I have only recently been paying REAL close attention to the lyrical content of Don Henley's solo work. I must say that this Eagles member is a pretty incredible lyricist. It's a shame that he doesn't record more frequently. The two songs I want to focus on in particular are two songs that were hits for him.

The first one is "Dirty Laundry". Released in 1982 this song is really quite prophectic of the media world we live in today and people's fascination with the downfalls and dirt in people's lives{both celebities and non celebs}almost to the point of obsession.

"Kick em when they're up"
"Kick em when they're down"

Especially fitting are the last lines...

"We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
We all know that CRAP is king, give us dirty laundry"



The second song is "The End Of The Innocence" released in 1989. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best written songs of the entire eighties decade. The lyrics are absolutely brillant.



"Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence"

I remember reading sometime ago that Don Henley said he was a huge Prince fan!!

Cape Cod, summer of '89:


You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me


This brings back memories...

Oh my goodness, I love you!! I was listening to both of those songs in my car Sunday. I even remeber seeing Henley perform Dirty Laundry and All She Wants To Do Is Dance on Soul Train years ago.

I could be wrong, but I think the cd is called "the end of the innocence" and it's an amazing cd. I love every song on it. The best one is "heart of the matter". Don is great!

Boys Of Summer is one of my fave tunes EVER.
Always makes me happy when I hear it.
Mr Henley:

"End of the Innocense" is indeed a great song. I've always loved it. It was co-written with Bruce Hornsby- you can really hear Bruce's influence in the music. The lyrics are gorgeous. Don's got some great tunes in him, though his albums are not very consistent, imo. Check out his song "Annabel" from his last album- incredible song.

You might wanna check out his album "Building the perfect beast" from 84

It's got Boys of Summer, All she wants to do... and lots of Linn drum machines on side 2...

My all-time faves of his are "Boys of Summer" which to me a quintessential summer song, and "Sunset Grill" for the music.

funkyslsistah said:[quote]My all-time faves of his are "Boys of Summer" which to me a quintessential summer songquote]
perhaps my favourite song ever just because the words have deep personal meaning 2 me.

tho i love The Ataris version better (ok,ready 4 the rotten tomatoes)
[This message was edited Fri Aug 29 19:35:55 PDT 2003 by Joshy]

I lub Don Henley..Heart Of The Matter is the shit and so is Sunset Grill Boyz In da...Boyz of Summer, Everything Is Different Now etc..he has a jammin kind of voice. He is a bit of a pretentioous too sincere twit sometimes but I dig that.
Nobody better say anything bad about Don Henley!

His written lyrics R indeed up 2 par with princes. amazing. have his greatest hits album & love EVERY song. very meaningful.

jtgillia said:

you always know Horsnby's Tone don't you? I Respect Henley for His Hits.He had a Hand in Richard Marx's "Don't Mean Nothing" you can hear that Eagles Vibe there as well.that song back in 87 was ripping into the Industry.Henley is a interesting Cat FO SHO!