THE HIT HAMMER: Eagles' "New Kid in Town"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Eagles - "New Kid in Town"

Hit Number 1: February 26, 1977

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

The Eagles had consistently been making hits the last five years. They've even appeared in this blog twice before with "Best of My Love" and "One of These Nights," but one thing they knew was that they weren't getting any younger. You might be wondering what their age has to do with anything? Well by the time they began to work on their new 1976 album, Hotel California, the band's members were beginning to push 30. They also knew how this music business worked. As some music artists begin to age, other younger artists come along and replace them as "the next big thing" so to speak. So while the Eagles were still very much in their hey day, this was something they began to wonder about. They didn't know how much longer they would be making hits. (Of course, Eagles would break up before their inevitable decline, but they had no way of knowing that at the time) While "New Kid in Town" is mainly about the idea of losing your love to somebody else (a.k.a. the "new kid in town"), the Eagles were also singing about themselves in the music business. Or as J.D. Souther put it: "We were singing about our replacements."

Souther was the one who first started to write "New Kid in Town," coming up with the chorus first, but he wasn't sure what to do with the rest. After getting some help from members Glenn Frey and Don Henley, the trio were able to come up with the rest of "New Kid in Town." Admittedly, it's kind of hard to follow what's happening in the song. The first verse seems to talk about somebody who is literally new to town, and though they're just meeting people for the first time, everybody knows them as "the new kid in town." But then the second verse seems to talk about not being able to move on from a lost love, and afraid that your new love will end up leaving you in the end too, just like your last one. Then finally the third verse is relatable to the Eagles themselves, especially with the line "They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along." I'm willing to admit I could be totally wrong about all of this, and "New Kid in Town" could just be another one of those songs that are open for interpretation. I'm just telling you all how I see the song. If you agree with me or not, that's up for you to decide.

Whatever you may think the song's about, there is one thing I'm sure of: "New Kid in Town" is a very well-crafted song. Glenn Frey sings lead, and just has this smooth, easy voice that glides over the song. The cadence of it all just works. I also like the background vocals by Henley and the rest of the group, and the pitch/key changes in the latter half of the song. I mean sure, maybe "New Kid in Town" isn't this incredible monster of a song if you're looking at Eagles catalogue, but it's one of those easy-listening songs that are perfect for a drive down a country highway. Everything about it is so smooth, and the Eagles performance sounds so effortless.

"New Kid in Town" would turn out to be the Eagles' third #1 hit, and the lead single from the Hotel California album. Of course, it's not the song everybody thinks of when it comes to that album, and we'll hear more from this album later in virtual in 1977. But "New Kid in Town," I think, still deserves some love. It's a great song.

GRADE: 8/10

IN POP CULTURE:

A YouTube cover band with a pretty decent following, the REO Brothers (no relation to REO Speedwagon), released a great cover of "New Kid in Town" a couple years back. Here's their video for that: