Heartache Tonight

"Heartache Tonight"
File:HeartacheTonight45.jpg
Single by Eagles
from the album The Long Run
B-side	"Teenage Jail"
Released	September 18, 1979
Format	7"
Genre	Rock
Length	4:25
Label	Asylum
Writer(s)	Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bob Seger and J. D. Souther
Producer(s)	Bill Szymczyk
Eagles singles chronology
"Please Come Home for Christmas" (1978) "Heartache Tonight" (1979) "The Long Run" (1979)

"Heartache Tonight" is a song written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bob Seger and J. D. Souther, and recorded by the Eagles. The track was included on their album The Long Run and released as a single in 1979. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in November of that year. Although it remained in the top position for only one week, the single sold 1 million copies. It was the Eagles' final chart-topping song on the Hot 100.

The recording also received a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song originated from an electric jam session between Glenn Frey and J. D. Souther who would visit Frey's home in Los Angeles whenever he was in town on tour. Frey and Souther wrote the first verse while listening to Sam Cooke songs. In the heat of jamming, Frey called Seger on the phone and sang him the verse. Seger then blurted out the chorus. According to Frey, "J.D. [Souther], Don and I finished that song up. No heavy lyrics-the song is more of a romp-and that's what it was intended to be." The song was covered by country music singer John Anderson on the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles and was also covered by Michael Bublé on his album Crazy Love.

Personnel

• Glenn Frey: Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Don Henley: Drums, backing vocals
• Joe Walsh: Slide guitar
• Don Felder: Rhythm guitar
• Timothy B. Schmit: Bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bob Seger: Backing vocals (not credited on album liner notes)

Chart performance

Chart (1979)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Adult Contemporary	38
UK Singles Chart	40
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	1

Preceded by "Pop Muzik" by M	Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 10, 1979	Succeeded by "Still" by Commodores
Preceded by "Good Girls Don't" by The Knack	Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single November 17, 1979–November 24, 1979	Succeeded by "Babe" by Styx

Conway Twitty version

"Heartache Tonight"
Single by Conway Twitty
from the album Lost in the Feeling
B-side	"Hello Darlin'"
Released	August 1983
Format	7"
Recorded	February 1–2, 1983 Sound Stage Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre	Country
Length	4:17
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer(s)	Jimmy Bowen, Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty singles chronology
"Lost in the Feeling" (1983) "Heartache Tonight" (1983) "We Had It All" (1983)

"Heartache Tonight" was revived four years later in a cover version by country music artist Conway Twitty. Released as the second single from his Lost in the Feeling album, Twitty's version reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the fall of 1983.

Twitty's version featured the Osmond Brothers on backing vocals. Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek wrote that "Heartache Tonight" and its follow-up single, "Three Times a Lady," "offer(ed) a solid view of Twitty's amazing crossover potential, and his ability to take well-known pop tracks and turn them into solid country smashes long after the countrypolitan days of Chet Atkins and RCA." (In addition to "Three Times a Lady" (a cover of a song by The Commodores), Twitty had successfully covered "Slow Hand" and "The Rose," previously pop hits for the Pointer Sisters and Bette Midler, respectively.)

Chart performance

Chart (1983)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	6
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	3

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics