1975 Anthem With Soulful Guitar Lick Ranked the Year's Definitive Song of Summer
Summer is right around the corner, and you know what that means: blasting classic rock anthems with windows down. And we have the perfect hit to play on repeat: the Eagles' "One of These Nights."
Named 1975's definitive song of summer by Business Insider, the track hit the airwaves in May that year and became a landmark anthem for the band. Not only did it signal a new era for the boys, but "One of These Nights" shifted their sound from the easygoing country-rock of their 1972 self-titled debut to a darker, more R&B-tinged vibe.
"We like to be a nice little country-rock band from Los Angeles - about half the time," Don Henley told Rolling Stone in 1975. "We wanted to get away from the ballad syndrome with 'One of These Nights.' With Don Felder in the band now, we can really rock. He's made us nastier and did a great guitar solo on the single."
Written by Henley and Glenn Frey, the title track off their June 1975 album infuses a disco-bottomed groove into the group's signature California rock sound.
"I'd been listening to Spinners and Al Green records when I started writing it at the piano," Frey told Rolling Stone. "Our producer, Bill Szymczyk, is a real R&B freak. He was a freelance engineer in the '60s on Aaron Neville's 'Tell It Like It Is' and B.B. King's 'The Thrill Is Gone.'"
Meanwhile, for his part, Felder crafted what is now an iconic guitar lick that actually mimics the sound of another instrument altogether.
Speaking with Guitar Player last year, Felder said, "If you listen to that guitar solo, it's really an alto saxophone solo. I kept listening to this track, and it wasn't like rock ‘n' roll. It was almost like R&B at the time."
He added that he's good friends with prolific saxophonist David Sanborn and put himself in Sanborn's shoes to craft his riff. "So what I did, it's really a horn part; it's got places where a sax player would stop and take a breath. It's an alto sax solo that I play on guitar."
The track marks Felder's first credited song with the Eagles and, oh, was it a good one. Hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August that year, "One of These Nights" was the second chart-topping single for the Eagles, with the album seeing the same success and reaching the pinnacle spot on the Billboard 200.
It's just one of those songs.
Related: 1980 ‘Sublime Ballad' With Iconic Guitar Riff Became One of the Greatest in Rock History
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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 12:33 PM.