Don Henley Primer

Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Tyc3uf

I have certain go-to songs.

One is "Big Barn Bed," the opening cut off "Red Rose Speedway" by Wings. The sound is just incredible, the track's never played anymore, but it's just as magical as it was back in '73. You get exquisite harmonies and the Paul McCartney vocals he used to employ in covers of original rock and roll songs in the Beatles, growling, going to the top of his register, and there's a stinging Henry McCullough guitar solo and a hypnotic chorus/hook. Amazing, it can't help but brighten my day!

Another is the Doobie Brothers' "Another Park, Another Sunday" from their 1974 album "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," which was seen as a disappointment follow-up to the smash success "The Captain and Me" until "Black Water" broke through belatedly, but "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" is the Doobies' best LP. "Another Park, Another Sunday" features Tom Johnston's mellifluous vocal, so sweet, great changes and the indelible lines, "Just when you think you've got a good thing, it seems to slip away." It was the first single, it didn't break through, but that does not mean it's not magic.

The third is Don Henley's "The End of the Innocence." Bruce Hornsby's piano is enough to seal the deal all by itself, but then you've got Henley's barely sandpapery vocal that adds meaning to the lyrics that are a cut above the rest of the fare on the hit parade, still. And today I was alone at home and I called out to Alexa to play "The End of the Innocence" and as it was playing it felt so right and I thought of the rest of Henley's post-Eagles work and I thought of delineating it, then I realized there'd be backlash, people hate anybody with this level of success, especially someone like Henley who has an opinion he doesn't back down from and an edge, but it's his constant striving for excellence, getting it exactly right, that puts him at the pinnacle, his songs are not just fodder but statements made to be the equivalent of great books. Just listen.

LEATHER AND LACE

"You in the moonlight
With your sleepy eyes
Could you ever love a man like me"

Whew!

After the disappointment of "Tusk," Stevie Nicks released her initial solo album. She had immediate success with the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers outtake "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," one of the great rock tracks of all time, never mind being a duet with Tom and being backed up by him and his band. And in 1995, Tom and the gang released the boxed set "Playback" with their demo, unfortunately it's not on Spotify, but you can hear it on YouTube here: https://bit.ly/2ToXs4p The demo is a little earthier, a little more intense, a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, not a Stevie Nicks song, you should definitely check it out, they say it's a demo but it sounds like a finished record to me.

And at this point the most famous track on "Bella Donna" is the in-your-face rocker composed solely by Nicks entitled "Edge of Seventeen." The track from that album I listen to most is also a solo composition by Nicks, but it's put over the top by Don Henley, it's a duet. Stevie is singing with her rough, emotive voice and then Don comes in so sweet you're transfixed, he's so sensitive.

"Sometimes I'm a strong man
Sometimes cold and scared
And sometimes I cry
But that time I saw you
Knew with you to light my night
Somehow I'd get by"

I CAN'T STAND STILL

Glenn Frey's solo album came out first, entitled "No Fun Aloud" it was sold and perceived as a lark, a throwaway, a man no longer constrained by the Eagles cutting loose, this was just the beginning. So expectations were a bit low, but the album was fun, and the opening cut, "I Found Somebody," was a Glenn Frey smash, exactly what you'd expect on an Eagles album, at this point Glenn was still seen as the leader of the band, the focus, but that would change.

The opening cut to Henley's solo LP was just the opposite of "I Found Somebody," slow and meaningful, but as many times as you listened to it, it wasn't the equal of his work with the Eagles, it sounded like Henley, but it just wasn't a smash. As a matter of fact, the entire album "I Can't Stand Still" was an artistic disappointment, a misfire, the sound was right, it's just that the songs weren't top-notch, except for "Dirty Laundry."

DIRTY LAUNDRY

"We got the bubble-headed
Bleached blonde
Comes on at five"

Everybody in Los Angeles knew exactly who Don was singing about, back before streaming, when there were still very few TV channels and people still watched television news. Henley had tangled with the law and decided to fight back, and there's no greater artistic inspiration than an affront. And what Henley ended up with was a masterpiece, one step beyond the Eagles' work, more intense, with more direct lyrics, sung with heretofore unheard attitude.

"I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something
Something I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry"

This could not be more true today, if it bleeds it leads and TMZ is on the hunt for dirt 24/7.

