About The Song
“How Long” is a country-rock song written by J.D. Souther in 1971 and covered by the Eagles for their seventh studio album, Long Road Out of Eden, released on October 30, 2007, by Lost Highway Records. The song was released as the album’s lead single on August 20, 2007, with an online video debuting on Yahoo! Music and a television premiere on CMT’s Top 20 Countdown on August 23, 2007. It reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. The double album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Top Country Albums, and Top Rock Albums charts, selling 3.5 million copies in the US and earning 7x platinum certification from the RIAA. The track won a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2008, the band’s first Grammy since 1979.
Recorded in 2006–2007 across multiple studios, including The Doghouse in Los Angeles, the song was produced by Bill Szymczyk, with the Eagles listed as co-producers. It features Glenn Frey on lead vocals for the first and third verses, Don Henley on backing vocals and drums, Joe Walsh on guitar, Timothy B. Schmit on bass and backing vocals, and Steuart Smith on lead guitar with a country twang riff. The lyrics, inspired by a Vietnam War soldier who went AWOL and was sentenced to murder, explore themes of longing and entrapment, with imagery of a “lonesome prison” and a “freedom river,” as Souther told Rolling Stone. The Eagles had performed it live in the early 1970s, including a 1974 Dutch TV appearance on Pop Gala, but did not record it then due to Souther’s 1972 solo version on his album John David Souther.
The Eagles, formed in Los Angeles in 1971, reunited in 1994 after a 1980 breakup and began work on Long Road Out of Eden in 2001, their first full studio album since The Long Run (1979). The song’s revival came after Frey’s children found the 1974 performance on YouTube, prompting Frey’s wife to suggest recording it, per Songfacts. Debuted at the 2007 CMA Awards, the track’s classic Eagles sound—blending harmonies and country-rock—recalled their 1970s hits, as noted by fans on Genius. The music video, the band’s first concept video, showed them performing in a desert hangar. The album, taking six years to produce, included contributions from Souther, a longtime collaborator who co-wrote Eagles hits like “Best of My Love” and “Heartache Tonight.”
The song was performed live during the 2007–2008 Long Road Out of Eden Tour and the 2017–2018 Hotel California Tour, though less frequently later, per fan posts on X. No notable covers exist, but Souther’s original was a minor promotional single in 1972. The track appeared in the 2007 CMT special and was included in the deluxe edition of Long Road Out of Eden, alongside bonus tracks like “Hole in the World.” Its Grammy win and chart success, detailed in Taste of Country, underscored the Eagles’ enduring appeal, with the album spawning four other singles: “Busy Being Fabulous,” “No More Cloudy Days,” “What Do I Do with My Heart,” and “I Don’t Want to Hear Any More.”
Video
Lyric
Like a blue bird with his heart removed, lonely as a train
I’ve run just as far as I can run
If I never see the good old days shinin’ in the sun
I’ll be doin’ fine and then someHow long, how long
Woman will you weep
How long, how long
Rock yourself to sleepWell I been doin’ time in lonesome prison, where the sun don’t shine
Just outside, the freedom river runs
Out there in that shiny night, with blood hounds on your mind
Don’t you know it’s the same sad situation?How long, how long
Woman will you weep
How long, how long
Rock yourself to sleepEverybody feels alright you know, I heard some poor fool say (Somebody ooh)
Everyone is out there on the loose
Well I wish I lived in the land of fools, no one knew my name
But what you get is not quite what you chooseTell me, how long, how long
Woman will you weep
How long, how long
Rock yourself to sleepHow long, how long
Muddy River runs so deep
How long, how long
Good night baby, rock yourself to sleep
Sleep tight baby, rock yourself to sleep
B-B-B Bye bye baby, rock yourself to sleep