“Seven Bridges Road” was written in 1969 by Montogomery, Alabama musician Steve Young for his album titled “Rock, Salt, and Nails”.  The song has been covered by a lot of different artists, but The Eagles put the song on the map. When they included their harmonious version of the song with an acapella introduction on their 1980 Live Album, it was an instant hit. 

It is the Eagles’ version of  “Seven Bridges Road” that reminds me of one of my oldest friends, Ken. This was verified authentic just the other day when he told me, via text message, “Our friendship? Eagles. Seven Bridges Road”. Add the movie “Young Guns” and Motley Crüe’s album “Dr. Feelgood” and I am awash in memories of exploits from another time.  Flying down the road with telephone poles that became picket fences. Jamming to all kinds of tunes from Motley Crüe to Pearl Jam to Metallica to the Eagles. Singing at the top of our lungs and one always taking the harmony. How long did it take us to get there? Six Coors Tall Boys…each! Days of innocence and sometimes reckless abandon. The adventures of Chavez and KenDog that began with a mysterious stolen Pioneer car stereo and blossomed into a friendship for the ages. We are more than “pals”. We are “brothers”. Friends for over thirty years. Even when time and distance keep us apart, once together it’s as if no time has passed and we pick up right where we left off. A moniker of true friendship…and love. 

And that is why “Seven Bridges Road” is the perfect title song for our friendship. As the song laments, “Now I have loved you like a baby. Like some lonesome child. And I have loved you in a tame way. And I have loved you wild.” The song nails our friendship to its core. Even when it whispers “Sometimes there’s a part of me, has to turn from here and go.” Although we may have turned and gone down completely different roads and are now miles apart, our friendship endures always.

© 2022 Gregory Vessar. A Thousand Miles from Kansas. All Rights Reserved.