"Well I coulda been an actor
But I wound up here
I just have to look good
I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry"

Once upon a time people believed newscasters knew something, now they know they're just pretty faces making nice, playing at being friends with the rest of the "talent" on air.

"Can we film the operation
Is the head dead yet
You know the boys in the newsroom
Got a running bet
Get the widow on the set
We need dirty laundry"

Hopefully you will never be involved in something newsworthy, for if you are you'll be inundated with news inquiries, you'll be overwhelmed by the attention, you'll think you're important, that they care for you, but after your words are in print all those callers and e-mailers will immediately disappear, leaving you feeling raped. You're just grist for the mill, and the machine has got an endless appetite.

THE BOYS OF SUMMER

Times had changed, the seventies were over, all the excitement was no longer on radio but MTV, and what built the channel were the new English acts like Duran Duran and Culture Club, their sound and image couldn't be more different from that of Don Henley and the Eagles. And then the seeming underdog, away from the market for two years, delivers such an undeniable wallop everyone pays attention, "The Boys of Summer" becomes a classic. The track was enough, but the video encapsulated the feel, late summer, maybe fall, remorseful, still there reminiscing about what was and may never be again.

"I can see you
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone"

You didn't have to live in Southern California to picture it, but it helped.

"Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, 'Don't look back. You can never look back'
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go"

Deadhead sticker? The Grateful Dead and the Eagles lived on different planets, they didn't even share much of an audience, but Don was paying attention, he knew what was going on, and the truth is at this point, 1984, the Dead were already a nostalgia act, heresy, I know, but it's true. Gen-X'ers kept their gate numbers high, but artistically it had almost all been done.

"You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on baby"

Suddenly everybody knew what those Ray-Ban sunglasses were called, sales went through the roof.

ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE

An earthy, dangerous feel, the more you listen, the more you like it.

SUNSET GRILL

A six minute epic, a new twist on the ones Henley wrote and sang with the Eagles. It fired on absolutely all cylinders. Henley's was never better, you could feel the emotion in his voice. And the synth solo. Henley was singing about Sunset Boulevard, but not the Strip, but further east, the seedier part, in Hollywood, it only had glamor in the movies. And then it turned out the Sunset Grill was just a burger stand by Guitar Center.

"Let's go down to the Sunset Grill
Watch the working girls go by
Watch the basket people walk around and mumble
And gaze out at the auburn sky
Maybe we'll leave come springtime
Meanwhile have another beer
What would we do without all these jerks anyway
Besides all our friends are here"

Jerks? Isn't the #1 rule of rock and roll not to insult the audience, to appear one of the people unless you're selling glitz and glamor, which was the opposite of seventies and early eighties Los Angeles rock and roll? Henley was making a judgment, he was excluding people, he wasn't holding back, he had an attitude, he's not making any friends, but he is making delectable art.

NOT ENOUGH LOVE IN THE WORLD

"I'm not easy to live with
I know that it's true
You're no picnic either babe
That's one of the things I loved about you"

This verse makes the song, Don pokes fun at himself, but says they've both got their flaws, he's almost laughing about it. You didn't get this kind of insight, this kind of honesty, in the rest of the songs on the hit parade, which is why Don Henley ascended into the stratosphere, was seen as a solo icon, the essence of the Eagles, Don was alive and kicking in the eighties.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

It was four and a half years since Henley's last LP. And "Building the Perfect Beast" never really went away, MTV had oldies weekends, the still extant rock radio went classic to survive and Henley's tracks were staples.

"The Heart of the Matter" was the third single from "The End of the Innocence" but it's the song emblazoned in listeners' brains most, it has never really gone away, because of the truth contained therein. If you've ever broken up, you've been through these feelings.

"I got the call today I didn't want to hear
But I knew that it would come
An old true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck
And the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more"

I don't care whether you left or were abandoned, your heart always skips a beat when you hear an ex has gotten (re)married, had a baby, it puts a nail in the coffin of the past, they've moved on, you guess you should too.

And when it gets bad you do lose yourself. And the truth is...in your mind you want more, do you settle? And then you get old enough and realize perfection doesn't exist, all that talk of soulmates is b.s., it's about being together, trust, commitment, facing the hurdles with each other.

As for forgiveness...I'd like to tell you I can forgive, but I can't.

