Rocky Mountain Way
{{for|the compilation album|Rocky Mountain Way (album)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Rocky Mountain Way
| cover = Rockymountainway.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Joe Walsh
| album = The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get
| B-side = (Day Dream) Prayer
| released = 1973
| format =
| recorded = 1973
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Blues rock
| length = 5:17 (album version)
3:39 (single version)
| label = ABC-Dunhill
| writer = {{hlist|Joe Walsh|Joe Vitale|Rocke Grace|Kenny Passarelli}}
| producer = {{hlist|Joe Walsh|Bill Szymczyk}}
| next_title = Meadows
| next_year = 1974
| misc = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|4Fz-mHGXgzs|Rocky Mountain Way}}}}
}}
"Rocky Mountain Way" is a 1973 song by rock guitarist Joe Walsh and his band Barnstorm, with writing credits given to all four band members: Walsh, Rocke Grace, Kenny Passarelli, and Joe Vitale. The song was originally released on the album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get.
Writing
Walsh appeared in studio on The Howard Stern Show on June 12, 2012, and talked about how the lyrics to the song came to him in 1972 shortly after releasing his first solo effort, Barnstorm.
"I'm living in Colorado and I'm mowing the lawn. I look up and there's the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and there's snow on them in the summer. And it knocked me back because it was just beautiful. And I thought, 'Well I have committed. I'm already in Colorado and it's too late to regret the James Gang. The Rocky Mountain way is better than the way I had, because the music was better.' I got the words. Bam!"{{cite AV media|people=Joe Walsh; Howard Stern|date=April 18, 2021|title=What’s the Greatest Song Joe Walsh Ever Wrote?|language=en-US|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8N5F1iUNSM|access-date=December 17, 2023|publisher=The Howard Stern Show|via=YouTube}}
Walsh has varied that story over the years, however, telling the Rocky Mountain News that he wrote the lyrics while recording the album at Caribou Ranch Recording Studio. The song features Walsh using a guitar talk box manufactured by sound engineer Bob Heil, inventor of the Heil high-powered talk box. The distinct tone "... gives Walsh's blues stomp a futuristic wave, as if a hulking mechanical beast was looming just over those rocky mountains."{{Cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/talk-box-songs/|title=Top 10 Talk Box Songs|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=18 September 2014 }}{{Cite web|url=https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/audio-music/talk-box.htm|title=How Talk Boxes Work|date=June 27, 2011|website=HowStuffWorks}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/joe-walsh-my-life-in-15-songs-66390/|title=Joe Walsh: My Life in 15 Songs|first1=Richard|last1=Bienstock|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=May 19, 2016}}
The song was used as the title to Walsh's 1985 compilation album, which featured previously released singles and tracks from his albums Barnstorm, The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get and So What.
Production
In Jake Brown's 2014 book Behind the Boards II, producer Bill Szymczyk writes about how Walsh first came up with an instrumental "blues-shuffle" recorded at the Criteria studio, then stripped down to drums alone at the Caribou studio and rebuilt from there, adding lyrics to make the final version. Walsh is described as having layered about "six or seven" guitars on the recording, playing through a small amp with one Shure SM57 microphone aimed at it. Szymczyk says the thick guitar sound is from Walsh himself, not from studio trickery.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8vdAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rocky+Mountain+Way%22+funk+OR+boogie&pg=PT8|title=Behind the Boards II: The Making of Rock 'n' Roll's Greatest Records Revealed|first=Jake|last=Brown|date=May 1, 2014|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781480392588|via=Google Books}}
Chart history
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1977)
!Peak |
|---|
| UK Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|39 |
Live versions
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2020}}
In 1976, Walsh recorded the song on his You Can't Argue with a Sick Mind album.
Walsh played the song frequently while on tour with the Eagles, including the 1977 Hotel California Tour, again in 1979 and later into the first half of 1980's Long Run tour, also being added yet again to the set in the 1994 reunion tour with Eagles.
In 1985, Walsh joined Australian rock band, The Party Boys, and while touring they recorded a live album, You Need Professional Help, which featured an extended guitar duel between Walsh and Kevin Borich on "Rocky Mountain Way".{{Cite book | last = McFarlane | first = Ian | author-link = Ian McFarlane | title = Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop | chapter = 'The Party Boys' Entry | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040419103524/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=562 | chapter-url = http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=562 | archive-date = 19 April 2004 | access-date = 31 March 2012 | year = 1999 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = St Leonards, NSW | isbn = 1865080721 | url-status = dead | title-link = Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop }} Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
In 1989, Walsh played an eight-minute version in the Ringo Starr's All Starr Band, starting with a slide arrangement of "Amazing Grace."
In October 19, 1991 Joe Walsh performed this song with Brian May, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Nuno Bettencourt at the Guitar Legends festival in Seville.
In 2004 it was sung by Walsh at Crossroads Guitar Festival and along with Eagles on their Farewell I Tour.
In 2010, "Rocky Mountain Way" was one of three songs played during the encore each night during the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden Tour. The other two songs performed in the encore were "Desperado" and "Take it Easy".
In 2012, "Rocky Mountain Way" was the first of six songs performed live by Walsh in the Joe Walsh episode (episode 60) of Live from Daryl's House, which also includes discussion of the song.
On May 24, 2016, Walsh performed "Rocky Mountain Way" on the season 10 finale of the NBC reality television singing competition The Voice, along with contestant Laith Al-Saadi.
Other uses
The Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball franchise has played the song after every home win at Coors Field since 1995.{{cite web|last=Clair|first=Michael|title=Every team's victory song, ranked|url=https://www.mlb.com/cut4/every-major-league-team-s-victory-song-ranked|publisher=MLB Advanced Media|website=MLB.com|date=July 12, 2019|access-date=September 23, 2020}}{{cite news|last=Duvall|first=Erin|title=Keith Urban Rocks "Rocky Mountain Way" With Legendary Joe Walsh of The Eagles|url=http://www.onecountry.com/keith-urban-joe-walsh-rocky-mountain-way-1894250205.html|website=OneCountry.com|date=June 30, 2016|access-date=August 22, 2016|quote=The pair played "Rock Mountain Way," a song from Walsh's former band Barnstorm. The tune has been adopted by the Colorado Rockies baseball team and was also reworked in the '90s when it appeared on "Monday Night Football."}}
In 1998, the ABC television network wanted to use a classic rock song for Monday Night Football that year, so they asked Walsh to rewrite the lyrics to "Rocky Mountain Way" for Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway. "Rocky Mountain Elway" was the new title of the song and Walsh appeared in a video that ABC Sports showed on a telecast of Monday Night Football.
The Denver Broncos currently play the Godsmack cover version of the song during home games at Empower Field at Mile High.{{cite web|title=Broncos In-Arena Playlist|url=http://www.denverbroncos.com/playlist/|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|website=DenverBroncos.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209094605/http://www.denverbroncos.com/playlist/|archive-date=February 9, 2015|access-date=April 4, 2019|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Joe Walsh}}
{{Colorado Rockies}}
{{Denver Broncos}}
Category:Songs written by Joe Walsh
Category:Song recordings produced by Bill Szymczyk
Category:Songs written by Joe Vitale (musician)
Category:Songs written by Kenny Passarelli