new kid in town

As always, the Eagles’ playing was masterful throughout the night: crisp and strummy in “New Kid in Town,” tense yet cooled-out in “I Can’t Tell You Why,” extravagantly supple in “Hotel California,” which they opened with in case anybody came in doubting the band’s ample supply of hits.

Souther — whose best-known songs included the Eagles’ “New Kid in Town” and “Heartache Tonight,” Ronstadt’s “Faithless Love” and his own “You’re Only Lonely,” which gave him a top 10 pop hit in 1979 — was also an actor with roles on TV’s “Thirtysomething” and “Nashville” and in movies including “My Girl 2” and “Postcards From the Edge.”

At issue are about 100 sheets of legal-pad paper inscribed with lyrics-in-the-making for multiple songs on the “Hotel California” album, including “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and the title track that turned into one of the most durable hits in rock.

The notes included lyrics-in-development for “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and “Hotel California.”

The documents include lyrics-in-development for “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and, of course, “Hotel California,” the more than six-minute-long, somewhat mysterious musical tale of the goings-on at an inviting, decadent but ultimately dark place where “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”