Tequila Sunrise

the title has always had me wondering. i think it can mean one of two things. one - that he's been out drinking all night, so he sees the sunrise through the haze of tequila... or it could be referring to tequila's golden color, in comparison to the gold of a country sunrise. i'd really like to believe it's both.

as with most eagles songs, this tells a story... the first part is in third person, but he is talking about himself. ["he was just a hired hand..."]

he fell in love with a girl who had a reputation for sleeping around. ["ev'ry night when the sun goes down/ just another lonely boy in town/ and she's out runnin' 'round"]

he wants to believe she's changed, but i think he finds she's been with friends of his. ["it's a hollow feelin' when it comes down to dealin' friends/ it never ends."]

so he worked up the nerve to talk to her about it, and loses it, can't say it, and loses her. so he forces himself to remain numb (in part due to alcohol, i believe heh), and the last lines are just saying that no matter what, it's just one part of this huge puzzle of life. life does go on. "this old world still looks the same/ another frame". (another frame, like a part of a movie.)

I think this song is about a guy who is in love with this girl but she doesn't really want to settle down and she is out with another guy every night. So he is just drinking to try and solve his problems but he just can't seem to make them go away.

Some of you are close. The man is a hired hand on the ranch that she lives on. He's fallen in love with her, without her knowing and she considers them friends. Many men are hurt by woman that they are attracted to that consider them only friends. The songwriter alludes to the woman being "special", probably the ranch owners daughter, when he says "she wasn't just another woman...." The songwriter is a friend of the shy hired hand and feels bad for making his move on the woman that his friend obviously loves, but he was lonely, and this woman was special enough for him to make the move regardless of his friend's feelings. Throughout the song, Tequilla is a theme, I suspect for all three people involved.

Well my take is this......

" Ev'ry night when the sun goes down Just another lonely boy in town And she's out runnin' 'round "

This is about a guy who is drinking by himself, and he sees the sun rise without the girl he was in love with in the past. He is sitting by himself finding no one, and she is out finding everyone.

" It's been so long" and "this old world still looks the same, Another frame, mm..."

loved his past with that girl, misses it, now all he has are pictures, tequilla ( the courage to go on )

geez, that is a really good question. I love this song and listen to it damn near everyday but never really thought what the words mean...I would have to think that it is about a troubled relationship (lyrics remind me of lyin eyes). I think that the guy and the girl are both cheatin on each other though. And that their relationship is going nowhere and they dont know how to tell each other they had enough. Just a quick guess.

"im pretty sure the drink "tequila sunrise" was named after this song"

Actually, the drink is the reason they almost rejected the title. They were considering another title because it was so cliche, and the drink was so popular then, but Henly mentioned seeing it as "You've been drinking straight tequila all night, and the sun's coming up." rather than the drink.

They kept the title.

I also had the resort picture in my head. Tan stone tiles and white iron railings on some kind of porch, covered in all sorts of tropical plants.

I took it as a guy with an unrequited love interest. The guy has an idealized image of her, even though she's kind of a skank "out runnin' 'round" every night. Meanwhile he spends his nights hoping that she'll come around and fall for him. The "dealing friends" part could mean that he's trying to use her friends as a way of getting closer to her (don't act like you've never heard of that). It's not working, so it leaves the hollow feeling.

So anyways, he's sitting there in a bar, slamming shots of liquid courage, but he still can't work up the nerve to make some kind of move. Eventually, he sinks into despair and accepts that things will never work out.

...Just a thought.

im living it. very hard for me. when i hear this song im reminded of the fact that i have to respect the boundry line's. unwritten rule. waiting for my love to call me when she needs me. feelin lonely waiting for her to call me same old routin, everyday. im in love with a woman whos married. i tasted loveand im sad cuz i cant have her. when in an enviroment where friends dissaprove of a married woman with a married man its a hollow feeling when you have to hide your true feelings from everyone when you talk to the one you love and cant speak to her or show her the affection she deserves you just feel empty .so i go home and feel the pain. so i drink and cant sleep ,i go outside and watch the beautiful sunrise come up ,which reminds me of how beautifuls the woman i cant be with is. cry cry cry .......

I think its a pretty simple song for anyone who has ever felt the way the man has. You are real lucky that you havent felt that way.

Its about a guy who is infatuated with a girl who doesnt even know he exists, or maybe just isnt aware he has feelings for her. He drinks thinking it will make him get the guts to talk to her (Take another shot of courage, but the right words never come, you just feel numb) and in the end he just ends up trying to drink his way through his misery. He ends up just getting drunk and waking up to a world in which he is still alone, drinking solves nothing. (Its another tequila sunrise but this world still looks the same).

Funny how easy it is to get into discussions of the meaning of Eagles' songs...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that this song was on side one of Desperado (the Eagle's BEST studio album, IMHO) which was a "a concept album, based on the Dalton gang and the Old West." (Thank you Wikipedia, I couldn't have said it better myself.)

Ranch hand, Old West saloon, saloon 'lady', unrequited love, longing for something more, another ineffective shot of tequila for courage to say the right words to her (strong, silent type), dealing friends like dealing cards (?)-- you don't know what hand Fate will deal you (in this case, the 'just friends' hand) drinking all night and stumbling out at dawn: big Western sky with huge vistas and swirling colors of the sunrise on the clouds like the swirling colors of a 'Tequila Sunrise' cocktail (do a Google image search).

BTW, again c/o Wikipedia: "The Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail... originally served at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, the cocktail is named for the way it looks after it has been poured into a glass. The denser ingredients (cassis or grenadine) settle, creating gradations in color that mimic a sunrise."

Remember, the next song was 'Desperado' which complements this song perfectly.

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy She'll beat you if she's able You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin' Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Thanks @BluesRaven for the background tidbit.