Heartache Tonight

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"Heartache Tonight"
Song
B-side"Teenage Jail"

"Heartache Tonight" is a song written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bob Seger and J. D. Souther, and recorded by the Eagles. The track was included on their album The Long Run and released as a single in 1979. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in November of that year. Although it remained in the top position for only one week, the single sold 1 million copies. It was the Eagles' final chart-topping song on the Hot 100.

The recording also received a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song originated from an electric jam session between Glenn Frey and J. D. Souther who would visit Frey's home in Los Angeles whenever he was in town on tour. Frey and Souther wrote the first verse while listening to Sam Cooke songs. In the heat of jamming, Frey called Seger on the phone and sang him the verse. Seger then blurted out the chorus. According to Frey, "J.D. [Souther], Don and I finished that song up. No heavy lyrics-the song is more of a romp-and that's what it was intended to be."[1] The song was covered by country music singer John Anderson on the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles and was also covered by Michael Bublé on his album Crazy Love.

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[2] 22
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[3] 1
Ireland (IRMA)[4] 10
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[5] 20
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[6] 7
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[7] 10
UK Singles (OCC)[8] 40
US Billboard Hot 100[9] 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[10] 38
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
November 10, 1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single
November 17, 1979–November 24, 1979
Succeeded by
"Babe" by Styx

Haim "The Wire"

The Haim sisters use the riff from "Heartache Tonight" at the beginning of their hit "The Wire" from 2013.

Conway Twitty version

"Heartache Tonight"
Song
B-side"Hello Darlin'"

"Heartache Tonight" was revived four years later in a cover version by country music artist Conway Twitty. Released as the second single from his Lost in the Feeling album, Twitty's version reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the fall of 1983.[11]

Twitty's version featured the Osmond Brothers on backing vocals. Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek wrote that "Heartache Tonight" and its follow-up single, "Three Times a Lady," "offer(ed) a solid view of Twitty's amazing crossover potential, and his ability to take well-known pop tracks and turn them into solid country smashes long after the countrypolitan days of Chet Atkins and RCA."[12] (In addition to "Three Times a Lady" (a cover of a song by The Commodores), Twitty had successfully covered "Slow Hand" and "The Rose," previously pop hits for the Pointer Sisters and Bette Midler, respectively.)

Chart performance

Chart (1983) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[13] 6
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 3

References

  1. ^ The Very Best of the Eagles (CD). Eagles. Warner Music Group. 2003. R2 73971.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ "Eagles – Heartache Tonight" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  3. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7853a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  4. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Heartache Tonight". Irish Singles Chart.
  5. ^ "Eagles – Heartache Tonight" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  6. ^ "Eagles – Heartache Tonight". Top 40 Singles.
  7. ^ "Eagles – Heartache Tonight". Swiss Singles Chart.
  8. ^ "Eagles: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  9. ^ "Eagles Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  10. ^ "Eagles Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 363.
  12. ^ Jurek, Tom, Lost in the Feeling album review, Allmusic. [1]
  13. ^ "Conway Twitty Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.

External links