"I Can't Tell You Why" is a song from the Eagles which appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. The song was written by Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey, and Don Henley, and was the first Eagles song to feature Schmit (bass guitar) on lead vocals.The original album credits for The Long Run (and the CD of the album) list Glenn Frey on guitar solos. In the 1980 promotional video for the song, Schmit is accompanied by Frey (piano), Henley (drums), Don Felder (electric guitar and guitar solos), and Joe Walsh (organ), along with Joe Walsh's touring sideman Joe Vitale (synthesizer). The studio version became a Top 10 hit in April of 1980, reaching #8; the song also appears in live versions on Eagles Live in 1980 and Hell Freezes Over in 1994.
Female R&B trio Brownstone covered the song in 1995 on their album From the Bottom Up and was a minor hit but their version did not feature the guitar solos and replaced it with soliloquys and repeating the phrase "tell me why".
Comedian Will Ferrell does a cover in the independent movie Winter Passing. In the film, Ferrell plays a wannabe musician who has trouble singing and playing guitar at the same time. He makes an attempt to do so at an open-mic night at a bar, but at the last second, ditches his guitar and instead sings along with a pre-recorded backing track.
