Heartache Tonight: The Eagles' Last Trip to Number One
Heartache Tonight gave the Eagles their fifth trip to number one, and it turned out to be their last.
The chorus came together in about five minutes, over the phone, with a singer who wasn't even in the band.
Glenn Frey had a verse.
He called his old friend Bob Seger to test it out.
Seger answered back with the line that became the hook.
The song topped the Hot 100 in November 1979 and closed out the band's run of chart-toppers for the decade.
This is the chart-verified story behind it, built from this site's own Billboard data and cross-checked against outside chart and interview sources.
The Eagles in a 1974 Asylum Records press photo, several years before Heartache Tonight.
Image credit: Distributed by Asylum Records, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Five-Minute Phone Call Wrote the Chorus
Glenn Frey Had a Verse, and He Wanted a Second Opinion
Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther had been trading lines at Frey's Los Angeles house, working out a verse over an electric guitar riff.
They had it built around a single image, somebody about to get hurt before the night was through.
Frey wanted to test the idea on someone he trusted, so he picked up the phone.
He called Bob Seger, a friend from Detroit going back more than a decade.
Read the fuller story of how that Detroit friendship carried into the band's own sound on this site's Eagles the Band page.
Bob Seger Answered Back With the Hook in Minutes
Frey sang Seger the verse over the phone.
Seger jumped in almost immediately with a line of his own: "There's gonna be a heartache tonight."
That became the song's chorus and its title.
Joe Walsh contributed the bridge once the band started working the song up together, and Don Henley polished the finished lyrics.
The writing credit on Heartache Tonight went to four names:
- Glenn Frey, verse and lead vocal
- Don Henley, lyric polish and drums
- Bob Seger, chorus
- J.D. Souther, verse
It's the only Eagles song Seger is credited on, despite the two friendships running back to their Detroit club days in 1967.
Recording the Lead Single From The Long Run
A Blues Shuffle Built for a Long, Hard Album
Heartache Tonight became the lead single from The Long Run, released September 18, 1979.
Producer Bill Szymczyk cut the track with a heavier, bluesier shuffle than most of the band's earlier hits.
Frey later called it a deliberate change of pace, a song built to be fun rather than heavy.
"No heavy lyrics, the song is more of a romp," is how he put it.
The Eagles in an Asylum Records press photo from the Asylum years.
Image credit: Distributed by Asylum Records, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Who Played What on the Session
Frey sang lead and played rhythm guitar.
Don Felder added a second rhythm guitar part.
Joe Walsh handled the slide guitar that colors the song's hooks.
Henley played drums and sang backing vocals, and Timothy B. Schmit played bass and sang backing vocals alongside him.
Seger sang uncredited backing vocals on the finished track, a quiet thank-you for the phone call that started it.
"Teenage Jail" filled the B-side of the single.
Catch the same shuffle and slide guitar live with the Mood Song Matcher.
Heartache Tonight Closed Out a Run of Five Number Ones
The Full List, Chart by Chart
Heartache Tonight hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of November 10, 1979, exactly as this site's own weekly chart archive records it.
It was the Eagles' fifth number one of the decade, and their last.
Here's how all five stack up against each other.
| Song | Week at #1 |
|---|---|
| Best of My Love | March 1, 1975 |
| One of These Nights | August 2, 1975 |
| New Kid in Town | February 26, 1977 |
| Hotel California | May 7, 1977 |
| Heartache Tonight | November 10, 1979 (final #1) |
It Reached Beyond the Hot 100 Too
The song's reach went past the US chart.
It also topped Canada's RPM singles chart the same month.
Beyond North America, Heartache Tonight peaked at these positions:
- New Zealand: #7
- Ireland: #10
- Switzerland: #10
Pull up more of the decade's chart-toppers with the Random 70s Song Generator.
A Grammy, a Platinum Single, and a Country Cover
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal
Heartache Tonight won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 1980 ceremony.
The RIAA certified the single Platinum, marking sales past one million copies.
See how that final chart-topper fits into the band's wider story on Music of the 70s.
Conway Twitty Took It Back to Country in 1983
Heartache Tonight had country-rock roots from the start, built on a Detroit blues friendship and a Los Angeles jam session.
Conway Twitty pulled it fully back into country music four years later, with the Osmond Brothers on backing vocals.
His version climbed to number 6 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1983.
A song that started as a five-minute phone call ended up with two separate chart lives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Heartache Tonight?
Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bob Seger and J.D. Souther share the writing credit on Heartache Tonight.
Frey and Souther built the verse first at Frey's Los Angeles home.
Frey then called Seger and sang him what they had.
Seger answered back with the chorus within minutes, and Henley polished the finished lyrics.
Was Heartache Tonight the Eagles' last number one song?
Heartache Tonight was the Eagles' fifth and final number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
It topped the chart the week of November 10, 1979.
The band released other singles afterward, including King of Hollywood and The Long Run, but none of them reached number one.
Did Bob Seger really help write an Eagles song?
Bob Seger did help write Heartache Tonight, and it remains the only Eagles song he's credited on.
Seger and Glenn Frey had known each other since Detroit's rock club circuit in the late 1960s.
Frey called him with the unfinished verse, and Seger supplied the chorus on the spot.
Did Heartache Tonight win a Grammy?
Heartache Tonight won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, awarded in 1980 for the 1979 recording.
The single also earned a Platinum certification from the RIAA.
It was the lead single from the Eagles' 1979 album The Long Run.
Is there a country version of Heartache Tonight?
Conway Twitty recorded a country rendition of Heartache Tonight in 1983, with the Osmond Brothers singing backup.
His version reached number 6 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.
It's a fitting second life for a song the Eagles built out of their own country-rock roots.
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