"Good Day in Hell" is a song by the Eagles, from their third album, On the Border

On the Border

On the Border is the third studio album by the Eagles, released in 1974. During the making of the album, the band experienced significant changes. As the band tried to lean towards a more hard rock sound, they felt that producer Glyn Johns emphasized too much on their country sound. After recording...

. It was written by Don Henley

Don Henley

Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...

 and Glenn Frey

Glenn Frey

Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...

 and is about a seductive "devil in disguise".

For the recording of the song, session guitarist Don Felder

Don Felder

Donald William "Don" Felder is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his work as lead guitarist for the Eagles from 1974 to 1980 and again from 1994 to 2001.-Early life and influences:...

 was called upon to perform the slide guitar

Slide guitar

Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

. Although slide guitar on two other songs on the album (the bluegrass "Midnight Flyer" and the mid-tempo "Is It True") were performed by Glenn Frey, the Eagles' new producer Bill Szymczyk

Bill Szymczyk

Bill Szymczyk is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the 1970s, though he retired from the music business by 1990...

 wanted to get a more experienced slide guitarist to record on "Good Day in Hell".

The Eagles were so pleased with Don Felder's work on the song that they decided to make him an official member of the band, making them a quintet. He also performed the dual guitar solo with Glenn Frey on another On the Border song, "Already Gone

Already Gone (Eagles song)

"Already Gone" is a song written by Jack Tempchin and Robert Arnold Strandlund and recorded by the American rock band Eagles for their 1974 album On the Border...

". These are the only two songs he played on on the album and he is billed as a "late arrival".

"Good Day in Hell" was released as the B-side to the "James Dean" single on August 14, 1974.

When performed live on the band's 1976-1977 tour, Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh

Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...

played a regular guitar solo during the ending of the track and dueling with Felder's slide in some parts.