Witchy Woman

The harmony of 'Witchy Woman' is deceptively simple yet highly effective. The verse's sustained Gm vamp creates a hypnotic, almost meditative drone that mirrors the song's mystical lyrical content. Bernie Leadon's minor-key riff, which Henley compared to 'Indian music,' operates more as a melodic ostinato than a chord progression, giving the song a modal, folk-influenced character. The chorus introduces harmonic movement with a III-VII-i cadence common in natural minor rock writing. The R&B pulse that Henley infused into the rhythm section adds a subtle blues influence to the otherwise folk-rock harmonic language. The overall effect is a song that sounds ancient and incantatory — perfectly matching its witchy subject matter.

Guitarist Bernie Leadon began writing the song's distinctive minor-key riff while still a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. After joining the Eagles, he brought the unfinished piece to Don Henley, who was living in an old house near the Hollywood Bowl with his flatmate Henry Vine. Leadon played the strange, haunting riff that Henley described as sounding like 'a Hollywood movie version of Indian music — the kind of stuff they play when the Indians ride up on the ridge while the wagon train passes below.' Intrigued by its quality, they recorded a rough version on cassette tape and developed it into a full song. It would be the only track on the Eagles' debut album where Henley had a writing credit.

Released as the second single from the Eagles' 1972 debut album, 'Witchy Woman' blends country rock with a dark, hypnotic minor-key riff and R&B-infused rhythms. Written by Bernie Leadon and Don Henley, the song reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the band's most iconic early tracks.