"Life's Been Good" | ||||
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Single by Joe Walsh | ||||
from the album But Seriously, Folks... and FM: The Original Movie Soundtrack | ||||
B-side | "Theme from Boat Weirdos" | |||
Released | May 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1978 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 8:56 (album version w/ hidden track) 8:04 (album version w/o hidden track) 4:35 (single version) | |||
Label | Asylum and MCA Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Joe Walsh | |||
Producer(s) |
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Joe Walsh singles chronology | ||||
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Audio | ||||
"Life's Been Good" on YouTube |
"Life's Been Good" is a song by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh that first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1978 film FM. The original eight-minute version was released on Walsh's fourth studio album But Seriously, Folks... (1978), and an edited four-minute single version peaked at No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, remaining his biggest solo hit.
In the song, Walsh satirically reflects on the antics and excesses of the era's rock stars, with nods to drummer Keith Moon of the Who and others: "I live in hotels, tear out the walls/I have accountants pay for it all", and "My Maserati[1] does one-eighty-five/I lost my license, now I don't drive", based on his own experience.
The 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide called it "riotous", and "(maybe) the most important statement on rock stardom anyone has made in the late Seventies".