The Best Song Joe Walsh Said He Wrote Post-James Gang and Before Joining the Eagles

Shortly after recording Thirds, his third and final album with James Gang, Joe Walsh left the band with one final hit, “Walk Away,” which earned him the title of  “guitar, vocals, and train wreck,” in the liner notes for his unruly guitar work toward the end of the track. At the time Walsh was also well into his solo career and had moved to Colorado from Celevand by the early 1970s.

Still working with the James Gang’s co-producer (and future Eagles producer) Bill Szymczyk on his solo releases, including debut Barnstorm and his second album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, Walsh needed lyrics for a song that was only an instrumental at that point for the latter release, “Rocky Mountain Way.”

“I couldn’t think of any words and everybody was patiently waiting for me to come up with something,” shared Walsh. “One day I was in my backyard in Boulder [Colorado] mowing the lawn and I was thinking, ‘Boy, I sure hope leaving the James Gang was a good idea,’ because I hadn’t really surfaced as a solo act yet. I was almost there, but not quite. And then I looked up, and there were the Rocky Mountains.”

[RELATED: 5 Songs Joe Walsh is Proud He Wrote Before Joining the Eagles]

Rocky Mountains

Walsh added, “It was summer but you could still see snow on the back range. It just hit me how beautiful it all was, 5,000 feet up. And that was it. The words came: ‘Spent the last year Rocky Mountain way / Couldn’t get much higher.’ And the second verse is about my old management—telling us this, telling us that, time to change the batter. I got all of that at once. And I ran inside to write it down before I forgot it.”

Spent the last year
Rocky Mountain Way
Couldn’t get much higher
Out to pasture
Think it’s safe to say
Time to open fire

And we don’t need the ladies
Crying ’cause the story’s sad

‘Cause the Rocky Mountain Way
Is better than the way we had

Well, he’s tellin’ us this
And he’s tellin’ us that
Changes it every day
Says it doesn’t matter
Bases are loaded and Casey’s at-bat
Playin’ it play by play
Time to change the batter

Unfortunately, while Walsh was swept up with writing “Rocky Mountain Way,” he forgot to shut down his lawnmower, which moved into his neighbor’s yard, destroying her rose bushes. Regardless of the mishap, “Rocky Mountain Way” made it to No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Walsh.

“Those lyrics wound up costing me, I don’t know, maybe 1,500 bucks, but it was well worth it,” said Walsh. “The neighbor, though, she was pissed. I said to her, ‘You don’t understand. I got the words. But she just looked at me.”

Getting Into the Eagles

When Walsh was well into his solo career, the Eagles wanted a heavier guitarist to take the band to the next level and were already on the outs with Bernie Leadon. Walsh’s song “Rock Mountain Way” left a bit impression on the band, particularly Glenn Frey.

At first, Walsh was invited to perform “Rocky Mountain Way” during the band’s encore section before asking him to join the Eagles permanently.

“For our encores, we’d put Joe Walsh in a road box…there would be Joe with his Les Paul, and we would play ‘Rocky Mountain Way,’” said Frey. “As we’re playing, I keep thinking to myself, ‘Joe Walsh over Bernie Leadon?’”

Photo: Joe Walsh of the rock band ‘Eagles’ performs onstage with an acoustic guitar at the Omni Theatre on June 20, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)