Eagles – I Can’t Tell You Why

Don Turned To Him And Said “There’s Your First Hit”

Released in February 1980, Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why” reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming the group’s last top ten pop hit. Timothy B. Schmit brought an unfinished fragment to the band after replacing Randy Meisner in 1977, and Glenn Frey and Don Henley immediately saw potential. They spent several all-night sessions completing it, with Frey pushing Schmit away from his Poco country-rock roots toward something unexpected. Frey told him straight: you could sing like Smokey Robinson, let’s not do a Poco song, let’s do an R&B song. Schmit, who’d grown up listening to Motown and Stax alongside surf music, jumped at the chance. When they finally mixed it and threw a little listening party at the studio, Henley turned to Schmit and said those magic words: there’s your first hit.

Recording happened in March 1978 at Criteria Studios in Miami, making it the first song finished for The Long Run album. Then the sessions dragged on for another 18 months through September 1979, with band tensions mounting and the album becoming more difficult by the day. The Long Run debuted at number two and hit number one the following week, staying there for nine weeks. The album earned seven-times Platinum certification and sold over eight million copies in the US. Three singles cracked the top ten: “Heartache Tonight” hit number one and won a Grammy, the title track reached number eight, and Schmit’s debut climbed to number eight as well. By July 1980, just months after releasing their third single, the Eagles wandered into what would become a 14-year breakup.

Henley described the finished song as straight Al Green, and Frey took charge of crafting that R&B atmosphere. The Detroit-bred Frey grew up immersed in soul music and knew exactly how to shape Schmit’s ideas. He played both keyboards and the guitar solo on the studio recording, though the music video showed Don Felder on guitar because Frey couldn’t show himself playing two instruments at once. Frey essentially made up the solo on the spot, and it became one of his favorite Eagles moments. Years later he joked about the understated, brilliant guitar stylings of yours truly, but that solo remains one of the band’s most melodic and expressive. Felder played it live for every tour afterward, on Eagles Live and Hell Freezes Over, making it his own over decades of performances.

The arrangement features Schmit on lead vocals and bass, with Frey and Henley singing counterpoint harmonies against the melody. Joe Walsh played organ while his touring sideman Joe Vitale added ARP string synthesizer. Henley handled drums, and Felder contributed rhythm guitar. The distinctive bass riff was likely devised by Frey, and the counterpoint vocal part definitely came from him. Schmit sang with a beautiful falsetto that surprised audiences expecting the usual Henley-Frey dominance. The song proved the Eagles could integrate new members seamlessly, broadening their dynamic just as they were about to implode. It showcased versatility at the exact moment the band lost the will to continue.

“I Can’t Tell You Why” appeared on The Long Run, released in September 1979 through Asylum Records. The album marked Schmit’s debut and Don Felder’s last full studio effort before his 2001 termination. After the breakup, Schmit embarked on a successful session career, singing on Bob Seger’s “Fire Lake”, Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Southern Cross”, the soaring high notes at the end of Toto’s “Africa”, and backing Don Henley on “Dirty Laundry”. He toured with Jimmy Buffett in the early eighties, coined the term Parrotheads, and joined Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band in 1992. His solo single “Boys Night Out” hit number 25 in 1987, his best-selling solo track.

Vince Gill covered it for the 1993 Eagles tribute album Common Thread, with Schmit singing backing vocals. That version reached number 42 on Hot Country Songs. R&B group Brownstone took their version to number 54 on the Hot 100 and number 22 on the Hot R&B chart in 1995. Diana Krall’s 2015 jazz interpretation hit number 10 on the Smooth Jazz chart. Gerald Alston from The Manhattans, Howard Hewett, and countless others recorded versions spanning R&B, country, and jazz. Billboard ranked it number six on their 15 greatest Eagles songs list, while Rolling Stone placed it at number 11 in their top 40 Eagles tracks.

What makes “I Can’t Tell You Why” endure is its emotional honesty wrapped in sophisticated restraint. The narrator can’t articulate why he stays in a troubled relationship, only that walking away feels impossible despite the pain. Schmit’s vulnerable vocal delivery captures that confusion perfectly, while the lush production never overwhelms the intimacy. Frey’s guitar solo serves the song rather than showboating, finding melody where others might shred. The track proved the Eagles could evolve beyond their country-rock origins into something smoother and more soulful. It was Schmit’s first showcase moment with one of the biggest bands in the world, and Henley’s prediction came true. Poor Timothy Schmit, as one writer put it, joined just in time to watch the Eagles disintegrate. But at least he got that first hit, and it’s still playing on soft rock stations four decades later.