About The Song
“The Girl from Yesterday” is a song by the Eagles, credited to Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin. It was released in 1994 as one of four new studio tracks on the reunion album Hell Freezes Over, issued November 8, 1994 via Geffen Records / Eagles Recording Company. On the original CD tracklist it appears as track number 3, with a listed running time of approximately 3 minutes 23 seconds.
The studio version of “The Girl from Yesterday” was recorded during the 1994 sessions that produced the new material for the comeback album. Production credits on Hell Freezes Over list the band itself along with producers/engineers including Rob Jacobs and Elliot Scheiner. The 1994 lineup for the album tracks features Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit.
The initial single release listing for the album gives “The Girl from Yesterday” as a single in 1994, following prior releases “Get Over It” and “Love Will Keep Us Alive.” While it was issued as a single according to the band’s discography, the track did not achieve major chart success comparable to earlier hits or other singles from Hell Freezes Over.
Arrangement and performance details credit Glenn Frey as lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist on the track, with Don Felder and Joe Walsh providing electric guitar and backing vocals, Timothy B. Schmit on bass and backing vocals, and Don Henley on drums/percussion and backing vocals. Additional instrumental or keyboard contributors are listed in the album liner notes, reflecting the full-band effort during the 1994 sessions.
Contextually, “The Girl from Yesterday” belongs to the Eagles’ reunion project after a 14-year hiatus. The album Hell Freezes Over combined live recordings from the 1994 MTV-special concerts with four new studio songs—the only fresh material until the band’s later studio efforts. This made the track part of a significant comeback, reintroducing the band’s songwriting and studio work to fans and new audiences alike.
Though not a breakout hit, the song has remained part of the Eagles’ catalog in reissues and streaming editions of Hell Freezes Over. It appears in remastered track lists and is credited consistently under the same writers and original 1994 production lineup, preserving its place among the band’s reunion-era output.
Because the song wasn’t supported by a major promotional push compared to “Love Will Keep Us Alive” or “Get Over It,” and due to changing radio formats in the mid-1990s, “The Girl from Yesterday” remains more of a deep-cut from the reunion album than a widely recognized single — but it stands as an official part of the Eagles’ discography, documented with full credits and production context.
Video
Lyric
It wasn’t really sad the way they said goodbye
Or maybe it just hurt so bad, she couldn’t cry
He packed his things, walked out the door and drove away
And she became the girl from yesterday
He took a plane across the sea to some foreign land
She stayed at home and tried so hard to understand
How someone who had been so close could be so far away
And she became the girl from yesterday
She doesn’t know what’s right, she doesn’t know what’s wrong
She only knows the pain that comes from waiting so long
And she doesn’t count the teardrops that she’s cried while he’s away
Because she knows deep in her heart that he’ll be back someday
The light’s on in the window, she’s waiting by the phone
Talking to a memory that’s never coming home
She dreams of his returning and the things that he might say
But she’ll always be the girl from yesterday
Yeah, she’ll always be the girl from yesterday