Wasted Time Lyrics
Well, baby, there you stand
With your little head down in your hand
Oh, my God, you can't believe
It's happening again
Your baby's gone, and you're all alone
And it looks like the end
[Verse 2]
And you're back out on the street
And you're trying to remember, oh
How do you start it over?
You don't know if you can
You don't care much for a stranger's touch
But you can't hold your man
[Chorus 1]
You never thought you'd be alone
This far down the line
And I know what's been on your mind
You're afraid it's all been wasted time
[Verse 3]
The autumn leaves have got you thinking
About the first time that you fell, fell
You didn't love the boy too much
No, no, you just
Loved the boy too well
Farewell
So you live from day to day
And you dream about tomorrow, oh
And the hours go by like minutes
And the shadows come to stay
So you take a little something
To let them go away
[Chorus 2]
And I could've done so many things, baby
If I could only stop my mind
From wonderin' what I left behind
And from worryin' 'bout this wasted time
[Verse 5]
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Another love has come and gone
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
And the years keep rushing on
I remember what you told me
Before you went out on your own
"Sometimes to keep it together
We've got to leave it alone"
[Chorus 3]
So you can get on with your search, baby
And I can get on with mine
And maybe someday we will find
That it wasn't really wasted time
About
This is Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s attempt at a Philly-soul torch song. Frey later explained on the liner notes for The Very Best Of The Eagles: “I loved all the records coming out of Philadelphia at that time. I sent for some sheet music so I could learn some of those songs, and I started creating my own musical ideas with that Philly influence. Don was our Teddy Pendergrass. He could stand out there all alone and just wail. We did a big Philly-type production with strings – definitely not country rock. You’re not going to find that track on a Crosby, Stills & Nash record or Beach Boys record. Don’s singing abilities stretched so many of our boundaries. He could sing the phone book. It didn’t matter.”
The strings were arranged by Jim Ed Norman, who was an old college buddy of Don Henley’s in Texas and later the keyboard player for the Eagles founding member’s very first band Felicity. In the late ‘90s Norman rose to the position of president of Warner/Reprise Records Nashville.
“Wasted Time” closes side one on your old vinyl copy of the Hotel California LP. After you’ve flipped the record over to side two, the first piece of music you’ll hear is an instrumental reprise of the same track.
Furthermore, this is definetly a break-up song which is a product of Don Henley’s breakup with Loree Rodkin.
Don Henley and Loree Rodkin:
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Similar to what happens in the rest of the album, Don Henley provides the lead vocals for this track.
Glenn Frey, who cowrote this song with Don Henley, speaking of this song in the liner notes from The Very Best of the Eagles:
I loved all the records coming out of Philadelphia at that time. I sent for some sheet music so I could learn some of those songs, and I started creating my own musical ideas with that Philly influence.
Don was our Teddy Pendergrass. He could stand out there all alone and just wail.
We did a big Philly-type production with strings – definitely not country rock. You’re not going to find that track on a Crosby, Stills & Nash record or Beach Boys record.
Don’s singing abilities stretched so many of our boundaries. He could sing the phone book. It didn’t matter.
- 4.Wasted Time