"Life in the Fast Lane" is a song written by Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, and recorded by the American rock band the Eagles on their 1976 studio album Hotel California. It was the third single released from this album, and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song tells the story of a couple who take their excessive lifestyle to the edge. On In the Studio with Redbeard, Glenn Frey revealed that the title came to him one day when he was riding on the freeway with a drug dealer known as "The Count".

Frey asked the dealer to slow down and the response was, "What do you mean? It's life in the fast lane!" In that same interview, Frey indicated that the song's central riff was played by Walsh while the band was warming up in rehearsals and Walsh was told to "keep that; it's a song". Don Henley recalled that the "song actually sprang from the opening guitar riff. One day, at rehearsal, Joe [Walsh] just busted out that crazy riff and I said 'What the hell is that? We've got to figure out to make a song out of that."

Henley and Frey, the primary lyricists for the band, then wrote the lyrics for the song.

Lyrics

He was a hard-headed man,

He was brutally handsome,

And she was terminally pretty

She held him up,

And he held her for ransom

In the heart of the cold, cold city

He had nasty reputation as a cruel dude

They said he was ruthless, said he was crude

They had one thing in common, they were good in bed

She'd say, "Faster, faster. The lights are turnin' red."

Life in the fast lane

Surely make you lose your mind

Life in the fast lane

Are you with me so far?

Eager for action,

Hot for the game

The coming attraction,

The drop of a name

They knew all the right people,

They took all the right pills

They threw outrageous parties,

They paid heavenly bills

There were lines on the mirror,

Lines on her face

She pretended not to notice,

She was caught up in the race

Out every evening,

Until it was light

He was too tired to make it,

She was too tired to fight about it

Life in the fast lane

Surely make you lose your mind

Life in the fast lane

Life in the fast lane,

Everything all the time

Life in the fast lane

Blowin' and burnin',

Blinded by thirst

They didn't see the stop sign,

Took a turn for the worst

She said, "Listen, baby. You can hear the engine ring.

We've been up and down this highway; haven't seen a goddamn thing."

He said, "Call the doctor. I think I'm gonna crash."

"The doctor say he's comin', but you gotta pay him cash."

They went rushin' down that freeway,

Messed around and got lost

They didn't care they were just dyin' to get off and it was...

Life in the fast lane

Surely make you lose your mind

Life in the fast lane

Life in the fast lane,

Everything all the time

Life in the fast lane,

Life in the fast lane

Life in the fast lane