Stephen Colbert Remembers Glenn Frey With Touching Anecdote
Following the passing of Glenn Frey, Stephen Colbert shared a personal story on Tuesday’s Late Show about a pivotal moment in his life soundtracked by the Eagles guitarist. “I just want to take a moment to thank Glenn Frey for what he gave me. And this is what he gave me: The song ‘Desperado,'” Colbert said.
“The first slow dance I ever danced to was to ‘Desperado.’ It was the eighth grade dance at our local little club,” the host continued. “I didn’t dance with anybody all night long until the very last song, and I found myself over on the girls’ side. And the DJ goes ‘It’s our last song, and it’s a slow one.’ And he puts on ‘Desperado,’ which is the perfect last song at an eighth grade dance when you have danced with no one. Because I was the desperado.”
However, a classmate of Colbert’s proclaimed that “Desperado” was her favorite song, and a teenage Colbert nervously mustered up the courage to ask her to dance. “It was one of the sweetest, most beautiful experiences of my life, and that day, I took a small, very small, step toward manhood,” Colbert said of their awkward slow dance. “And it would not have happened, I don’t think I would have reproduced by now if that song didn’t play that night. That was my first step toward knowing how to put your arms on a girl in any way or what it was like to touch the opposite sex. And that would not have happened without Glenn Frey.”