Former Eagles member Don Felder recalled how he’d been inspired by a love for jazz and his appreciation of bandmate Joe Walsh when he wrote “Those Shoes” for 1979 album The Long Run.

He sat down with a very clear intention for the track, as he told Uncle Joe Benson on the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show.

“I was always a big jazz fan; I love Miles Davis,” Felder said. “He could play just a few notes and get so much soul in. When Joe joined the band, Joe had been using this talkbox, which he used on [solo track] ‘Rocky Mountain Way.’ I wanted to write a song that Joe and I could both play talkboxes on, that sounded like two trumpets playing the melody.”

He remembered creating all the parts, including the talkbox sections, then he “put it on a reel with a bunch of other song ideas for The Long Run and turned it in.” The response from his colleagues was positive: “Glenn [Frey] and Don [Henley] said, ‘That’s great – we gotta do that on this record.’ We actually played that track live in the studio with dueling talkboxes… and no overdubs. I think the lead vocal’s overdubs is about the only thing.”

Eagles – 'Those Shoes'

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