Eagles – Saturday Night

About The Song

“Saturday Night” is an Eagles song on the album Desperado, released by Asylum Records on April 17, 1973. Writing is credited to Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon, and the track time on the original LP is about 3:20.

The recording was produced and engineered by Glyn Johns during the Desperado sessions at Island Studios in London in early 1973, with Howard Kilgour as assistant engineer. The album was issued by Asylum in the U.S. in April 1973.

Lead vocal on the studio recording is by Don Henley, with harmony from Randy Meisner. Jim Ed Norman is credited on piano for this track in the album’s musician listings.

The song appears on Side Two of the original LP sequence as track four. It was not issued as a U.S. single; the singles taken from Desperado were “Tequila Sunrise” and “Outlaw Man.”

The composition sits within the broader Western/outsider motif that frames the Desperado album, though the LP is documented as a loose concept rather than a strict narrative. Lyrical and arrangement details align with the record’s acoustic-leaning, country-rock palette.

Contemporary performance records place “Saturday Night” in the Eagles’ 1973 tour sets promoting Desperado, including the BBC television program In Concert (taped March 20, 1973) and spring European dates.

Credits on the album cycle list Glenn Frey (vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica), Don Henley (vocals, drums, acoustic guitar), Bernie Leadon (vocals, guitars, banjo, mandolin, Dobro), and Randy Meisner (vocals, bass), with Glyn Johns overseeing production and engineering for the London sessions.

Video

Lyric

Seems like a dream now, it was so long ago
The moon burned so bright and the time went so slow
And I swore that I loved her and gave her a ring
The bluebird was high on the wing

Whatever happened to Saturday night
Finding a sweetheart and holding her tight?
She said,”Tell me, oh, tell me, was I all right?”
Whatever happened to Saturday night?

The years brought the railroad
It ran by my door
Now there’s boards on the windows
And dust on the floor
And she passes the time at another man’s side
And I pass the time with my pride

What a tangled web we weave
Go ’round with circumstance
Someone show me how to tell the dancer
From the dance

What ever happened
To Saturday night?
Choosin’ a friend and loosin’ a fight
She said,”Tell me, oh, tell me, are you alright?”
Whatever happened to Saturday night?
Whatever happened to Saturday night?