March 19, 2021 —– Chart #83
Hello Musical Friends,
It’s Friday again so welcome to another edition of Chart of the Day. This week I am going back to one of my favorite bands of all time, and I’ll bet I am not alone on this one. “I Can’t Tell You Why” is a song by the American rock band The Eagles, which appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. It was written by band members Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey, and Don Henley. Recorded in March 1978, it was the first song finished for the album and the first Eagles song to feature Schmit on lead vocals. Released as a single in February 1980, it became a Billboard top 10 hit in April of that year, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was the group’s last top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Timothy B. Schmit came up with the song title and composed the nucleus of “I Can’t Tell You Why”, which he then presented to Glenn Frey and Don Henley and they completed the song together. Henley described the finished song as “straight Al Green”, and that Frey, an R&B fan as he came from Detroit and grew up with the music, was responsible for the R&B feel of the song. Frey said to Schmit: “You could sing like Smokey Robinson. Let’s not do a Richie Furay, Poco-sounding song. Let’s do an R&B song.”
Schmit describes the song as “loosely based on my own experiences”. Schmit said: “I had some writing sessions with Don and Glenn and I threw out a bunch of my ideas and that one [for “I Can’t Tell You Why”] stuck. I had [composed] a pretty good part of it, not a huge part but enough for them to think ‘That could be good’ and go with it. So Don, Glenn and I finished it over a few all night sessions.” “When it was being developed in the studio…I knew it was a great song. I [thought] ‘Yes! This is an amazing debut for me.’ When we finally mixed it, we had a little listening party at the studio. As people were hearing it, Don turned to me and said, ‘There’s your first hit.'”
Schmit sang the lead vocals on the song, with Frey and Henley singing counterpoint. Schmit also played the bass on the track, which has the distinctive bass riff believed by Schmit to have been devised by Frey. According to Henley, Frey came up with the counterpart on the song, and played the guitar solo on the song.
In 1980, the band promoted the rock ballad with a music video which featured Schmit on bass guitar accompanied by Frey on the electric piano, although Frey recorded the guitar solos as it is printed on the LP inside sleeve, with Henley on the drums, Don Felder on the electric guitar, Walsh on the organ and Walsh’s touring sideman Joe Vitale on ARP string synthesizer. Joe Walsh played all the keyboards on the studio recording. Live versions of the song were released in the 1980 album Eagles Live and 1994’s Hell Freezes Over.
Schmit also performed “I Can’t Tell You Why” while on tour as a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in 1992. Their performance of the song was included on the 1993 live album Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Volume 2: Live from Montreux.
Here’s a fun fact: Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947), bassist and vocalist for Poco and Eagles, replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases after Meisner quit the band. Schmit has also worked for decades as a session musician and solo artist. In 1998, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Eagles.
Keep rockin’ my friends,
Stan