‘Take It to the Limit’ is a song by the Eagles from their fourth album One of These Nights from which it was issued as the last third single on November 15, 1975. It reached No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was also the Eagles' greatest success to that point in the United Kingdom, going to No. 12 on the charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1976.
The song, written by Eagles members Randy Meisner, Don Henley and Glenn Frey began as a solo composition by Meisner, who sang lead on it. As it remained unfinished when time came for the One of These Nights album to be recorded, Henley and Frey assisted Meisner in completing it. Meisner's performance of the song was popular with the audience in Eagles concerts, but disputes over his reluctance to perform it would also directly lead to Meisner's departure from the band.
According to Meisner, he wrote the first few lines of the song one night while playing an acoustic guitar after returning from the Troubadour; however, he was not able to finish the song by the time they were close to recording it, and Frey and Henley then helped him with the lyrics. On the meaning of the song, Meisner said in the documentary History of the Eagles: "The line 'take it to the limit' was to keep trying before you reach a point in your life where you feel you've done everything and seen everything, sort of feeling, you know, part of getting old. And just to take it to the limit one more time, like every day just keep, you know, punching away at it ... That was the line, and from there the song took a different course."
Meisner had been struggling to hit the crucial high notes in the song during the Hotel California tour. According to Joe Walsh, Meisner could perform the song, but would become nervous when told he had to sing it. By the time they had reached Knoxville, Tennessee in June 1977, the band was feeling the strain of a long tour, with Meisner unhappy and suffering from a stomach ulcer. Meisner decided not to sing the song for an encore because he had been up late and caught the flu. Frey and Meisner then became involved in an angry physical confrontation backstage over Meisner's refusal to perform the song. After the altercation, Meisner was frozen out from the band and he decided to leave. He left the band at the end of their tour in September 1977 and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit – coincidentally, the same bassist who had replaced him in Poco.
Label – Asylum
Songwriters – Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey
Producer – Bill Szymczyk
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]All alone at the end of the evening
When the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have
Loved me and I never knew
You know I've always been a dreamer
(Spent my life running 'round)
And it's so hard to change
(Can't seem to settle down)
But the dreams I've seen lately
Keep on turning out and burning out
And turning out the same
[Chorus]
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
[Verse 2]
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
And when you're looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can't find the door
(Can't find it anywhere)
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more
[Chorus]
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
[Outro]
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit (Wee-ee)
Take it to the limit (C'mon)
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit (Wee-ee)
Take it to the limit (You gotta)
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit (Wee-ee)
Take it to the limit (Come on and)
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit (Ah-ah)
Take it to the limit (Ah-ah)
Take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit