About The Song
“Tryin'” is the closing track on the Eagles’ self-titled debut album, released by Asylum Records in June 1972. The album was recorded in February 1972 at Olympic Studios in London with producer Glyn Johns and went on to reach No. 22 on the Billboard 200, later earning platinum certification. “Tryin'” appears as track ten on the original LP, running just under three minutes (around 2:52–2:54) and rounding out a sequence that also includes early hits such as “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
The song was written by bassist Randy Meisner, who also sings lead vocal. Band and box-set credits list “Tryin'” solely to Meisner, and fan-discography sites group it with other Eagles songs he both wrote and fronted, including “Take the Devil,” “Certain Kind of Fool,” “Is It True?” and “Try and Love Again.” On the debut album, Meisner has three lead vocals (“Most of Us Are Sad,” “Take the Devil” and “Tryin'”), giving him a clear role alongside Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Bernie Leadon in establishing the group’s four-singer identity.
Although “Tryin'” was not promoted as an A-side single in the United States, it did appear on a widely issued 45. When “Peaceful Easy Feeling” was released as the third single from the Eagles album on December 1, 1972, “Tryin'” was used as the B-side; discographies and label images confirm this pairing in the U.S., Canada and several European territories. “Peaceful Easy Feeling” reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving “Tryin'” some radio and jukebox exposure even though it did not chart separately under its own title.
The lyric presents a straightforward account of a young musician chasing opportunity. In the first verse, the narrator has “just arrivin’ in the city” with “music on my mind,” leaving home far behind and facing a “long road ahead.” Later lines talk about needing time before he can get back home, laying things “on the line,” and believing that “you can make it if you try.” The final section warns that simply sitting and thinking is easy, while real progress comes from taking chances, giving as well as taking, and trying again after mistakes. Overall, the text is built around perseverance and mutual support, framed as encouragement both to himself and to the listener.
Musically, “Tryin'” is an uptempo country-rock track. Reviews and album overviews describe it as a blues-tinged, high-energy closer that contrasts with the more relaxed feel of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” just before it. The arrangement features Meisner’s bass, electric and acoustic guitars, drums and group harmonies, recorded with the same clean, largely live-in-the-studio approach Glyn Johns used across the album. Later track listings and remasters give its running time as about 2:53, and the song has appeared on box sets such as Eagles (the 2005 multi-CD collection) and , confirming its place as a standard part of the band’s early catalogue.
Live documentation shows that “Tryin'” also had a role in early Eagles concerts. A 1973 review of a show at Akron University Gym praises Meisner’s performance on “Certain Kind of Fool” and “Tryin’,” noting the “high energy” and highlighting his bass work. A later survey of live recordings from 1972–1977 remarks that concert versions of “Tryin'” usually included an extended bass solo near the end of the song, emphasizing Meisner’s instrumental contribution as well as his vocals. These reports suggest that, while never a hit single, the track was valued within the band as a vehicle for the bassist on stage.
In retrospect, “Tryin'” is often cited in discussions of Randy Meisner’s importance to the early Eagles. Articles devoted to his songwriting list it alongside “Take the Devil” as evidence that he was contributing original material from the very first album, not just playing bass and singing harmonies. Together with the rest of the debut LP, it helped define the group’s initial blend of country-rock, vocal harmony and individual songwriting voices, even though the song itself remained an album cut and B-side rather than a charting single.
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Lyric
I’m just arriving in the city and there’s music on my mind
Looking for my destination and my home is far behind
‘Cause it’s a long road ahead
And you can make it in the end
I’m going to make it with my friends
And I’m trying
It took me sometime to see it
Now I’m looking through this world
And it’s going to take some time before I get back, help me girl
‘Cause you can make it if you try
You got to lay it on the line
And everything will be fine if you try, oh
Sitting smoking just a thinking is an easy thing to do
We got to keep on trying for the feeling to come through
And it’s a lonely way to live
You got to take it, you got to give
If you mistake it, just try again
And I’m trying, yeah
Ah-ha-ha, we got to keep on trying
Ah-ha-ha, we got to keep on trying
Ah-ha-ha, we got to keep on trying
Ah-ha-ha, we got to keep on trying
Whoa, I’m trying (we got to keep on trying)
Whoa, I’m trying (we got to keep on trying)
Whoa (we got to keep on trying)
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah-ah