Song · Glenn Frey
“Smuggler's Blues” by Glenn Frey
From the album The Allnighter (1984)
“Smuggler's Blues” by Glenn Frey appears on 10 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1997 and 2023. It was first released in 1984 on the album The Allnighter. Its best result is #410 on the KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,699 classic rock song of all time.
Glenn Frey closed out the singles from The Allnighter, his second solo album, with "Smuggler's Blues", and it outran "Sexy Girl" and the title track to chart highest of the three. He wrote it with Jack Tempchin and produced it with Allan Blazek, who also engineered and mixed, and he does plenty of the heavy lifting himself: lead vocal, electric and slide guitar, synthesizer. Duncan Cameron and Josh Leo add more electric guitar, Brian Garofalo plays bass, Michael Huey drums and Steve Forman congas.
The song crossed over to television, too. Miami Vice named its 16th episode after it and worked it into the story, with Frey playing an airplane pilot, and the video won him an MTV Video Music Award in 1985. It also made the setlist when the Eagles played the Hell Freezes Over Tour.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 410 | 104.5 KZEP | KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997) | 500 |
| 2011 | 819 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) | 1100 |
| 2012 | 854 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) | 1200 |
| 2013 | 987 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 735 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2015 | 994 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) | 1007 |
| 2016 | 442 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 | 1007 |
| 2021 | 467 | WCSX | WCSX Rock & Roll 500 (2021) | 499 |
| 2022 | 419 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) | 500 |
| 2023 | 943 | 101.5 WPDH | WPDH Top 1015 (2023) | 1015 |
Also listed as: Smugglers Blues.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Smuggler's Blues" by Glenn Frey.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.