THE LAST WORTHLESS EVENING

The flip side of "The Heart of the Matter."

"It's been over two years for me
And I'm still not quite myself"

Anyone who tells you they're over it immediately is either lying or shallow. You lived together, had sex, saw each other every day and then you can suddenly be rid of them in your mind? That's not how human beings work.

NEW YORK MINUTE

I'd never heard the expression before, but Henley popularized the term, you've heard it everywhere since.

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

In truth, the rockers on "The End of the Innocence" are not in the league of the ballads, but despite that I quote this song all the time.

"How bad do you want it
Not bad enough"

That's the truth. It's a long way to the top if you want to rock 'n roll, if you want to be successful at anything, and the truth is most people just don't want it bad enough, because if you do you'll ultimately be let in the door, you may not become a household name, but you'll get your time in the circus, you'll become part of the firmament. I'm not talking about 10,000 hours, practicing in your basement, gigging at the local venue, but a raw desire where everything else is subsidiary, relationships, a house, a car, everything. You keep trying, you keep adjusting, you're making friends, learning the landscape...

SOMETIMES LOVE JUST AIN'T ENOUGH

Irving Azoff handed MCA to Al Teller. But the company ran on Irving's fumes, it couldn't break any new acts. The landscape was changing, it was about big hit singles, albums were an afterthough, a way to cash in on the single, especially after the single itself was cut out. I ran into Teller at the Roxy and we were talking at the end of the show and he told me to wait for Tuesday, he was so confident, he had an absolute smash...that track was Patty Smyth and Don Henley's duet on "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough." It went to #1.

EVERYBODY KNOWS

It had been six and a half years since "The End of the Innocence." The had Eagles reunited. It was a perfect time for Geffen Records to try and cash in with a greatest hits package, even though Henley had only put out three albums. And at the time it was thought the best way to sell a greatest hits package was to add new material, ergo the inclusion of this cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows." It's the best one. Even though all the musos will have their private favorites that don't make it without the lyrics, Henley's take works irrelevant of the meaning of the words, but it's the words that put it over the top. The truth is everybody knows.

TAKING YOU HOME

Now it was the year 2000, the Napster era, all hell was breaking loose in the music business and despite reuniting with the Eagles Henley had not released a solo album in over a decade and at this time it was thought the best way to break a track was via a synch on TV. So "Taking You Home" was put in "E.R.," it ended up driving the track to #1 on Adult Contemporary radio, but it stalled in the fifties on Top Forty. And this was the only hit on "Inside Job," the only track with significant radio play, even though "Inside Job" is a fantastic album and would have been all over the charts in a prior era. Then again, it was rock, which was dying, even if most people didn't realize it yet, and rock was not on Top Forty and MTV was starting to mean less and...

EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW

"I hate to tell you this but I'm very very happy"

The malcontent got married and settled down and reaped the rewards of family. The lyrics are great, but even better are the dynamics.

GOODBYE TO A RIVER

Henley was still an environmentalist, noting change while everybody else was now online, running to Computerland to buy new gadgets.

FOR MY WEDDING

Written by Larry John McNally, in another world this is a standard.

The truth is weddings are celebrations, but the heaviness resides within your head, this is a commitment, this is a change, the biggest one of your life so far, that's supposed to run for the rest of your days, will it?

THEY'RE NOT HERE, THEY'RE NOT COMING

"Would they pile into the saucer
Find Orlando's rat and hug it
Go screaming through the universe
Just to get McNuggets
Well I don't think so I don't think so
It's much too dangerous it's much too strange
Here in a world that won't give Oprah no home on the range"

A six minute opus making fun of those who believe aliens are going to descend from heaven and grace us with their presence on Earth. Do they really want McNuggets? And Oprah was being sued by Texas ranchers for saying she stopped eating burgers. It's only gotten worse in America since. Society was starting to fracture, there was no one to believe in, not even Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

MY THANKSGIVING

The closing track of "Inside Job" and my favorite on the album. A straight-ahead rocker it would now be a classic rock staple if it was released in the seventies. The music and the changes are great, but even better are the lyrics.

"Now the trouble with you and me my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion, well it just ain't cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I'm tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It's too long we've been living
These unexamined lives"

As bad as it was back then, it's worse now. As for examining your life, that's seen as sixties drivel, and it seems most people don't have the smarts or education to do so. They just take a position, plant the flag and own it, forever.

"Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are"

These were my go-to words on Napster and digital disruption.

WORDS CAN BREAK YOUR HEART

Henley waited fifteen years to release a new solo LP. And whereas with "Inside Job" he was too late, with "Cass County" he was too early. In 2015 there was still a belief that there was a substantial market for the new work of classic rockers. Now we know that is patently untrue. Today you make the album for yourself, because that's what you do, make music, if you stop creating you die. But the core audience is aged and stuck in its ways, the new market is fragmented and oftentimes there's nowhere to display your new work. Sure, you can get ink, your name is still reliable for that, but that's no longer how you break records, you do it online, ultimately via word of mouth, and boomer word of mouth is so much slower than that of the youngsters. Bottom line, if you listen to "Cass County" you'll enjoy it, it's very good, but it doesn't have the iconic songs of yore. Today you make records for cheap, throw them out there, try to hit the target, and if you don't you go back to the drawing board, the studio, putting all your eggs in one basket, in an expensive long player, an album, is a fool's errand, because if it fails in the marketplace, almost everything fails in the marketplace, it's immediately forgotten and you're nowhere, best to constantly be in the public eye, especially in a world where most of the money is made on the road. Now, more than ever, it's time to experiment as opposed to trying to get it right.

"Sticks and stones may break your bones
But words can break your heart"

So true, and the words work better in the song than they appear on paper.

THE END OF THE INNOCENCE

"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 standing by
When happily ever after fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly"

Boomers remember, we were basking in the economic run-up of the post-war era. We not only felt safe, we thought the world was our oyster. Divorce was rare, frequently there was only one breadwinner in the family, you felt supported, you felt optimistic.

But then this same generation took advantage of the freewheeling eighties to bend the rules to get ever richer and after all the takeovers, lawsuits and jail sentences we thought things would change, but they did not, we didn't know how bad it was gonna get, ending in 2008, not that those bad days where the financial institutions wreck our economy won't come back again.

"Oh but I know a place where we can go
Still untouched by man
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass waves 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"

You used to be able to get away, disconnect, recharge, but those days are through, everybody's available everywhere, you can talk on the phone at the top of Mt. Everest and if you don't respond to a text in a matter of minutes people wonder what's wrong. The innocence the baby boomers had in their hearts is now gone, and the younger generations never had it.

"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"

That's St. Reagan, who single-handedly ushered in the age of income inequality but was a Democrat by today's standards. Remember when he was our biggest enemy? Boy, we didn't know what was coming.

"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 good bye"

We remember the way it used to be, we know it was flawed, we were excited by the technological revolution but now we see its cost. Boomers are throwing their hands in the air, retiring, handing this broken world to the younger generations as the earth burns up and American democracy is on the verge of becoming an oxymoron.

But a kiss is still the same. Humans are still the same. We can still feel, still analyze, we can still laugh, but it's hard to be optimistic about the future.

We thought the innocence was ending back in 1989, we had no idea how bad it would get. We looked to our musical artists for truth, for a path, for a way. But today music is just about becoming a brand and getting rich, figuring out the data game, getting on TikTok, you can make a brilliant statement and it can go unheard, whereas in the pre-internet era that was never the case, if your track had the goods people heard it, and were affected by it.

So Bruce Hornsby got out early. Rather than continue to strive for a radio hit, he played with the Dead, bluegrass pickers, he nurtured his muse, continued to be an artist, everybody said he was killing his career, but in truth he was reinventing it, saving it, knowing that today it's all about your core audience, it will keep you alive, if anybody else wants to come along that's great, but you're not going to pander to them.

As for Don Henley... It's good to be the king, but every kingdom must die. You're internationally known, "Hotel California" is recognized in the bush, but people aren't interested in what you have to say today, even worse it's hard to get them to hear it to then accept or reject it, the whole paradigm has changed. As for the creators... Mariah Carey became the archetype, making it about the voice, pop music, and that was in 1990, thirty years ago, today's younger generations have no frame of reference, they didn't grow up when music was king, when it was everything, when you listened to the radio to know which way the wind blew.

We are no longer innocent. We yearn to be, but we're not. You can keep your head in the sand or wake up. But sometimes it's better to leave the blinders on, ignore reality and try to be happy. But the truth is innocence has ended. Happy July 4th.

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