this song is about psychological addiction. it is nicely camouflaged. however if you have been an addict or are close to someone who is or has been, the meaning becomes quite clear. when i was younger i thought it was all about searching for love blah blah blah. it isnt, it is about someone who is avoiding life, avoiding decisions, avoiding responsibilities by sinking into their addiction. stay on the fence, dont take any risks, dont see anything but the bad sides (there is a rainbow there even though it is raining) and in the meantime get older and wander through your life alone with whatever addictive thing/behaviour it happens to be.

Come on, it's nothing to do with addiction. For those who said it is - perhaps something in your own lives is affecting your views?

The Queen of Diamonds is money or material things. The Queen of Hearts is love and personal relationships.

It's from the Desperado album, which as a whole is concerned with outlaw gangs, and so at one level the song is about a gang member trapped in a life of crime, and predicting an unhappy end unless he gives up bank robberies (chasing after the money) and settles down to a life with a loving partner.

It can also be generalised to apply to anyone following a lifestyle of pursuit after material things instead of focusing on relationships.

And then, when you get to the end of the album, you learn from the Reprise that the Desperado didn't follow the advice and is doomed to a life of unhappiness. "You sealed your fate a long time ago / Now there's no time left to borrow / Only stardust / Maybe tomorrow..".

It's about a man, he's referring to the cards as girls. The Queen of Diamonds is every hot thing that struts by

The queen of Hearts is the woman who loves you that you don't dare fall for because you are holding out for... The Queen of Diamonds. Because of that you've been out riding fences - Sleeping around not in a serious relationship = Things that are pleasing you could hurt you somehow.

"Some fine things have been laid up on your table" = The Queen of Hearts

"You only want the ones that you can't get" = The Queen of Diamonds

You ain't gettin' no younger so you better settle with the Queen of Hearts. "before its too late"

"The sky won't snow, and the sun won't shine. It's hard to tell the night time from the day. Losing all your highs and lows, and it funny how the feeling goes away" - A loose reference of burning out from too much drinking/partying random hookups that make you numb to your feelings.

"Freedom oh freedom, that's just some people talkin" -Your buddies telling you, 'dude don't settle down, that's stupid.'

***I think that this particular singer actually lost someone that he cared about and who loved him back, but he lost her because he was too busy doing the rockstar thing***

To me this song is about craving what you can't have, in this case the song is about a man who wants a woman who doesn't love him back. He's head over heels for her and is blinded by his infatuation with her that he can't see that she only wants him for money (Hence queen of diamonds) or is just toying with him. Instead of settling for the girl that loves him (queen of hearts) he just keeps chasing after the other girl and hence why he is doomed for a "prison" of loneliness unless he relinquishes the other girl and "let's somebody love him, before it's too late".

ahhhh i love the eagles.
and this song. awesome.