This is a song by the Eagles from their 1976 studio album Hotel California. It was written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther. Released as the first single from the album, the song became a number-one hit in the US, and number 20 in the UK. The single version has an earlier fade-out than the album version. The song features Glenn Frey singing the lead vocals, with Don Henley singing main harmony vocals. Randy Meisner plays the guitarrón mexicano, Don Felder plays electric guitars, and Joe Walsh plays the electric piano and organ parts.

In 2016, the editors of Rolling Stone rated "New Kid in Town" as the Eagles 5th greatest song, describing it as "an exquisite piece of south-of-the-border melancholia" and praising its complex, "overlapping harmonies." Those harmonies helped the song win the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices.

Lyrics

There's talk on the street; it sounds so familiar.

Great expectations, everybody's watching you.

People you meet, they all seem to know you.

Even your old friends treat you like you're something new.

Johnny come lately, the new kid in town.

Everybody loves you, so don't let them down.

You look in her eyes; the music begins to play.

Hopeless romantics, here we go again.

But after a while you're looking the other way.

It's those restless hearts that never mend.

Johnny come lately, the new kid in town.

Will she still love you when you're not around?

There's so many things you should have told her,

But night after night you're willing to hold her, just hold her.

Tears on your shoulder.

There's talk on the street; it's there to remind you

It doesn't really matter which side you're on.

You're walking away and they're talking behind you.

They will never forget you till somebody new comes along.

Where you been lately? There's a new kid in town.

Everybody loves him, don't they?

And he's holding her, and you're still around. Oh, my, my.

There's a new kid in town, just another new kid in town.

Ooh, hoo. Everybody's talking 'bout the new kid in town.

Ooh, hoo. Everybody's walking like the new kid in town.

There's a new kid in town. I don't want to hear it.

There's a new kid in town. I don't want to hear it.

There's a new kid in town. There's a new kid in town.

There's a new kid in town. Everybody's talking

There's a new kid in town. People started walking

There's a new kid in town.

There's a new kid in town.

Songwriters: Don Henley / John Souther / Glenn Frey

New Kid in Town lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group