Joe Walsh: Living Life One Day at a Time
I recently saw Joe Walsh live in concert at Riverfest in Sloan, Iowa. After seeing him for the first time, I bought his brand new album “Analog Man” and realized a “new Joe Walsh album” isn’t exactly a common thing.
“Analog Man” is Joe Walsh’s first studio album since 1992.
Joe Walsh released a solo album in 1992 titled “Songs for a Dying Planet.” I was two months old. Twenty years went by and he didn’t release any new solo albums. That all changed earlier this summer as the Eagles guitarist released the new solo album “Analog Man” in June. With no new solo albums in those twenty years, one shouldn’t assume Walsh didn’t stay productive. In the past two decades, Walsh has kept busy with the Eagles as they reunited in 1994 after a 14 year hiatus and have toured regularly since. More importantly, however, for the 64 year old Wichita, KS native, he has cleaned up his act off the stage.
The seventh track on Walsh’s Analog Man album, “One Day at a Time,” highlights his recovery from alcoholism which he has been successful at since 1995.
In the song he says, “Well it started with a couple of beers. And it went I don’t know how many years, like a runaway train headed for the end of the line.”
The song is an inspirational look at the man who finally realized he had a problem and did something to combat the issue.
“Well I finally got around to admit that I might have a problem, but I thought it was just too damn big of a mountain to climb. Well I got down on my knees and said ‘Hey!’ ‘I just cant go on livin’ this way! I Guess I have to learn to live my life one day at a time.”
Admitting he had a problem was the first step, and it didn’t take him too long to realize where the problem was.
“I finally got around to admit that I was the problem when I used to put the blame on everybody’s shoulders but mine.”
Having lived the rock and roll lifestyle, Walsh says many of his friends are not even around anymore.
“All the friends I used to run with are gone. Lord, I hadn’t planned on livin’ this long. I finally learned to live my life one day at a time.”
The song culminates with Walsh’s perspective of his past.
“It was something I was too blind to see. I got help from something greater than me.
And today I learned to live my life one day at a time.”
A lot has happened in the past two decades for the Kansas guitarist, even if that only includes one new studio album. And as the song “One Day at a Time” explains, Joe Walsh is still around to enjoy it when he might not have otherwise. He is living one day at a time.