tree and called "the green fairy" for sometimes inducing hallucinations. According to Henley, other influences for the song include books by Carlos Castaneda on shamanism and a girl he knew who was interested in the occult. Reception The song is the first commercially successful one Henley wrote, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He called it "[a]n important song for me, because it marked the beginning of my professional songwriting career". Billboard described it as "a strong easy beat slow rock ballad". Cash Box described it as being "midway between Redbone and CSN&Y" with "distinctive harmony power." Performances "Witchy Woman" is one of the earliest songs written by the Eagles, and together with "Take It Easy" it was also one of the very few songs the band performed every night in their early days. In one of their earliest public appearances as the Eagles, they performed "Witchy Woman" repeatedly at the opening of an art show in Venice, California in 1972 of works by Boyd Elder, who would later also create the painted skulls that appear in some of Eagles' albums covers. In popular culture The song, along with "Desperado", were both used and referred to in an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. In an episode of Dharma and Greg from the first season, Abbey, Dharma's mother, mentions that she dated Henley and is almost certain she is Witchy Woman. The song was used in a 2005 episode of the series Cold Case titled "In the Woods" (the episode was set during 1972, the year of the song's original release). It is also used in the movie America's Sweethearts to depict Catherine Zeta-Jones' character as she is getting out of a limousine. Charts Personnel Don Henley – lead vocals, drums Glenn Frey – backing vocals, lead guitar Bernie Leadon – backing vocals, rhythm guitar Randy Meisner – bass guitar, backing vocals References 1970s ballads 1972 singles 1972 songs Asylum Records singles Eagles (band) songs Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Songs written by Don Henley Halloween songs Songs about witches