Life's Been Good

My Maserati does one-eighty-five. I lost my license, now I don’t drive.

Joe Walsh was one of the biggest rock stars in the world when he wrote “Life’s Been Good.” He was making more money than he could spend, destroying hotel rooms for fun, and watching his life become a cartoon of success. Most people would have written a song about how hard it was at the top. Walsh wrote a comedy.

“I have a mansion, forget the price. Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice.”

Every line is a joke that’s also completely true. The Maserati, the mansion, the accountants who handle everything while he’s too wasted to notice—Walsh wasn’t exaggerating. He was confessing. The genius of the song is that it sounds like satire but works as autobiography.

The arrangement matches the excess. Nearly nine minutes long, with multiple guitar solos, key changes, and a talk-box section that sounds like a robot having a breakdown. The Eagles would never have let Walsh do this. Solo, he could indulge every ridiculous impulse.

“I can’t complain, but sometimes I still do.”

That’s the truest line in rock music. Success doesn’t cure anything. It just changes the problems. Walsh knew he was lucky. He also knew that luck and happiness aren’t the same thing.

Life’s been good to him so far.

The “so far” is doing a lot of work.