About The Song
“Learn to Be Still” is a song by Eagles written by Don Henley and Stan Lynch. It was first released in 1994 as one of four new studio recordings on the live reunion album Hell Freezes Over, issued on November 8, 1994, by Geffen Records in association with Eagles Recording Company. On the CD configuration it appears as the fourth track, following “Get Over It,” “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” and “The Girl from Yesterday.”
The song was recorded during the band’s 1994 reunion project, separate from the MTV live concert taping that supplied the rest of the album. Studio credits list the Eagles collectively as producers on all tracks, with Rob Jacobs as a principal producer and engineer, and Stan Lynch specifically credited as producer on “Learn to Be Still.” The sessions were carried out at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles and Sounds Interchange in Toronto as part of the broader Hell Freezes Over production work.
Songwriting is officially credited to Don Henley and Stan Lynch. Lynch had previously worked with Henley as a co-writer and musician on Henley’s solo material in the 1980s, and was long known as the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. “Learn to Be Still” is one of the few Eagles titles to carry his name on the writing line, reflecting the outside collaborations that fed into the band’s reunion material.
The studio line-up on the track matches the reunited “Long Run” era Eagles: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. Personnel listings for the song identify Frey on lead vocal and acoustic guitar, Henley on drums, percussion, and backing vocals, Walsh and Felder on electric guitars and backing vocals, and Schmit on bass and backing vocals. These credits come from region-specific discographies and the album’s documentation of the 1994 line-up.
“Learn to Be Still” was subsequently issued as a single from Hell Freezes Over. International discographies and label data usually date the single release to 1995, with a three-track CD single issued by Geffen/Eagles Recording Company featuring the title song and additional live or studio cuts from the reunion project. In U.S. single chronology, it follows “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” and is listed as the next title in some chart and discography references for 1994–1995.
On the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, “Learn to Be Still” reached No. 15. Canadian listings show a peak of No. 9 on the RPM Adult Contemporary survey, and U.S. Mainstream Rock data place the song at No. 33. These results document its airplay presence on soft rock and adult-leaning formats, even though it did not appear on the Hot 100 singles chart under the rules in effect at the time.
After its initial appearance on Hell Freezes Over, “Learn to Be Still” has been included in later Eagles compilations and remains part of digital and streaming editions of the 1994 live-and-studio set. Track credits in these reissues continue to list Henley and Lynch as writers and preserve the original 1994 production and personnel information associated with the band’s first reunion recordings.
Video
Lyric
Just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
Give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will
Learn to be still
We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don’t know how to be alone
So we wander ’round this desert
Wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
One more starry-eyed Messiah
Meets a violent farewell
Learn to be still
Learn to be still
Now the flowers in your garden
They don’t smell so sweet, so sweet
Maybe you’ve forgotten
Heaven lying at your feet
Ay, yeah yeah
There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
Keep asking
How do I get outta here?
Where do I fit in?
Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin’
It’s waiting for you to awaken
Someday you will
Learn to be still
Learn to be still
Just keep on runnin’
Keep on runnin’
Oh, oh yeah, mm, mm
Just keep on runnin’