and knows that she'll go back to where the moneys at. She has fallen into the pit of the highlife and can't get out and hides it behind her smile, but it's thin disguise.....

Listen closely (with headphones) to the last line of the last verse. While Don Henley's harmony part definitely says, "You're still the same old girl you used to be", Glen Frey sings, "You're still the same old whore you used to be"

I heard this song was inspired by Kenny Rogers and the First Editions "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town." That from a close friend of Glenn's.

Enjoy, Gary

I love this song. Would be a great song to be covered by a country artist like Toby Keith. Has the theme common for a country song.

Great Cheatin song...an Eagles masterpiece

There are three lies in this song. She is lying to her husband, to her boyfriend, and to herself. She cannot hide her lies from any of them.

I really beleive she was his misteres are maybe a call girl at first and later marrisd for his richies.Waiting for his death and get hie riches and then ahe can be with her high school love

This is a short story. It has plot and characterization and irony. I'm with Scugie -- this (along with many other Eagles songs) could be the theme of a film, TV show, or a play.
On another note, why is it that the Eagles' great "story songs" such as Lyin' Eyes never use personal names? The only Eagles song I know that uses a name is James Dean, and that is about a real person. Their songs are usually about "I", "he" and "she". I don't know the relevence of this observation, I'm just wondering if anyone else has thought about it.

scugie: i think that would sorta ruin it.

this is one of my favorite eagles songs.

When they sing "she pulls away and leaves him with a smile" - who has the smile? Him or her?? Could be either, right? I'm guessing it's him that's smiling - hope so for his sake!

Great vocals from Frey. I love this song.

Brady
This seems a rather strange song for a wedding song since it's about a "trophy wife" cheating on her older husband; then again, years ago, my sister would occasionaly sing with local bands for weddings. One couple wanted the song "A Day in the Life of a Fool" -- which has a beautiful melody and was the theme for a 1960 Brazilian film called "Black Orpheus" which updated the Greek tragedy to Mardi Gras time in Rio. The band finally decided just to play the melody but my sister did not sing!

Great lyrics, pacing, and instrumentation. My favorite rock song, period. I wonder why its theme was never made into a film, for TV or theater.

Scugie,
NY NY

nice song and i also love the eagles

I love the Eagles.

Henley and Frey composed this song in a restaurant on a napkin after seeing many older men with absolutely gorgeous young women.

In the Farewell I Tour, Frey dedicated this to his "first wife...Plaintiff"

I love this song. When my parents got married in '80, this was their song. And now its one of my all time favorites