About The Song
“I Wish You Peace” appeared as the closing track on the Eagles’ album One of These Nights, released on June 10, 1975, by Asylum Records. Produced by Bill Szymczyk, the song runs 3:45 and features Bernie Leadon’s gentle lead vocal over a soft acoustic arrangement with subtle piano, strings, and light percussion—creating a mellow, almost prayer-like ballad that contrasts the album’s harder rock edges. It was not issued as a single, so it received no individual chart position, though the album itself topped the Billboard 200 and sold millions.
The track was written by guitarist Bernie Leadon and his then-girlfriend Patti Davis. Leadon later explained that Davis wrote most of the song, while he contributed the second verse and handled the arrangement. Davis, who co-wrote despite having no prior song credits with the band, brought a personal touch drawn from her own experiences.
The inclusion caused internal friction; bandmates Don Henley and Glenn Frey objected to an outside writer and felt the song fell short of the group’s standards. Henley later called it “smarmy cocktail music” and “certainly not something the Eagles are proud of,” adding in interviews that “nobody else wanted it. We didn’t feel it was up to the band’s standards, but we put it on anyway as a gesture to keep the band together.” This marked Leadon’s final album with the Eagles—he departed soon after amid growing creative tensions.
The song has remained divisive yet enduring. Henley dismissed it publicly, but fans often praise its ethereal melody, sophisticated chords, and sincere emotion, ranking it higher in personal favorites than official band opinions suggest. It has appeared on reissues and compilations of the album without alteration. Though rarely performed live by the Eagles, it surfaces in solo sets by Leadon and has been described by admirers as a hidden gem that captures a moment of vulnerability in the band’s otherwise polished catalog.
Video
Lyric
I wish you peace when the cold winds blow
Warmed by the fire’s glow
I wish you comfort in the, the lonely time
Arms to hold you when you ache inside
I wish you hope when things are going bad
Kind words when times are sad
I wish you shelter from the, the raging wind
Cooling waters at the fever’s end
I wish you peace when times are hard
A light to guide you through the dark
And when storms are high, and your, your dreams are low
I wish you the strength to let love grow
Oh, I wish you the strength to let love flow
Wish you peace when times are hard
A light to guide you through the dark
And when storms are high and your, your dreams are low
Wish you the strength to let love grow, ah, ah, ah
I wish you the strength to let love flow, ah, ah, ah
I wish you the strength to let love glow, ah, ah, ah
I wish you the strength to let love glow