Bernie had started to feel restless about his position in the Eagles during the recording of On The Border. "Late in the album," Bernie says, "we brought in Don Felder to play some lead electric guitar in a couple of songs. In between him doing that and the release of the album, we decided to get him in the band to beef things up. I was already thinking of leaving. He's an old friend of mine and I know he's good, I know he can hold up. I didn't want to destroy the band by leaving, so I got a good strong friend to come in, so I could bail any time I wanted.

"So I stayed and stayed and stayed, but that was the beginning of my leaving; it took two years. I was enjoying it, it was fun; but the reason I had to leave was the touring kept going on and on. Tensions between me and Henley and Frey were unnecessary—everybody was getting some money and there was no reason to compromise. And in the beginning there were no drugs. The pressure of the whole thing was starting to really wear on me, so I was really seriously thinking of leaving. I was really depressed about my music—that was just personal—and my non-acceptance in the band. I felt we could expand in some other areas 'cause we were so successful. The other guys were being very strong-willed about the

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