“Life in the Fast Lane” is a song written by Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, and recorded by American rock band Eagles for the band’s fifth studio album Hotel California (1976). It was the third single released from this album, and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song tells the story of a couple who take their excessive lifestyle to the edge. On In the Studio with Redbeard, Glenn Frey revealed that the title came to him one day when he was riding on the freeway with a drug dealer known as “The Count”. Frey asked the dealer to slow down and the response was, “What do you mean? It’s life in the fast lane!” In that same interview, Frey indicated that the song’s central riff was played by Walsh while the band was warming up in rehearsals and Walsh was told to “keep that; it’s a song”. Don Henley recalled that the “song actually sprang from the opening guitar riff. One day, at rehearsal, Joe [Walsh] just busted out that crazy riff and I said ‘What the hell is that? We’ve got to figure out to make a song out of that.” Henley and Frey, the primary lyricists for the band, then wrote the lyrics for the song.
He was a hard-headed man He was brutally handsome, and she was terminally pretty She held him up, and he held her for ransom In the heart of the cold, cold city
He had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude They said he was ruthless, they said he was crude They had one thing in common They were good in bed, she’d say “Faster, faster, the lights are turnin’ red”
surely make you lose your mind (Life in the fast lane) yeah
Are you with me so far?
Eager for action and hot for the game The coming attraction, the drop of a name They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills
There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face She pretended not to notice, she was caught up in the race Out every evening, until it was light He was too tired to make it, she was too tired to fight about it
surely make you lose your mind (Life in the fast lane) yeah (Life in the fast lane) everything, all the time (Life in the fast lane) a-ha
Blowin’ and burnin’, blinded by thirst They didn’t see the stop sign, took a turn for the worse She said, “Listen baby, you can hear the engine ring” “We’ve been up and down this highway, haven’t seen a goddam thing”
He said, “Call the doctor, I think I’m gonna crash” “The doctor say he’s comin’, but you gotta pay him cash” They went rushin’ down that freeway, messed around and got lost They didn’t care, they were just dyin’ to get off, and it was
surely makes you lose your mind (Life in the fast lane) yeah (Life in the fast lane) everything all the time (Life in the fast lane) a-ha
