Rocky Mountain Way is a compilation album released in 1985 by rock musician Joe Walsh.
Writing retrospectively for AllMusic, critic Ben Davies wrote of the album "considering both the amount of classic Walsh songs not featured on Rocky Mountain Way and the many other more extensive and better chosen best-ofs available, this release is rather pointless."
All songs by Joe Walsh, except where noted.
"Rocky Mountain Way" is a 1973 song by rock guitarist Joe Walsh and his band Barnstorm, with writing credits given to Walsh, Rocke Grace, Kenny Passarelli, and Joe Vitale. The song was originally released on the album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get.
Walsh appeared in studio on The Howard Stern Show on June 12, 2012 and talked about how the lyrics to the song came to him in 1972 shortly after releasing his first solo effort, Barnstorm.
"I'm living in Colorado and I'm mowing the lawn. I look up and there's the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and there's snow on them in the summer. And it knocked me back because it was just beautiful. And I thought, 'Well I have committed. I'm already in Colorado and it's too late to regret the James Gang. The Rocky Mountain way is better than the way I had, because the music was better.' I got the words. Bam!"
Walsh has varied that story over the years, however, telling the Rocky Mountain News that he wrote the lyrics while up recording the album at Caribou Ranch Recording Studio.
Spent the last year
Rocky Mountain Way
Couldn't get much higher
Out to pasture
Think it's safe to say
Time to open fire
And we don't need the ladies
Crying 'cuz the storie's sad
'Cuz the Rocky Mountain Way
Is better than the way we had
Well he's tellin' us this
And he's tellin' us that
Changes it every day
Say's it doesn't matter
Bases are loaded and Casey's at bat
Playin' it play by play
Time to change the batter
And we don't need the ladies
Crying 'cuz the storie's sad, uh huh
Rocky Moutain Way
Is better than the way we had
Hey, hey, hey, hey