"Rock And Roll..."

'When you're only lonely...'

J.D. Souther

A younger fellow...

I'm a frustrated musician... I've told you that before.  Ever since that first night when I saw The BeaTles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' I was hooked on guitars and music.  I loved the song writing abilities of John Lennon and Paul McCartney... after a while, I got to where I could tell who wrote what parts of a song... and eventually, they each would write their own song for the band, but due to the agreement between them, each song still carried 'Lennon/McCartney' as the writers.

Are you familiar with a fellow by the name of John David Souther?  He is quite an accomplished song writer... if you don't know who he is, you have certainly heard his music before.  To me, he is one of those distinctive writers that just leaves his mark on his songs.

J.D. and Jackson Browne

This is one of his songs that he wrote and recorded... that actually got some air play on the radio back in the days.

"You're Only Lonely"

What a great song that is!!!

He was born in Detroit, and lived in Amarillo, TX where he was greatly influenced by Roy Orbison... I can hear a bit of Roy in his work.  In the late '60s, he moved to Los Angeles where he became friends and roommates with Glenn Frey. Another musician by the name of Jackson Browne lived in the same complex.  Souther and Frey had several musical collaborations... duos.. bands and such.

Some of J.D. Souther's great collaborations led to such songs as this one...

'New Kid In Town...'

"... they will never forget you until somebody 

new comes around..."

There is something about the chord structures.. something about the harmonies... and the tempo... that just told me when I first heard it that J.D. Souther had a hand in this song.

J.D. and his once-upon-a-time girlfriend,

Linda Ronstadt

He also helped to write 'Best of My Love,' 'Heartache Tonight,' and 'Victim of Love.'

He also contributed to this song...

'How Long'

This song, 'How Long,' was actually written back in the early 70's, and they played it but never recorded it until recently.  There is a great video of The Eagles playing this song back in 1973... you can find it HERE.

I can hear something he wrote... and just know it was him.

The Eagles had asked J.D. Souther to join the band... they even knew that he "fit,"  but he refused, citing that he didn't want to tour.

J.D.

Somewhere along the way,

we just get old...

Have I told you all how much I love music?

~shoes~